Edinburgh venues round-up: January 2025

The Penny Black

Edinburgh locals might remember the original Penny Black on West Register St as the pub whose opening hours were 6am till noon. The go-to for postal and rail workers at the end of the night shift, The Penny Black made use of a licensing loophole which – alas – isn’t available at its new home, the former Black Bull on Leith Street. Itself an institution, The Black Bull’s closure came as a shock to many a rock/metal/punk fan who came down for gigs until last March. Admittedly, not much remains of its Black Bull days (the bull’s head is apparently being auctioned for charity) with new seating, tables and a pool table in the back, but its new owners also own the well-established The Black Cat on Rose Street so this isn’t their first rodeo. It’s still too early to tell whether The Penny Black’s new iteration can live up to either its own or The Black Bull’s legacy, but any venture keeping a much-loved venue from being turned into more flats or offices gets our stamp of approval. 43 Leith Street, EH1 3AT

KONJ Cafe

The Persian cafe KONJ returns to a bigger space in Grindlay Street (where Gooseneck Bakery used to be) after the closure of the original Home Street enterprise. Proving the old adage that good things come in small packages, it first opened in 2019 in a space just big enough for a single six-seater table. The cafe’s founder, Faranak Habibi, quit her career as an aircraft controller in London to bring a slice of her birthplace – Sanandaj, in central Iran – to Edinburgh. Its four-year run came to an end amidst insurmountable bills post-COVID but now, KONJ makes its much-anticipated comeback. Patrons are already fawning over the tahchin: a quintessentially Iranian layered dish of chicken and saffron rice. Habibi describes it as a "home away from home" for the local Irani community but even if you’re just looking to branch out into some new cuisine, she prides herself on the fact that "every customer is treated like an old friend." Think hot drinks and sweet treats with the flavours of cardamom, rosewater, saffron and cinnamon. 15-17 Grindlay Street, EH3 9AX

The Pitt

Starting in Leith in 2015, the beloved Pitt market disappeared in 2022 due to planned redevelopment works but is back with a huge space and even bigger plans. Its event days will bring quizzes, music collabs with Sneaky Pete’s, soul jams and more to its new home of Granton throughout the year. The new indoor/outdoor street food market boasts seven different vendors and – naturally – a sauna. For savoury bites there’s Buffalo Truck, famous for their buttermilk chicken burgers; award-winning Nepalese street food from Choola; Fire Bowl, that serves ‘East Asian style’ street food with the motto ‘rice, meat and heat!’; and authentic (and fully halal) Lebanese cuisine from Lazeez. For drinks, Pulp Friction serves up fruit-infused cocktails and I’ll let you take your own stab at what Long Shot Coffee serves. Finally, Social Bite’s first dessert pop-up is catering to the sweet-toothed Grantonites with crumble and custard. The two saunas on The Pitt’s Granton shoreline, called Big Bear and Little Bear (here’s hoping the temperature is just right), overlook the picturesque Firth of Forth which is as breathtaking as the biting cold when your session ends. 20 West Shore Road, EH5 1QD