The Royal Oak

The Royal Oak is a pub just outside the city centre in Edinburgh. It is dark, has few chairs, and no trendy drinks at all. None of this is important.

I'm told that it is one of the best places in Edinburgh to hear folk music, adn I can believe it. I spent a very happy evening there wedged in the corner listening to a group of people with guitars. The atmosphere is very, very informal; no pretentiousness at all. People floated in and out, people's friends turned up with guitars adn the original singers wandered off for cigarettes outside, and the whole bar joins in with the choruses of the traditional ones. The people in on the night I was in had fantastic voices.

There was no cover charge when I went; if anyone better known is playing I expect a few quid might be asked, but not often. There is a tin on the bar for putting tips for the musicians in, and given that they're friends with the bar staff I'm sure that putting drinks by is a good idea. Beer prices (including the always excellent Deuchars IPA)are average for the area, and I think there is food in the daytime.