Babbity Bowster

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the 2010 edition.

This Merchant City institution wears its historical robes lightly. Babbity Bowster, named after a Scottish country dance, is sited in a late 18th-century tobacco merchant’s townhouse – all that remains of an entire street built by renowned architect Robert Adam – and boasts a pleasant beer garden which predates the smoking ban. Certain traditions are observed in this unobtrusively stylish Scottish boozer: there is no jukebox or ambient music in the bar, only the buzz of good craic from seasoned punters quaffing from the selection of real ales and malt whiskies, or the sound of the weekly folk session on Saturdays. The bar serves Scottish comfort food such as stovies and Cullen skink until 10pm, while Schottische, the Franco-Scottish restaurant on the first floor, is open in the evenings. Babbity’s good old-fashioned Celtic hospitality extends to the provision of six hotel bedrooms upstairs, ideal for visitors wishing to hit the hay sharpish after a night out in the Merchant City.