Dropkick Murphys

Stumbled (quite literally) into this beauty a few weeks ago while visiting Edinburgh. A group of us was bouncing around town trying to find a bar that was staying open to watch the NFL playoff games (Seattle/​SF wasn’t going to end until 3am).
The bar itself is pretty nice, I mean, it’s a bar. Large on the inside, lots of booths, TVs for the game. Obviously it wasn’t packed as this was late night Sunday, but I can see this place filling up on weeknights.
The staff was really what made the place though. Such cool guys… Marty and Cian were awesome. I found people to be generally pretty nice in Scotland, but bartenders usually make or break a bar and I can’t say enough about these guys. Absolute all stars.
The bar is a bit off the beaten path and has a cool location under a bridge so if you’re looking to get off the Royal Mile or out of Grassmarket (which you should), 100% pay a visit to Dropkicks, you’ll be happy you did– and tell the guys Brian from Seattle said hi, they may hook you up with a Bloody Mary shot!

A bit boring after you’ve been a couple of times. A fairly predictable Irish theme pub, certainly not the worst though. More of student haunt but it’s a fairly good natured atmosphere inside with people dancing like no one is looking.
Bouncer refused to let me in last time though without giving me any reason

Perhaps 5 years ago I would have liked this place. Back when I was a student and wanted somewhere with lots of buzz, vibe, cheap drinks, live music, and somewhere I knew most of my friends would end up on a Saturday night.
That was 5 years ago. This place really isn’t my ‘scene’ any more. But I am trying to be unbiased and give it a fair review for what it is. A large venue, with live music, friendly staff, reasonable rates to get in on a Saturday night (£3 I think), and a decent crowd.
It’s rough around the edges, definitely not glam (I’m not really that either… I’m just very indecisive!), and if they had a particular band playing here I wanted to see it’d be an alright music venue. It just feels a little ‘old’ and staid and not as fresh or funky as I like it (yes I just used the word funky and realise how ironic that is when used in the same sentence as ‘fresh’.)
I also admit that I ended up here after several cocktails and a bottle of wine. So my memory is a *leetle* hazy. Again, not a normal Saturday night venture for me any more. But the staff were friendly which is always a plus. And it has that cool ‘hidden under a bridge’ thing going for it.
Probably a good place to go after Oz bar on the corner, but you’re more likely to find me in Under the Stairs opposite…

Dropkicks is open late, often has fun live music, and is almost always heaving, these things make it a great student bar. However, every time I’ve come here since I was a student, I feel like Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon — I’m too old for this shit.
As I said, it’s heaving. It’s like, impossible to walk across the room without getting shoved, stepped on, spilled on, heaving. Want to buy a pint? Forget it. It will take 20 minutes to get served and when you DO get your drink, some drunken punter will bump into you and spill most of it. Then, when you try to go to the toilets to clean up you are faced with a long stairwell down (stairs + heels + alcohol = injuries) to a dungeon where at least one toilet doesn’t work, another doesn’t lock, and another doesn’t have a toilet seat or tp.
These things didn’t bother me when I was a student and looking to have a few drinks too many and find a cute boy to snog (I seem to recall these were a dime a dozen here, but that may have been the drinks talking). Now that I’m old and loved up, I don’t come here. I’m just too old for that shit.

Dropkick’s is an Irish themed bar tucked away off the side of Candlemaker Row. As you would expect the walls are covered in Irish icons; rugby shirts, road signs and Guinness adverts and the staff are largely Irish. It has a small dance floor, however Dropkick’s is not a night-​club. It is spacious, with most of the room taken up by 4 or 5 large booths with a big table and seats. Since these are large tables it is common to share them with other patrons, which depending on your view of meeting people, can be a curse or a blessing.
The drinks are typically priced for the centre of Edinburgh, with a pint of lager costing around £3. However, the main advantage to Dropkick’s is that you can still be served up until around 3am, which means that if you are kicked out of another bar and do not feel ready for bed, or in the mood for a club, you can still have a drink in Dropkick’s. In saying that, the music can sometimes be too loud for a conversation with anyone but the person sitting next to you. Also, on the weekend there is a door charge of around £2 after 11 or 12pm. Still, worth it for the craic.

Dropkick’s would be almost the perfect late night music place if it weren’t for the price. They have a good set up, with lots of open space, some huge booths and a stage at the far end. The interior is under George IV bridge so has a cool underground feel to it. As well as this they always have good bands on, nothing too original, all kinda Irishy /​Folk /​Rock covers but they are good fun, either to chill out to and have a chat, or to have a shimmy when it gets a bit more upbeat. Make sure to get there early (about half 12 /​1ish) because although it is pretty dead then, it gets full unbelievably quickly.
From an Irish bar you expect slightly overpriced drinks, Dropkicks is really bad. Expect to pay almost £4 a pint, and they are pretty average, including the Guinness which is not as good as you’d expect. Spirits and mixers are pricey too, and whilst I haven’t had the wine, I would be surprised if that bucked the trend.
Apart from that it’s a good place to go for a night out, or after other bars have kicked out (it’s open until 3) especially if you fancy a bit of live music.

Drop Kick Murphy’s isn’t the easiest to find and indeed even with perfect directions you’ll be sceptical. It is to be found at the end of a side road just after the end of the bridge above your head. This entry road alone conjures up a spectacular atmosphere — it’s almost like the movies where the best clubs are down some shady side street. This street itself is perfectly safe, but it does do its job in creating a fabulous mood — all it lacks is a haze of mist for you to navigate through on your way to the door.
Once inside the first thing you’ll notice is a vast amount of sporting memorabilia — mostly Irish with a few exception such as a Sunderland shirt above the bar — perhaps donated by Anthony Stokes, but who knows how this shirt came to end up in this collection. Thanks to its location this pub has managed to maintain a high proportion of Irish patrons and the atmosphere remains distinctly Irish. Add to this the occasional live music and along with Malones you have one of the best Irish pubs in Edinburgh.

if you asked me to point you in the direction of Dropkick Murphy’s, I dont think I could — its so well hidden. In fact, on the night I spent my evening here, i couldnt remember getting here, let alone leaving.
I do remember it being a hell of a night though. It’s an Irish pub effectivly — but taken to extreme levels. The atmosphere is that of a roudy party, and there is so much drink around the place I’m suprised anybody ever makes it to the rather large dance floor. But they do, and unless you are prepared to throw yourself into the dancing, I’d step well back because you might get hurt. It seems that everybody in here is here for a bloody good laugh, a lot of drink and a furious dance — so over all the whole place has an amazing energy that I’m yet to come across anywhere else.
Dropkick Murphy’s can get a little expensive however, and as its always full dont expect a quiet chat and a seat.

Everytime I attend a night out at this Irish public house, it is absolutely heaving with crazy, debaucherous people, dancing wildly and sloshing pints over every available surface. Pretty much the kind of thing I like. There’s a certain charm to getting stuck to the dance floor because the layer of alcohol beneath your feet is as thick as tar. There are often live bands playing at the weekend as well, which is good craic.
Everyone that comes here is always up for fun times and there’s not a hint of pretentiousness about it, so you can make very little effort with your appearance, and no one will really care. But that could be because they’ve had too much Guinness and aren’t able to distinguish who their friends are, let alone whether some random person has bothered to put mascara on or not.
What haunts me whenever I come here is Dropkick Murphy’s previous life as a bar/​club called Berties. They were some of the best days of my young life, I mean seriously good days, and I can’t help but feel wistful whenever I’m here when I think about the Wednesday nights when all drinks were 50p, and sweat ran down the cave like walls. Happy times. Now the décor has been brightened up, but the stairs down to the toilets are still lethal, so if you’ve had a few, or you’re wearing giant stilettos, creep down carefully, or you could end up in an embarrassing and no doubt painful tumbling situation.

My brother and I met some Irish people in Ediburgh on our tour through the highlands. One of them lived in Edinburgh and after we got back we all went to one of the tourist traps with the tour group. After that place closed early (i think it was around 12am?) like most bars in the UK, they asked if we wanted to go to a real bar. It was pretty awesome. There was an Celtic rock band playing music. Some songs were straight up Irish jigs, others were like U2 with a Fiddle thrown in. It was an awesome place to dance, though it was totally crowded. The place was definitely expensive. There was a cover charge (I think it was around 5 pounds) but the band was definitely worth it. But drinks were ridiculous. 4 pounds a pint.
Very friendly bar tenders, door staff and cocktail waitresses. Friendly atmosphere, great place. It’s without a doubt an authentic Irish Pub/​Bar in Scotland.

Dropkick’s is pretty much a stereotypical Irish-​themed bar. The one thing that sets it apart from other bars in the area is that you have to pay to get in at nights and also that it’s open an hour later than everywhere else. You’re essentially paying for the slightly extended drinking time; paying money for the privilege of paying more money.
Bonus!
Seriously though, there’s nothing wrong with Dropkick Murphy’s, it’s just that this bar is generally frequented of a weekend by the kind of rowdy stag-​and/​or-​hen do’s that I personally would prefer to avoid.

I stumbled in here in a drunken haze one Monday evening. Its quite a large, sprawling bar which is nice enough. As the name suggests it is an Irish bar and popular with the many Irish in Edinburgh. Its located on a side street off the Grassmarket, I probably couldn’t find it sober to be honest. I like the quirky little barrels for tables and such like.
My poor friend and I had been in a cheap little bar on the Cowgate where it was a pound a drink (my round, score!). Then we came in here and it was his round, unlucky for him. Vodka and coke and JD and coke came to just over £6. Poor guy was in shock! So a little expensive. But its quite fun and it has a good atmosphere with friendly bar staff. For future reference they do a student night on Wednesday, so go then for the cheap drinks!

open and crowded with a diverse international student-​heavy crowd on a monday night? that’s not too shabby as far as i’m concerned.

Irish theme great place to go to watch GAA matches. I don’t really know about it as a late night venue but like everywhere in the Grassmarket area I am sure it is a stag /​hen magnet.
Good mix of people and as everyone have said friendly staff.

If you like your bars pseudo-​Irish, busy almost every night of the week and with too small a dance-​floor then this is the place for you. Tolerable up till about midnight but then more often that not uncomfortably busy which makes both getting to the bar and to the toilets a major job of work .They also insist on having covers acts on just when the piped music is getting good.
£2 to get in on Fridays & Saturdays, Cloak-​room £1.

i was a bit biased about the place when it was suggested we go for a drink. It was a very good atmosphere, and it was packed with people as it was almost st patricks day, but despite the high numbers of people everyone is very polite and friendly, full of different nationalities. but trying to find a way to the toilet was a bit difficult.