Wally Dug

One of the bets boozers in the city and a cracking pub quiz on a Sunday to boot. Landlord Jamie is a great guy and always very welcoming.
Highly recommended for a nice few drinks!

Scottish Cup Final, both Edinburgh teams, Hearts vs. Hibs, try finding a pub anywhere in Edinburgh that isn’t full of football supporters!
The Wally Dug wasn’t only devoid of football fans, it was entirely devoid of other customers, except the large lady who gave my mate Geoff the eye as we were leaving…
Of course, this meant that we were served quickly and efficiently. The beer was good, though it is quite hard to make a mess of a pint of lager.
The chat from the barman was non existent, but then again, I was in with my mates, so wasn’t relying on small talk from a paid friend.
Apparently it is quite popular with students during the week, so if I’m back again it’ll likely be on a Saturday afternoon again!

This is one of my favourite pubs. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why but it just has the right amount of charm. I tend to think of it as a real ale, old man kind of pub, along the lines of others in the New Town, but that’s not really true. They only have one or two real ales on tap, and in fact I actually drink Guinness at the Wally Dug because it’s really good there. And it’s not an old man pub as it generally has a young clientele. Sometimes you have to avoid the rugby watching yah crowd but you get that anywhere in the New Town. And an added bonus is that if you’re not Scottish you can feel one step closer to learning the lingo by understanding what a wally dug is.
It has a main room, a back room and a snug. The snug, as in most pubs, is highly sought after, so it’s often taken. It’s not a huge pub but with three rooms it’s big enough. It often looks busier than it is because a handful of people in front of the bar can make it seem crowded when you peer in from the doorway.
It’s a great pub for the daytime. You can pop in for a pint and a read of the paper on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, or for a couple after work. It’s perfect for a quiet drink, and if you can nab the table in the front window then you can watch the world go by or the rain fall from a cosy location below street level. Basement pubs always have that extra character. You descend the entrance stair, open the door with its steamed up windows and step into the Wally Dug for a quiet pint. Character, class, quiet. I think I just remembered why it’s one of my favourite pubs.

As with Julia S, my first experience with the Wally Dug was a New Town/​Real Ale pub crawl. Or so I thought. Apparently I’ve been here before but that memory is a bit hazy …
The Wally Dug is a nice wee pub. The inside is cozy, broken into a couple of different rooms (formerly a house, I’m assuming) which give it a nice warm feel. As is usual with these kinds of places, it has tasty beer and talkative regulars.
It’s not a place I frequent terribly often because it is a bit out of my way and I tend to prefer places which are a bit more lively, but it definitely is a great place for a good pint and good craic.

Nice pub. Free wifi

The Wally Dug is a very well loved pub amongst Edinburgh locals, and whenever I’ve been in, it always has its faithful regulars propping up the bar and gabbing away, which always gives you that nice sense of stability and comfort when you feel lost in the fickle world of drinking. Or maybe I’m just being melodramatic.
Anyway, the Dug (people that frequent this pub will probably be displeased by this abbreviation) is a cosy little basement cubby hole for a quiet pint, or a more excitable one if it’s the weekend. It’s fairly small here, so you can feel like you’re quite squished in either of the two rooms. There’s always a friendly atmosphere though, and the staff were lovely last time I was in. There are other pubs that are probably higher on my list of attendance notches, as I don’t feel I’ve totally made friends with the vibe here yet, but I would still absolutely say it’s a very decent pub to sit yourself down in for a beverage.

This was another pub on the let’s-discover-New-Town-pubs crawl. I mainly wanted to go in because I liked the name of the pub. I’m very partial to good names. When I can’t decide on a wine to buy, I go by name. Or pretty label.
The Wally Dug is a pretty name with a pretty label. So we went in. And inside held pretty decoration (a la old man pub) and pretty ale. It’s got two rooms, and we sat in the cozier of the rooms. It was pretty empty at that time, but in a comforting way. Because it’s not as big as the Cask & Barrel, it didn’t feel quite empty.
We didn’t stay for very long, but it was one of the pubs I enjoyed the most on our discovery pub crawl (partially because it was one of the earlier ones we went to so I could actually remember what it was like inside).

A rather lovely little public house in great part of New Town. And as all great pubs should do, they make toasties. Friendly staff and plenty of regulars.
It’s split into two parts, one at the front which is quite open and a cosier area at the back which has more seating and a Nintendo Wii. I read somewhere that it allows dogs in, which is a rarity and so it should considering what it’s name is!
Shame about the annoying Yah thing as I know I gone on about but hey, it’s annoying that this trend hasn’t gone away yet.

Popped into the Wally Dug one Sunday lunch time after it had been reccommeded by a friend, I just about got to the bar but turned around and retreated as there was an overpowering smell of cleaning products. After noting that here was no real ale on the premised I decided to look elsewhere.

This is a small bar on Northumberland Street in New Town Edinburgh. Worth noting that it allows dogs in the bar. Only other pub that does that in this area is the Cumberland Bar. It also has a Wii games system that you can use for free.
It serves all the usual beers and other drinks. As the other reviewer notes, there can be a posh student clientel, but i’ve never found it too annoying. As it’s a small bar (approximately 6 tables plus standing area by the bar) a dozen students can be quite noisy — particularly if they are playing the Guitar game on the pub’s Wii ! The bar staff are very friendly, and it’s a pub with many regulars. They only serve toasted sandwiches as food.

The Wally Dug is a cosy public house situated in Edinburgh’s New Town.
The pub has one long bar and two separate seating areas — one at the front which is quite open and a cosier area at the back which has more seating.
The bar has a good selection of ales and spirits on offer and has several of the wally dug oranments for which it is named on display inside.
I have visited this pub several times and usually the crowd is fun loving and pleasant but beware Hooray Henrys taking the place over and behaving like louts. Sadly I have had a couple of visits completely ruined by this behaviour which at the time staff seemed reluctant to deal with.
Overall however it is a lovely little public house in a particularly pleasant part of the city.