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The pub’s story
The Argyle and Cellar Bar occupies the ground floor and basement at 15-17 Argyle Place. Historic Environment Scotland dates the turreted Scots Baronial tenement to around 1875, with the pub frontage beneath four storeys and an attic. An advertisement in The Student confirms the Argyle Bar was serving real ale and lunches here by February 1990. The cellar also has a documented Fringe life: Liam Williams performed Capitalism here, under the Cellar Monkey name, in August 2014. Today CAMRA describes one ground-floor room with banquettes and corner windows, with a separate event space below. The operator offers the cellar for music, comedy, spoken word and private functions. Changing cask beers are part of the bar's offer, and CAMRA records tall dispensing founts replacing the handpumps in 2025.
What to notice
- 01
The pub entrance sits on the chamfered corner beneath the dark fascia.
- 02
Look above the frontage for the tenement's Scots Baronial turret.
- 03
Banquettes line the single ground-floor room, with a separate cellar event space below.
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
The turreted Scots Baronial corner tenement was built.
An Argyle Bar advertisement at 15 Argyle Place establishes pub use with real ale and lunches.
The corner building was listed at Category B.
Liam Williams performed Capitalism at the Cellar Monkey beneath the Argyle Bar.
CAMRA records replacement of the handpumps with tall ale and cider founts.
Sources & confidence
Five distinct chronology events are supported, including a contemporary 2014 Fringe performance at the identified cellar. Official contact-page structuredHours resolves all seven ordinary days. Existing coordinates and inspected frontage evidence are preserved. No founding date or dated cellar refit is invented. The approved principal-frontage portrait and medal are prepared locally; no staging or publication has been performed by this package.
Research reviewed
- Current venue identity, public visitor offer and contact detailsThe Argyle and Cellar Bar operatorofficial
SupportsOfficial phone 0131 221 9759 and cellar hire for music, comedy, spoken word and functions. Edinburgh Deco is operator description, not original-interior dating. No ordinary named-day schedule.
- Exact premises identity/address, specialist description and practical cross-checkCAMRA Edinburgh and SE Scotlandspecialist
Supports15-17 Argyle Place; single ground-floor room, corner windows, banquettes, basement events, changing cask beers. Handpumps replaced by tall ale/cider founts in 2025. Non-official hours only. Leasehold Caleydonian Heritable; freehold Naylor Brothers, not proof of current licensee.
- Statutory LB30337 building and listing accountHistoric Environment Scotlandgovernment
SupportsLB30337: c.1875 Scots Baronial corner tenement with turret; Category B listed 15 January 1992. Public-house ground floor, stone/cast-iron columns with foliate capitals, altered windows. Interior not inspected in 1990.
- 8 February 1990, printed page 15: advertisement identifies Argyle Bar at 15 Argyle Place, real ale and lunchesThe Student, University of Edinburgh archivearchive
Supports8 February 1990, printed page 15: advertisement identifies Argyle Bar at 15 Argyle Place, real ale and lunches. Direct contemporary pub-use evidence, not founding date.
- Inspected exterior photograph: black wraparound fascia, ARGYLE BAR lettering, brown corner double doors and tall windowsThe Skinnyappearance
SupportsInspected exterior photograph: black wraparound fascia, ARGYLE BAR lettering, brown corner double doors and tall windows. Undated image; old event blackboard is excluded.
- Exact node 2277391529 carries premises name, address, latitude and longitudeOpenStreetMap contributorsappearance
SupportsExact node 2277391529 carries premises name, address, latitude and longitude. Retrieved HTTP 200 and plotted within building footprint. Hours/contact tags are not adopted.
- Official contact-page opening-hours widgetArgyle Cellar Bar operatorofficial
SupportsExact premises contact page. The hydrated expanded seven-day table, independently inspected by the controller, gives Monday-Thursday 16:00-00:00, Friday 15:00-00:00 and Saturday-Sunday 14:00-00:00. Its directly linked page-data script agrees; the crawler's ambiguous Open today value is excluded.
SupportsContemporary review identifies the performed show Capitalism at Laughing Horse @ The Cellar Monkey during the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe. The London URL section does not change the explicitly named Edinburgh performance.
- Cellar Monkey premises identity beneath Argyle BarThe Skinnyspecialist
SupportsIdentifies Cellar Monkey beneath Argyle Bar at EH9 1JJ, phone 0131 221 9759. Undated recently-refurbished wording is not assigned a refurbishment year, and festival hours are not adopted as ordinary hours.
