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The pub’s story
The Athletic Arms, locally called the Diggers, is a 1897 pub in the ground floor of an 1889 five-storey tenement on Angle Park Terrace. Historic Environment Scotland records the tenement’s development, while CAMRA supplies the pub chronology; those are related, but not identical, histories. The nickname is documented as a local reference to the pub’s position between two large cemeteries. Its surviving plan is unusually legible: a carved back gantry, small oak island gantry, screened publican’s office and a separate glazed back room retain real historic interest. It is not an untouched Victorian interior. CAMRA records Scottish & Newcastle’s early-1990s purchase, a replacement counter and top, and the 2002 removal of former jug-bar and private-bar partitions. HES describes Peter L. Henderson as a possible. Not proven. Designer of the interior. The result is a layered, working cask-ale pub rather than a period reconstruction.
What to notice
- 01
Look for the carved back gantry, small oak island gantry and screened publican’s office; CAMRA identifies these as surviving historic features.
- 02
The right-hand back room is separated by a glazed screen and retains timber dado and brass service bells.
- 03
The room plan has changed: the former jug-bar and private-bar partitions were removed in 2002, so do not read every feature as original.
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
The five-storey tenement block containing the pub was built; this is building history, not the pub-opening date.
Historic Environment Scotland records alterations to the tenement by Peter L. Henderson.
Further documented alterations were made to the tenement before the pub’s recorded opening.
CAMRA records the Athletic Arms opening here.
Historic Environment Scotland records Thomas Wilkie Innes, wine and spirit merchant, at the address.
CAMRA records the T. W. Innes Trust as the pub’s owner.
CAMRA records Scottish & Newcastle’s purchase and subsequent changes to the counter and bar top.
CAMRA records removal of partitions for the former jug bar and private bar, plus a counter-top screen and three tall founts.
CAMRA’s January survey continues to grade the interior two-star, of very special national historic interest.
Sources & confidence
CAMRA supplies the opening date, nickname explanation, detailed 2026 interior survey and two-star heritage grade. Historic Environment Scotland independently fixes the containing tenement at 1889 and supplies its statutory identity. The dates are deliberately separated, and the 1990s alterations are stated so the interior is not misrepresented as untouched.
Research reviewed
- Athletic Arms (Diggers), EdinburghCAMRAspecialist
SupportsThe pub’s 1897 opening, interior survey, historic fittings, early-1990s Scottish & Newcastle ownership and 2002 alterations.
- 1–7 Angle Park Terrace including the Athletic Arms (LB48568)Historic Environment Scotlandheritage
SupportsThe 1889 tenement, documented 1890s alterations, Thomas Wilkie Innes’s 1898 occupation, the Diggers nickname and cautious Henderson attribution.
- Contact & BookAthletic Armsofficial
SupportsCurrent venue identity, address and published opening hours.
- Defunct Brewery Liveries: ScotlandBrewery History Societyspecialist
SupportsSpecialist context for historic Scottish brewery equipment and livery retained in the pub.
- Scotland’s Real Heritage PubsCAMRA Pub Heritage Groupspecialist
SupportsIndependent CAMRA Pub Heritage Group context for Scotland’s nationally important historic pub interiors.
