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The pub’s story
The Doric’s claim to seventeenth-century origins is an operator account, not a date independently established in the sources reviewed here. Its own drinks-list narrative says the building began as a linen-and-materials shop, first became a pub in the early nineteenth century and served cooked meals from 1823. CAMRA repeats the establishment’s broader eighteenth-century claim as a claim, rather than confirming it. The more securely documented later layer is the ground-floor bar refurbishment: the venue’s bar page dates it to 2009, while a menu document describes a complete refurbishment in January 2010. That small discrepancy is better shown as 2009-10 than forced into one date. Today there is a wood-floored bar downstairs and a separate first-floor bistro. Traditional fittings, a Mackay’s mirror and folk-music programming create the character, but none should be treated as proof of a seventeenth-century pub interior.
What to notice
- 01
The ground-floor bar is a documented 2009-10 refurbishment, so traditional fittings should not be presented as an intact seventeenth-century interior.
- 02
The first-floor bistro has no wheelchair access according to the venue’s own accessibility note.
- 03
Treat the very early origin story as an operator claim: the reviewed independent CAMRA record also frames it as a claim.
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
The operator says the building dates from this century; this has not been independently verified in the reviewed sources.
The operator’s drinks-list narrative says the former shop first became a pub in this period.
The same operator narrative says cooked meals were served from this year.
The operator’s bar page dates the ground-floor refurbishment to 2009, while its drinks-list document describes a complete refurbishment in January 2010.
CAMRA surveyed the current two-level bar-and-restaurant operation and its interior features.
The operator continues to present the ground-floor bar and first-floor bistro as separate current spaces.
Sources & confidence
The operator is the source of the oldest-gastropub and eighteenth-century claims; CAMRA labels rather than independently verifies that account. The Food Standards Agency establishes current operation only. Because no primary premises chronology was located, the profile attributes antiquity explicitly and does not date the visible fittings beyond the evidence.
Research reviewed
- The DoricThe Doricofficial
SupportsCurrent venue identity and the operator’s claims for a seventeenth-century building and eighteenth-century gastropub history.
- The Doric drinks listThe Doricofficial
SupportsThe operator’s narrative of earlier shop use, early-nineteenth-century pub conversion, 1823 meals, former names and January 2010 refurbishment.
- BarThe Doricofficial
SupportsThe ground-floor bar’s 2009 refurbishment, current drinks offer and Friday/Saturday folk-music listing.
- Doric Bar & Restaurant, EdinburghCAMRAspecialist
SupportsThe attributed longevity claim, current downstairs fittings, upstairs restaurant arrangement and published weekly bar hours.
- The Doric Tavern food hygiene ratingFood Standards Agencygovernment
SupportsCurrent regulated business identity at the Market Street address; it does not verify the venue’s claimed age.
