'%20d='M32%203C16.4%203%206%2015.3%206%2031.2c0%2010.9%206.6%2020.1%2014.3%2026.2L32%2077l11.7-19.6C51.4%2051.3%2058%2042.1%2058%2031.2%2058%2015.3%2047.6%203%2032%203Zm0%2014c-8.8%200-14.5%207-14.5%2016.4V55h29V33.4C46.5%2024%2040.8%2017%2032%2017Z'/%3e%3cpath%20fill='%23C99B4A'%20d='m27.5%2055%204.5-24%204.5%2024h-9Z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
The pub’s story
The Last Drop at 74-78 Grassmarket is best read as a current Nicholson’s pub in a much-altered historic tenement, not as an execution-era tavern. HES records a 1634 lintel within the wider listed 74-84 block; the Council’s pre-1750 survey says the building was rebuilt in 1929-30. Grassmarket executions ended before 1785, whereas Edinburgh’s final public execution was at the Lawnmarket in 1864. That matters because the operator’s “1864 Grassmarket” story compresses two locations. The claim that prisoners took a final meal or whisky here is explicitly rumour. Today it is a busy food-and-drink pub with folk music and source-checked late hours. Look for the survival and reworking of the building, but let the name point to the district’s execution history rather than a proved pub event.
What to notice
- 01
The 1634 lintel belongs to the wider listed block; it is not an opening date for The Last Drop.
- 02
The final execution at the Grassmarket was before 1785; 1864 refers to Edinburgh’s later Lawnmarket execution. Treat the final-meal and whisky tale as operator-labelled rumour.
- 03
Official hours are 11:00-00:00 Sunday. Thursday and 11:00-01:00 Friday. Saturday; folk music is a programme, so check ahead.
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
A worn lintel dated 1634 survives within the wider 74-84 Grassmarket listed block; this dates fabric, not the present pub business.
A nineteenth-century historical account records that executions were conducted in the Grassmarket before 1785, after processions down the West Bow.
Edinburgh’s final public execution took place at the Lawnmarket, not the Grassmarket; this corrects the location compressed in the pub’s current 1864 story.
The City Council’s pre-1750 survey records 74-84 Grassmarket as a seventeenth-century building rebuilt in 1929-30 by Ebenezer J. MacRae.
The Last Drop trades at 74-78 Grassmarket as a Nicholson’s pub with current official late-opening hours and a CAMRA-noted folk-music programme.
Sources & confidence
The official venue page supports present details, hours, the Grassmarket gallows context and the operator’s account of the name. It itself labels the last-meal story as rumour, so it is not elevated into fact. Forever Edinburgh independently supports the broader Grassmarket execution context.
Research reviewed
- 74–84 (Even Nos) Grassmarket (LB28942)Historic Environment Scotlandheritage
SupportsCategory B listed block, the 1634 lintel, later alteration of the frontage and the wider Grassmarket’s market and execution context.
- Pre-1750 Buildings in Edinburgh Old Town Conservation AreaCity of Edinburgh Councilgovernment
SupportsThe Council survey’s 1634 date and 1929-30 rebuilding record for 74-84 Grassmarket.
- Old and New Edinburgh: its history, its people, and its placesNational Library of Scotlandarchive
SupportsThe historical account that, before 1785, prisoners were conducted down West Bow to executions in the Grassmarket.
- The Hidden History of Public Executions in EdinburghEscape the Pastspecialist
SupportsThe distinction between the last Grassmarket execution in 1784 and Edinburgh’s final public execution at Lawnmarket on 21 June 1864.
- The Last DropNicholson’s Pubsofficial
SupportsCurrent 74-78 Grassmarket identity, official weekly hours and the operator’s own execution and final-meal story, which it labels as rumour.
- Last Drop, EdinburghEdinburgh & South-East Scotland CAMRAspecialist
SupportsCurrent traditional-pub description, food and drink focus, folk-music note and the warning that the visible beams include later additions.
- Licensed Premises RegisterCity of Edinburgh Councilgovernment
SupportsCurrent licensed-premises entry for Last Drop, Mitchells & Butlers Retail Ltd, 74-78 Grassmarket, EH1 2JR.
- 6 of the spookiest bars in EdinburghForever Edinburghgovernment
SupportsVisitor-guide source for the reported young girl in the bar or cellar; treated as unverified folklore alongside the independently documented Grassmarket context.
