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New Town

Star Bar

Also known as The Star Tavern

An intentionally hard-to-spot black-fronted New Town local, with an 1804 listed building and a much later cursed-skull legend.

Hours & directions
Star Bar’s black frontage at 1 Northumberland Place, with a small pavement board reading Star Bar.
Your story starts here
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Why it is in the guide

The pub’s story

Star Bar is a deliberately low-key New Town local at 1 Northumberland Place. Historic Environment Scotland records the 1804 Robert Reid and William Sibbald building as a Category B listed tenement with a public house, then called the Star Tavern. The present black frontage is notably unmarked: a recent visitor record describes it as having no pub sign at all. That makes its famous skull story a piece of modern pub folklore attached to a real early-nineteenth-century public-house site. Not proof of an ancient curse.

Ghost stories and darker history

What the stories say

The building’s early-nineteenth-century public-house use is well evidenced: Historic Environment Scotland records a public house called the Star Tavern at the 1804 listed tenement. The alleged skull, underground connections and specific misfortunes are a separate folklore narrative.

The cursed skull

A 2024 Spooky Isles article recounts a story that a skull kept in the Star Bar’s basement brought bad luck or tragedy after being disturbed. The article presents a folklorist’s and walk participants’ accounts, not archaeological identification or independently verified causal evidence.

Reported folklore in John S. Tantalon’s Spooky Isles article.

The filmed anomaly

The same author describes a participant’s phone video of a ghost-walk telling becoming distorted and a basement image that some viewers read as faces. Those are interpretations of an anecdote and an image. Not a demonstration of paranormal activity.

Single-author reported account; included for transparency, not proof.

Folklore, not fact: Treat this as a contemporary pub legend. We found no independent evidence for the skull’s origin, a burial-ground claim, or any claimed link between it and misfortune.

During your visit

What to notice

  1. 01

    The unmarked black frontage: it is deliberately easy to miss, so do not confuse the lack of a shop sign with a different address.

  2. 02

    The bracket street lamp and traditional sash windows recorded in the listed-building description.

  3. 03

    The tucked-away New Town lane setting. More neighbourhood local than visitor landmark.

Chronology

The time rail

The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.

Buildingsupported
1804

The listed Northumberland Place tenement is designed by Robert Reid and William Sibbald; the record includes a public house, then named the Star Tavern.

Buildingsupported
c.1819

Historic Environment Scotland says the first New Town extension building programme was complete by about this date.

Listingsupported
1998

1 Northumberland Place is entered as a Category B listed building (LB45518).

Pub usesupported
2023

CAMRA records new management in August 2023; its listing notes the previous Star Tavern name.

Pub usesupported
2026

Star Bar remains a licensed, trading New Town bar.

Sources & confidence

Strong for the listed 1804 public-house building, current licensed identity and the bar’s basic layout. The skull narrative rests on a recent folklore article, while the unmarked black exterior is independently described by a 2025 visitor record.

Research reviewed

  • 1 Northumberland Place (LB45518)Historic Environment Scotlandheritage

    SupportsCategory B listing, 1804 Robert Reid and William Sibbald tenement, former Star Tavern public-house description and wider New Town context.

  • Star Bar, EdinburghCAMRAspecialist

    SupportsAddress, contact details, Star Tavern former-name record, L-shaped split-level layout, August 2023 management change and stated hours (last updated 2023).

  • Star BarTripadvisoreditorial

    SupportsBusiness-managed current listing, address, phone and weekly opening schedule checked 17 August 2026.

  • Licensed Premises RegisterCity of Edinburgh Councilgovernment

    SupportsCurrent licensed-premises entry for Star Bar at 1 Northumberland Place.

  • The Star Bar, EdinburghPubs Galoreeditorial

    SupportsA July 2025 visitor report describing the current black exterior and lack of pub signage; this informs the image’s intentionally understated frontage.

  • The Cursed Skull of The Star Bar, EdinburghSpooky Isleseditorial

    SupportsA clearly attributed 2024 telling of the alleged cursed skull and associated modern anecdotes; not independent proof.

  • Star Bar, EdinburghCAMRAappearance

    SupportsGenuine exterior reference used to guide the cleaned, people-free frontage portrait.

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