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Before you visit
Happening Here
The Singers’ Showcase hosted by Liz Dicks
Whighams Wine Cellars · West End / New Town
17:30
October Jazz Sundays singers' showcase.
Confirmed by Whighams Wine Cellars. View source. Checked .
The pub’s story
Whighams rewards anyone who enjoys the history beneath a name. The entrance announces 1766, but that date belongs to an Ayr wine-merchant business that later became Whighams. Not to this Edinburgh bar. The Hope Street cellar sits within Robert Adam’s Category A-listed Charlotte Square block, built around 1796-1810. Wine merchants carrying the Whigham name were later documented in the connected premises, and Nicholas Henderson opened the present wine bar in 1983. It expanded into the adjoining basement around 2003, bringing intimate vaulted booths and a more open dining room into one venue. Since 2009, its formal Sunday jazz club has added another living layer. Go for the wine or seafood, but notice how merchant history, Georgian fabric and modern hospitality meet below street level.
What to notice
- 01
The descent from Hope Street and the change from Georgian street frontage to a below-street cellar
- 02
The contrast between the intimate vaulted brick booths and the more open room added through later expansion
- 03
The 1766 wording on the entrance and how it refers to wine-merchant lineage rather than the 1983 venue opening
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
Alexander Oliphant & Co. began trading in Ayr; that documented wine-merchant lineage later became Whighams, but this is not the date of the Edinburgh venue or building.
The Robert Adam-designed Charlotte Square block containing 13 Hope Street was built with basement accommodation.
Douglas Haig was born at No. 24 Charlotte Square in the same listed block; this does not establish that the present bar was his wine cellar.
A Whigham-related wine-merchant business was documented at the connected Hope Street address.
Plans record Whigham, Fergusson, Cunningham & Co. offices and the conversion of 24 Charlotte Square with 13-15 Hope Street into bank premises.
The wider block, including 13 Hope Street, was designated Category A.
Whighams says Nicholas Henderson opened the present wine bar at 13 Hope Street.
The venue expanded into adjoining basement space, approximately doubling its original footprint.
Kevin Dorrian and Graeme Knox launched the formal Whighams Jazz Club.
Sources & confidence
Strong evidence separates the 1766 Ayr merchant lineage, the 1796. Circa 1810 listed building, documented twentieth-century merchant offices, the 1983 wine-bar opening and the 2009 jazz club. Claims that the Edinburgh venue opened in 1766 or that the present rooms were Haig’s wine cellar are not adopted. The circa 2003 expansion remains operator-attributed.
Research reviewed
- 24–32 Charlotte Square, 13–19 Hope Street and adjoining addresses (LB28505)Historic Environment Scotland / Troveheritage
SupportsCategory A status, the Robert Adam attribution, the 1796. Circa 1810 block date, basement form and Douglas Haig’s birth at No. 24; the designation covers a larger block than Whighams.
- Alexander Oliphant and Company, wine merchantsScottish Archive Network / National Records of Scotlandarchive
SupportsThe 1766-71 Ayr business and its later Whighams lineage; it does not date the Edinburgh building or hospitality venue.
- Edinburgh, 24 Charlotte Square, 13–15 Hope StreetHistoric Environment Scotland / Trovearchive
SupportsThe 1922 plans naming Whigham, Fergusson, Cunningham & Co. offices; it does not prove how every present cellar room was used.
- Cowie and Seaton architectural archiveHistoric Environment Scotland / Trovearchive
SupportsThe 1922-23 conversion of 24 Charlotte Square and adjoining 13-15 Hope Street into bank premises.
- Whighams Wine CellarsWhighams Wine Cellarsofficial
SupportsCurrent identity, address, contact details, hours, seafood-and-wine focus and the venue-attributed August 1983 opening.
- Whighams Wine Cellars celebrates 40 years of Bollinger and Tennent’sScottish Licensed Trade Newsspecialist
SupportsNicholas Henderson’s account of the 1983 opening, former merchant presence and circa 2003 expansion; colourful trade-history anecdotes are not promoted.
- Jazz in Scotland 2025Creative Scotlandgovernment
SupportsThe 2009 Whighams Jazz Club date and its recognised contribution to Scotland’s jazz scene.
- What we doWhighams Wine Cellarsofficial
SupportsThe venue-attributed March 2009 club launch, current wine and food approach and the Hendersons mural; volatile event times remain outside the historical timeline.
- Whighams Wine Cellars, EdinburghCAMRAspecialist
SupportsCurrent venue identity, address, phone, hours, appearance and map position; it is not used to claim a CAMRA historic-interior grade or a 1766 venue opening.
