Here, Isla Mercer tells us which pubs are worth a visit throughout the Fringe Festival...

It’s that time of year again - August. The sun has finally begun to start shining (in intervals, alongside the downpours) and 250,000 people have descended upon Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. If you’re getting a bit bored of plastic cups, here are a list of pubs with a great beer selection to visit while you’re in the capital for the festival. Or any other time you’re in Edinburgh, really.

Cloisters

26 Brougham Street, EH3 9JH

Cloisters is famous for having a huge range of beers, and that commitment certainly doesn’t waiver over the festival, with the old parsonage building hosting an impressive nine casks, nine kegs and one cider. For the duration of August, Cloisters is actually a registered festival venue, hosting a Scottish beer festival with those eighteen beer taps pouring brews from over forty Scottish breweries! Their selection ranges from the trusty Cairngorm to the tiny Campervan (a ‘pico-brewery’ based in a campervan in Edinburgh). Cloisters also has a fantastic burger range with a special haggis burger available throughout the festival. You can find out more information about the breweries and beers involved on their website. To make things even better, they’re a ‘Dugs Welcome’ venue, so you can even pop in for a fly half whilst you’re taking the dog for a walk around the Meadows.

Greenmantle

44 West Cross Causeway, EH8 9JP

The Greenmantle was my go-to pub as a student…and still is. I love the cosy atmosphere and beer related décor, but the biggest appeal for me is the live music. There are bands playing every Thursday and Saturday. Thursday evening is folk night, with both regulars and newcomers playing a varied range of music. Saturday hosts Irish musician Ray Considine who is well known on the Edinburgh live circuit. Both music nights create a fantastic atmosphere, which is even better during the Fringe, for which they’ve got an extended license until 3am every night. In terms of beers, they have four cask ales which rotate through a number of Scottish breweries. They also have Punk IPA permanently on keg so there’s something for everyone - and their buffalo meat burgers, which are sourced from the Puddledub farm in Fife, are famous throughout the city! As well as the main pub, they are also running the bar at Zoo Southside venue just up the road at 117 Nicholson Street, which has live music on every afternoon and a variety of acts each night.

Blue Blazer

2 Spittal Street, EH3 9DX

The Blue Blazer is a short walk up from the bustling Grassmarket. This cosy little pub is a haven for real ale drinkers with eight cask pumps, five of which rotate through various Scottish breweries. They also have an impressive rum collection, with over eighty different bottles. They have their own rum club which hosts an evening on the last Sunday of every month. Whisky and gin are also well represented on the spirits front. Like the Greenmantle, Blue Blazer also has an extended license to 3am during August and the atmosphere is fantastic. It’s always filled with a wide range of people, from students to holiday makers to the locals and it has a real friendly feel about it. If you want a flavour of a true Scottish pub, they don’t come more atmospheric than the Blue Blazer.

Teuchters Landing

1c Dock Place, EH6 6LU

If you want to escape the ruckus of the festival, I recommend heading down to Leith - the Shore area has a multitude of great pubs and it’s considerably more serene that the centre of town. If you carry on a bit further, you reach Teuchter’s Landing, just off Commercial Street. The building is the old Aberdeen ferry terminal (hence the name) and it’s situated right on the canal, so the views are stunning. The building itself is like Dr Who’s tardis, it seems small when you first walk in but opens out with lots of seating overlooking the canal and Edinburgh’s largest beer garden, with some of the seats on a floating pontoon. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of the local otters that live under the bridge beside the pub building. There are five cask taps, with two as rotating guests, always from Scottish breweries. One of these guests is always a stout, which gets big brownie points from a lover of stout like myself. There’s also a rotating guest keg tap, which is again, always from a Scottish brewery. As well as the Scottish beers available, Teuchter’s Landing boasts an extremely impressive one hundred and ten strong whisky collection! There’s also the chance to have a nip of any whisky on the bar by throwing a hoop round it. If you start to feel a bit hungry, they own the restaurant ‘A Room In Leith’ next door which serves up amazing Scottish seafood and meat platters. They also do a Mug Menu, where you’re served classic dishes like stovies in mugs with a drawing of the pub on the outside, which is the perfect warmer once the sun begins to set.