Morningside – A Pub of Curios, a Cowboy Lane and the Dominion
A few hours.
The route
An afternoon on Morningside Road in south Edinburgh, everything within ten minutes' walk.
Lunch is at the Canny Man's, a Victorian pub crowded with curios, and the film is at the Dominion, Morningside's art deco cinema, with a mock Wild West street up a lane between the two.
The day
Morningside
An easy afternoon on foot, with lunch to start and a film to finish.
About four hours, with lunch and a film
The Canny Man’s
Lunch
The Canny Man's is at 237 Morningside Road, and Lothian buses 5, 11, 15, 16, 23 and 36 stop a minute up the road. James Kerr opened it in 1871 as the Volunteer Arms, and his family still runs it. Drums and brass horns hang from the ceilings, and mirrors, clocks and paintings crowd the walls. Lunch is served from noon: try the smørrebrød, open sandwiches on soda bread, and the Bloody Mary the pub is famous for. Tables can be booked online or on 0131 447 1484.
More about The Canny Man’s2 min on foot
The Wild West in Springvalley Gardens
An attraction
Springvalley Gardens is 2 minutes' walk north up Morningside Road, and a lane off it opens into a cowboy town. Weathered timber fronts are painted for a grain and livery store, a blacksmith and a jail, and the arched door of an adobe cantina is Morningside Library's fire exit. It was put up in the 1990s as an advertisement for The Great American Indoors, a shop selling Santa Fe-style furniture. It's free, and workshops still use the buildings, so keep it to a quiet look.
More about The Wild West in Springvalley Gardens5 min on foot
Dominion Cinema
An attraction
The Dominion is 5 minutes' walk further north, on Newbattle Terrace just off Morningside Road. The Edinburgh architect T. Bowhill Gibson designed it, it opened on 31 January 1938, and it is still independent and family-run. Its screens are fitted with sofas and armchairs, reclining in the First Class lounge of the largest, and the bar sells wine, draught beer and popcorn to take in with you. Pick a showing on its website; the box office opens at noon at weekends, 1pm from Wednesday to Friday and 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, and tickets bought there carry no booking fee.
More about Dominion Cinema
If it rains
On a wet day, the pub and the cinema are under cover, and the lane is a quick look in the open.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Edinburgh.
Photograph by William Goodfellow via Google