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Wooden chairs surround a long table before a wall of illuminated wine bottles.
Edinburgh

Smith & Gertrude

A wine and cheese bar in Stockbridge, opened in 2015 by Amy and Duncan Findlater, with more than 150 wines on its list and cheese to match.

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Welcome

On Hamilton Place, where Stockbridge runs down to the Water of Leith, a bright room of scrubbed wooden tables and mismatched chairs opens onto the street, a small vase of flowers on each table and a long communal table set with candles under the window.

Wine racks climb one wall and a wall of lit bottles glows behind the bar, with blue chairs and patterned ones pulled up to the tables and shelves of bottles and books beside the counter. Downstairs is a vaulted stone cellar, lined on both sides with wine and decanters set into the stone, a long table lit by candles down the middle. The boards come laden with cheese, crackers, grapes and toasted bread. Come in the late afternoon, and ask what they would pour.

Before you go

Wine by the glass and bottle, cheese and charcuterie boards and a few bigger plates, among them a cheese toastie.

There is a second bar on Portobello High Street.

Where
Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, overlooking the Water of Leith.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
4pm–11pm
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
4pm–11pm
Thursday
4pm–11pm
Friday
1pm–midnight
Saturday
1pm–midnight
Sunday
1pm–10pm

Did you know

Wine bottles and glass decanters fill wooden shelves set into a vaulted stone wall.
Did you know

Born in Melbourne.

Amy and Duncan Findlater lived and worked in Melbourne and New York, and came home wanting to open the kind of easy-going wine bar they had found there.

Bottled drinks and books sit on floating shelves in a wine shop, a wine bottle on the counter below.
Did you know

New to the trade.

Neither had worked in hospitality beyond student bar jobs. Duncan worked in IT and Amy was a casting agent in London.

Lit candles stand on a wooden table before shelves of wine bottles in a dim cellar.
Did you know

A cat café before.

Before it was a wine bar, the building had been a cat café and a ladies' gym.

Cheese boards, glasses of wine and small plates cover a wooden table set for a tasting.
Did you know

A school gym floor.

The floor is reclaimed from a school gymnasium.

A cheese board and bowl of crackers sit beside glasses of red, white and rosé wine.
Did you know

Three cheeses, three wines.

Its flights match three cheeses with three wines, often wines from outside the usual categories.

A cheese board and bowl of crackers sit beside glasses of wine and a small potted plant.
Did you know

Pick a record.

A record player and a stack of vinyl stand in the corner for customers to choose from.

Wine glasses and cheese boards sit on a wooden table before a cushioned banquette.
What is on

What is new across Edinburgh, day by day.

New places, news and stories, as we find them.

What is on in Edinburgh
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Where it is

On Hamilton Place in Stockbridge, above the Water of Leith.

Close byThe places nearest Smith & Gertrude, in Stockbridge.
  1. Green corner shopfront reading "I.J. Mellis Cheesemonger" with cream awning and wooden bench outsideI.J. MellisAn artisan cheese shop specialising in farmhouse cheeses.Under a mile1 min by road
  2. Golden Hare BooksGolden Hare BooksAn independent bookshop on St Stephen Street, its books shown face out.Under a mile1 min by road
  3. Saorsa GallerySaorsa GalleryThe studio and gallery of the painter Tommy Fitchet.Under a mile1 min by road
  4. StockbridgeStockbridgeAn old village on the Water of Leith, with a market arch of 1825.Under a mile1 min by road
  5. Circus LaneCircus LaneA curving cobbled mews of the early 1800s behind Royal Circus.Under a mile1 min by road
  6. St Bernard's WellSt Bernard's WellA figure of Hygeia, goddess of health, by the Water of Leith.Under a mile1 min by road
Directions
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