Café Royal celebrates 200 years on West Register Street

Café Royal has traded on Edinburgh's West Register Street since 1826, moving into its current building in 1863. The Victorian interiors survive largely unchanged: stained glass windows of sportsmen by Ballantine and Gardiner, six Royal Doulton ceramic tile portraits made for the 1886 Edinburgh International Exhibition, and a marbled bar.

In the 1960s the building nearly became a Woolworths, until a petition of more than 8,000 signatures helped save it. Now run by the Metropolitan Pub Company, Café Royal is marking its bicentenary with special menus throughout the year, including a ‘200 Years’ seafood platter and a drinks list featuring a Champagne Cobbler and a Knickerbocker rum cocktail.

The restaurant and bar were recently named Restaurant Bar of the Year at the Drink Awards Scotland. Around 1,000 oysters, sourced from Cumbrae, are sold there each week.