All pubs
Grassmarket / Old Town

The Beehive Inn

A listed, multi-level Grassmarket pub with a big rear garden and Castle-facing setting.

Hours & directions
The Beehive Inn’s named black-and-gold Grassmarket frontage beneath its stepped stone gable.
Your story starts here
Venue medal

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Why it is in the guide

The pub’s story

The Beehive Inn, at 18-20 Grassmarket, occupies a Category B 1868 public-house building by John Paterson. HES identifies its carved beehive panel, crow-stepped centre gable and the wider market history of the street. The current pub should not be dated back to a supposed sixteenth-century inn: that claim and the upstairs “condemned cell” door appear in CAMRA’s venue description rather than in the statutory listing. The present operator says the site was the Beehive Hotel in the nineteenth century and advertises a large garden under Castle Rock, live sport, food and late hours. CAMRA reported a major refurbishment and reopening in February 2026. The strongest reason to visit is the mix of listed street frontage, garden and roomy pub, while keeping the more colourful building lore clearly attributed.

Ghost stories and darker history

What the stories say

Historic Environment Scotland dates the present Beehive public-house building to 1868, with a carved beehive motif. That is firmer than broader stories that call it a sixteenth-century coaching inn; the Grassmarket’s execution history belongs to the street, not automatically to this pub’s fabric.

The condemned-cell door

CAMRA and Forever Edinburgh repeat a story that a door at the Beehive came from a condemned cell in Calton Jail, sometimes linked in the telling to William Burke. Neither the heritage listing nor the sources reviewed documents the door’s provenance or that connection.

Attributed pub tradition, repeated by CAMRA and Forever Edinburgh.

A dark-history stop rather than a proven haunting

The pub’s appeal on a haunted walk is its Grassmarket context and the jail-door tradition. We found no independently sourced report of a specific apparition at the Beehive, so the route does not invent one.

Evidence-led editorial distinction.

Folklore, not fact: The 1868 building and the Grassmarket’s history are documented. The earlier-inn and jail-door claims are attributed traditions; no ghost is presented as fact.

During your visit

What to notice

  1. 01

    Look for the carved beehive panel and crow-stepped gable on the listed 1868 frontage.

  2. 02

    The supposed sixteenth-century inn and condemned-cell door are CAMRA’s pub account, not conclusions in the statutory building record.

  3. 03

    Official hours are 10:00-01:00 Sunday. Thursday and 10:00-02:00 Friday. Saturday; the garden sits beneath Castle Rock.

Chronology

The time rail

The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.

Sitesupported
by 1500

Historic Environment Scotland identifies the Grassmarket as an established secondary market place by this date; that is neighbourhood context, not the pub’s opening.

Sitesupported
1513

After Flodden, the city walls were strengthened and enclosed the Grassmarket and Cowgate.

Buildingsupported
1868

John Paterson built the present three-storey public-house building, with the carved beehive motif in the frontage.

Listingsupported
29 March 2001

18-24 Grassmarket, including the Beehive Inn, was added to the statutory list at Category B.

Pub useattributed
February 2026

CAMRA reported reopening after a major refurbishment; its source also attributes the sixteenth-century-inn and condemned-cell-door stories.

Pub usesupported
2026

The Beehive trades at 18-20 Grassmarket with official current late hours, beer garden, food, sport and events provision.

Sources & confidence

HES supports the 1868 building, Category B designation, façade details and the Grassmarket’s market history. CAMRA supports current multi-room/pub features and the February 2026 reopening, while clearly separate older inn/door claims remain specialist pub history. The operator supports present contact and weekly hours.

Research reviewed

  • 18–24 (Even Nos) Grassmarket, Beehive Inn (LB47873)Historic Environment Scotlandheritage

    SupportsCategory B designation, 1868 John Paterson public-house building, carved beehive motif, façade detail and Grassmarket market and wall history.

  • The GrassmarketEdinburgh World Heritageheritage

    SupportsIndependent area context: medieval market heritage, public gatherings and the Grassmarket’s historic execution role.

  • Beehive Inn, EdinburghBelhaven / Greene Kingofficial

    SupportsCurrent operator identity, location, garden, food, sport facilities and official weekly opening hours checked 17 August 2026.

  • Contact UsBeehive Inn / Belhavenofficial

    SupportsCurrent 18-20 Grassmarket address, contact details and the same current hours.

  • Beehive Inn, EdinburghEdinburgh & South-East Scotland CAMRAspecialist

    SupportsFebruary 2026 refurbishment reopening, three-floor layout, garden and the attributed sixteenth-century-inn and condemned-cell-door stories.

  • Licensed Premises RegisterCity of Edinburgh Councilgovernment

    SupportsCurrent licensed-premises entry for Beehive Inn, Greene King Brewing & Retailing Ltd, 18-20 Grassmarket, EH1 2JU.

  • 6 of the spookiest bars in EdinburghForever Edinburghgovernment

    SupportsVisitor-guide source for the attributed Calton Jail condemned-cell-door and William Burke story; the current building’s 1868 date is kept separate.

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