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Before you visit
Happening Here
Thursday Pub Quiz with Goose
The Golf Tavern · Bruntsfield
21:30Free
Free quiz with prizes.
Confirmed by The Golf Tavern. View source. Checked .
The pub’s story
The building began as a tenement around 1831. In 1852 the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society rented first-floor rooms as a clubhouse, with laundress Mary Gilchrist looking after the members, before moving downstairs in 1856. The society left for Musselburgh in 1876 but kept rooms here for older members until 1894. The pub arrived later. In 1898 James Muir and Company hired architect Robert Macfarlane Cameron to remake the frontage, move the entrance to the right and open Ye Olde Golf Tavern. That refit also introduced the famous 1456 date. Scottish Golf History treats it as legend, not proof that a tavern traded here in the fifteenth century. Other golf clubs then used the house, and the links remain part of its daily life. You can still hire clubs at the bar for the short-hole course across the road, stepping from a Victorian golf clubhouse story into a pub built to celebrate it.
What to notice
- 01
The 1456 date is part of the 1898 pub scheme. Scottish Golf History calls it legendary, so it should not be read as a documented opening year.
- 02
The arched entrance is at the right-hand end because architect Robert Macfarlane Cameron moved it there during the 1898 remodelling.
- 03
Ask at the bar about club hire for the free short-hole course on Bruntsfield Links. The summer and winter course arrangements differ, so check before planning a round.
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
The building at 30-31 Wright's Houses was built as a tenement.
The Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society took the first floor as its clubhouse, looked after by Mary Gilchrist, a laundress living on the top floor.
The society moved down into the ground floor rooms, with Jane Stewart as club-mistress.
The society officially moved to Musselburgh, keeping clubhouse arrangements here for older members.
The remaining clubhouse arrangement for aged members ended.
The brewers James Muir and Company had the architect Cameron remodel the premises into a pub: the facade was rebuilt, the door moved from the centre to the right, and the house named Ye Olde Golf Tavern with its legendary 1456 date.
The Bruntsfield Allied and Edinburgh Thistle clubs used the new tavern as their clubhouse, with the Bruntsfield Short-Hole club recorded there from 1904 to 1907.
Sources & confidence
Scottish Golf History carries almost the whole chronology and is independent of the venue: the building was a tenement of about 1831, golfers used it as a clubhouse from 1852 to 1894, and it became a pub only in 1898, when brewers James Muir and Company had the architect Cameron rebuild the facade, move the door to the right and rename the house Ye Olde Golf Tavern with the date 1456, which that source calls legendary. The Dictionary of Scottish Architects independently confirms the architect as Robert Macfarlane Cameron and lists the Golf Tavern among his works, though it dates the job 1899. Beyond the architect, the chronology depends on that single specialist account, and no wider corroboration is implied. CAMRA is used only for a dated interior description, since its record was surveyed in 2019 and warns it may not be well maintained. Official pages read on 21 August 2026 supply identity, bar and kitchen hours and the seasonal golf arrangement.
Research reviewed
- Bruntsfield Links - Oldest Golf ClubhouseScottish Golf Historyspecialist
SupportsThe c. 1831 tenement, clubhouse use from 1852 with Mary Gilchrist and from 1856 with Jane Stewart, the 1876 move and 1894 end of aged-member arrangements, the 1898 remodelling for James Muir & Co including the facade change and the door moved from centre to right, the legendary status of the 1456 date, clubhouse use by other clubs from 1899, and the attributed oldest-clubhouse assessment. Almost the whole chronology rests on this one account.
- Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Macfarlane Cameron, DSA Architect Biography ReportDictionary of Scottish Architects, captured by the Internet Archivearchive
SupportsIndependent corroboration of the architect Robert Macfarlane Cameron (1860-1920) and of the Golf Tavern, Bruntsfield Links among his works, alongside other Edinburgh licensed premises. The DSA dates the job 1899, one year after the narrative account.
- The Golf Tavern, Bruntsfield | Edinburgh's Oldest Pub & DiningThe Golf Tavernofficial
SupportsCurrent identity, the Bruntsfield Links setting, the downstairs bar and upstairs Caddie Club, and the venue's own 1456 establishment claim, published here only as tradition.
- Contact | Golf TavernThe Golf Tavernofficial
SupportsAddress, postcode, telephone and the seven-day bar opening schedule checked on 21 August 2026.
- Quality Pub Food & Drinks | Golf TavernThe Golf Tavernofficial
SupportsThe separately published kitchen opening hours, which close earlier than the bar, checked on 21 August 2026.
- Short Hole Golf Course | Play Golf at The Golf Tavern, EdinburghThe Golf Tavernofficial
SupportsClub hire packages for the free short hole course, and the seasonal notes that from October to late April only the separate winter nine hole course is open and that the packages do not apply during the winter course.
- A unique slice of golfing history hiding in plain sightThe Edinburgh Inquirereditorial
SupportsIndependent confirmation of club and ball hire from the Golf Tavern in July 2026, and of the seasonal 36 hole and nine hole arrangement on the free Links course.
- Olde Golf Tavern, EdinburghCampaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)specialist
SupportsA dated interior description recording a fine ceiling, large booths and central tables, and the note that this is not a heritage pub. The record was surveyed in February 2019 and warns its information may not be well maintained, so its hours, facilities and visitor policies are not published as current.
