The Mother Superior

You walk into The Mother Superior and immediately feel like you've stumbled onto something locals have been keeping to themselves. It's the sort of place where the bar staff remember your name by drink two, and the cocktails arrive without theatrical faffing about. Leith Walk's transformed quite a bit in the last decade, but this bar refuses to play along with any of that polished, Instagram-friendly nonsense. What you get instead is honest, well-made drinks in a room that feels genuinely lived-in—the kind of spot where you'll overhear actual stories rather than performative chat. The crowd's a proper mix: regulars propping up the bar, mates meeting after work, people who've clearly made an evening of it. It's not trying to be cool. That's precisely why it is.