Edinburgh pub goers share memories of 'infamous dive bar' Penny Black as return is announced

Regulars were devastated when The Black Bull, on Leith Street, closed in February. Soon after the sad news was announced by owners Greene King, a campaign was launched to save ‘Edinburgh’s original rock bar'. Sadly, it fell on deaf ears – and now the venue is being transformed ahead of the opening of the Penny Black.

As reported in Edinburgh Live, the owners of The Black Cat on Rose Street have taken over the venue, which is set to open its doors in the next few weeks.

New owner Chris Miles was a regular at the original Penny Black on West Register Street, and he said he wanted to bring the name back. Everything has been stripped out from The Black Ball, and the new venue will have new seating and tables as well as a pool table at the back of the bar.

It will be music to the ears of those who remember the Penny Black, which famously opened from 5am until noon. The raucous bar attracted railway and postal workers finishing their night shifts, nightclub staff looking for after-work pints, and all manner of oddball morning drinkers.

The notorious Penny Black closed permanently in 2011, but locals still remember it well, as evidenced by a long thread on Reddit.com titled 'Tales of the Penny Black'.

One regular shared a hilarious story of a debauched night in the bar on the site. He wrote: “I went to a weird beach type venue during the Festival and acquired an entire parasol that I somehow snuck out undetected around 5am by sticking it down my neck and trouser leg. There was still some drinking to be done, so I headed to Pennies, got a table, and erected the parasol where drinking recommenced.”

He added: “It was always a grim situation getting the 22 bus home down Leith, smashed, when everyone was on the way to work”.

Another recalled: “There was something about the mix of shesh heads still partying, normal people having their after work drinks and others having their pre-work drinks all mixed together in the centre of town.”

A third wrote: “Once sang an acapella version of Good Enough at approx 6am with the actual band Dodgy. I liked neither the band nor the song - then or now.”

A fourth said: “My flatmate ended up there one morning and got chatting to an old blind guy, who was wearing dark glasses. My mate had been out clubbing and got totally freaked out when the old guy removed his glasses to reveal his empty eye sockets. My mate got home about lunchtime and started gibbering about drinking with a bloke who had no eyes. Couldn't get much sense out of him, but that wasn't too unusual.”