Edinburgh pubs: Swish cocktail bar Panda & Sons is only Scottish venue on ‘World’s 50 Best Bars’ list

Edinburgh bar is only Scottish venue on ‘World’s 50 Best Bars’ list – and one of only six in the UK to feature

An Edinburgh cocktail bar is the toast of the town after being named as the 39th best bar in the world.

The 2023 global list, compiled by ‘The World’s 50 Best Bars’, includes the most popular and boundary pushing bars across the globe from ‘secretive speakeasies’ and ‘quirky salons’ to ‘classic drinking dens’.

Panda & Sons, a speakeasy-inspired bar on Queen Street disguised by a vintage barbershop frontage, is the only Scottish venue in the top 50 – and one of only six in the UK to feature.

Edinburgh cocktail bar Panda & Sons has been named as the 39th best bar in the world by ‘The World’s 50 Best Bars’.

The bar’s owner Iain McPherson, who earlier this year was named as Bar Innovator of the Year by Class Bar Awards, was joined by his team on stage (Nicky Craig and Sean Moggach) to accept the esteemed award.

The drinks industry’s most anticipated night of the year, the international celebration was held in Pasir Panjang, in Singapore, with the industry’s most renowned bartenders, consultants, writers, critics and forward thinkers in attendance to celebrate the reveal.

The World’s 50 Best Bars Academy of over 650 drinks experts from across the globe recognised Panda & Sons for their innovative sub-zero freezing techniques which were invented and evolved in-house in a basement laboratory coined ‘The Brain Melting Society.

Sips ranked No.1 in the ‘World’s 50 Best Bars’ list for 2023, making it the second bar from Barcelona to take the top spot in as many years

Panda & Sons launched their latest cocktail menu ‘Transcend’ this year, to critical acclaim. Shortlisted by Tales of the Cocktail for Bar Menu of the Year, Transcend features 16 cocktails arranged in four chapters exploring and highlighting a different ultra-low freezing technique.