I paid a visit to Edinburgh hidden gem Jackson the Tailor in Leith Street and took a walk down memory lane

There’s a danger that bars that are being showered with award nominations for their interior design are prone to being all style over substance. With that in mind, I paid a visit to Jackson the Tailor on Leith Street.

Located below Edinburgh favourite The Newsroom, the bar has earned a reputation as a bit of an Edinburgh hidden gem since opening in 2022. It is pitched as a sleek, stylish speakeasy with a wide range of cocktails and contemporary food.

The bar is located on Leith Street | Edinburgh Evening News

Like its sister bar upstairs, Jackson the Tailor is of the Merchant Leisure stable of bars and restaurants - other bars included are The Piper’s Rest, Burgers & Beers Grillhouse and The Railbridge.

When I visit on a post-work Friday afternoon, the bar is surprisingly quiet, with only myself and a Spanish family taking up residence there.

Thumbing through their menu shows the breadth of what they have available, but I settle for the only drink that seems to be named after the bar, the Jackson’s Vesper. I am not usually one for a martini, but when in Rome and all that.

The Jackson's Vesper is named after the bar | Edinburgh Evening News

While I wait for the drink to be delivered I get a chance to take a look around the place and I get hit by a strange wave of nostalgia. Growing up, my Gran, who was from Leith, was a seamstress and dressmaker and Jackson the Tailor, as you might expect, is filled with similar paraphernalia to what I can remember from my days spent in her workshop.

The bar is also decorated with nods to the area's past | Edinburgh Evening News

The buttons and thimbles are a tasteful nod to the bar’s past, but it’s not just small nods to its history. The entire aesthetic of the bar is designed to hark back to Leith’s days as a tailoring hub. It is no wonder that the carefully designed space has been nominated for interior design awards.

When the drink comes, it’s a fresh, citrusy martini served in a chilled glass rather than over ice and, given my previous prenotion would have been to swerve drinks like it, it is an excellent choice. 

Soon after food arrives and the fish and chips I’ve ordered are again a solid choice, albeit not what I think you would necessarily be judging Jackson the Tailor on overall.

The bar has been nominated for awards for its interior design | Edinburgh Evening News

With its clear focus on design and with a relatively niche reference point in Leith’s tailoring history, it would be easy to come away from Jackson the Tailor thinking that it was filled with pretension. But somehow it doesn’t leave you with that impression. It is a cool bar, filled with good staff that serves up good drinks and decent food.