Gerry Farrell: Keep your hipster haggis and bring back the '˜pie and a pint'

From the age of 16 (non-legal drinking age), it was my joy and custom to meet pals in Edinburgh city centre for an afternoon 'pie and a pint'.
Once upon a time a pint of heavy was hard to imagine without a pie tooOnce upon a time a pint of heavy was hard to imagine without a pie too
Once upon a time a pint of heavy was hard to imagine without a pie too

The two items were like conjoined twins. It was hard to imagine going in for a pint of heavy without being tempted by a pie too. Set at the side of the bar would be a little oven with an orange sign, saying ‘Hot Pies’, daring you not to have one.

There was generally the same dizzying choice: mince or steak. I was never sure what the ‘steak’ was (it certainly wasn’t steak) so I stuck with the mince which I knew was mutton. You had to be careful. A hot mutton pie would spill a lava stream of liquid fat down your chin if you didn’t hold it at arm’s length.

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Bennets Bar, next to the King’s Theatre, was my favourite. The beer was always good and the pie came on a china plate with a knife and fork. Bennets is still a joy to drink in; the staff pour an excellent pint that always comes with a smile and the brass water-taps on the bar gleam with pride.

But – and it’s a big but – you can’t get a pie and a pint any more. There’s crispy crumbled haggis balls with roast garlic mayo at £3.95, if that’s to your Scottish hipster taste. But the only pie on the menu has chickpeas in it. Chickpeas. Doesn’t that just make a beer-drinker’s heart sink into his boots?

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