Cafe Royal, Edinburgh

Cafe Royal is a hotel and oyster bar whose elaborate interior grew from a much more practical plan. Robert Paterson designed the building in 1861 for Robert Hume and Company, intending its ground floor to display gas and sanitary fittings. Before opening, it became a hotel and oyster bar, and The building's sharply pitched French-inspired roof may have been the city's earliest mansard roof of this kind.

Inside, rich woodwork, a finely panelled ceiling and a counter beneath brass lamp standards belong to a later refit by J. Macintyre Henry. The large Doulton tile pictures along the main bar, made by John Eyre, honour pioneers of printing, steam engineering and rail travel; they had appeared at the Inventions Exhibition of 1885.

Behind the mirror screen, ships fill the oyster-bar tiles, while stained-glass windows show British sportsmen. The building has category A protection.