Oxford Bar, Edinburgh

Oxford Bar is a pub on Young Street in Edinburgh’s New Town, best known through Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus stories, where it serves as John Rebus’s favourite drinking place. The connection is especially vivid because police officers were known to drink here. Its history reaches back to 1811 as a public house, although it was a confectioner’s shop in 1843.

By 30 October 1893, it had passed to Andrew Wilson, a wines and spirits merchant, and it continued as a public bar. Look at the interior’s surviving arrangement: a corridor once opened into rooms on either side, and an archway now connects that passage with the small stand-up bar. Writers and artists including Sydney Goodsir Smith, Willie Ross, and Rankin have been patrons.

Sean Connery, Colin Dexter, and Michael Palin have also visited. The building is Category B listed.