Marooned in the middle of a busy bus station, it was one of Edinburgh’s more peculiar city centre watering holes.
Known by various names over the decades, the Highwayman pub at the Clyde Street end of the old St Andrew Square bus station was popular with generations of thirsty travellers, who would dive in to grab a quick drink before catching their coach.
But while the pub is fondly-recalled by some, others say it was one of the dodgiest boozers in the capital.
Immersed in the pungent odour of diesel and the constant purr of SMT buses and coach engines, punters would stand and the staff would deliver at the famous pub, which featured a mural of the notorious 18th century highwayman Dick Turpin behind the bar.
Originally known as the Clyde Park Bar, the boozer had occupied the ground floor of a tenement, but this was demolished in the early 1970s when the bus station was remodelled. While the old tenement was swept away, the pub remained, with its exterior walls harled and its roof re-slated to match the new concrete surroundings.
The Dick Turpin theme ran strong throughout the interior of the Highwayman. The main lounge was done up to look like an old coaching inn, with rough plastered white walls, dark oak furniture and wooden beams overhead. Replica muskets, horseshoes and other related items adorned the walls.
We can but imagine the corny cries of "that's daylight robbery!" each time the price of a pint was raised.
The Highwayman had some competition with the Travellers Tryst, a pub located on North St Andrew Street at the other side of the bus station, yet both pubs managed to co-exist peacefully for many years.
Retaining its equestrian links, the Highwayman was renamed the Postillion in the 1980s. It retained this name until the 2000s when the bus station was again redeveloped and the pub finally demolished.
While neither the Highwayman nor Postillion were short of regulars, many who recall the bus station pub well say it carried a rather dodgy reputation.
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Writing about the pub on the Lost Edinburgh group on Facebook, former Highwayman punter Jonny Brown said: “I loved the Highwayman; not a pub I'd ever go to as a pub, but as a sleeping-pill pint depot before the night bus it was a haven & heaven.
“One would neck a few before snoring the bus to murderous intent before desperation for a wee-wee at the stop in Cumbria, bacon & eggs and a swig from the flask.”
Keith Richardson worked at the Highwayman as a barman - however, his stay was a brief one on account of the pub’s alleged policy of pouring dregs back into the beer barrels at the end of the night.
He said: “I was moved to the Highwayman when I worked as a barman with S&N from Milne's bar in 1985 but was moved on after I refused at the end of the night to put beer that people had left into the slops bucket then back into the tartan special barrel.
“The manager there at that time had been allegedly been doing it for a good few years there.”
In a separate post in the group, another member wrote: "Dodgy bar, scary at times. My pal was leaving for travels and got mugged in the loos."
