While there are countless pubs across Scotland that have a reputation for being rough, few match the infamy of the now-demolished The Gunner in Edinburgh.
Located on Pennywell Road in the Muirhouse housing estate in the capital, the venue was not overly attractive on the outside. The flat-roofed building had no windows, which only added to its frightening reputation.
It was a pub that many did not dare enter, but it was nonetheless popular amongst its regulars. As reported by Edinburgh Live, even they knew to stay on their guard while inside, however.
The name of the pub came from the HMS 'Gunner' naval base that operated at Granton during the First World War.
Known by regulars as Boom Boom, the pub was particularly rowdy on weekends, when it hosted karaoke and pool competitions. The Gunner was known to get a bit unruly at chucking out time, and violence was not uncommon.
The pub was reportedly also known for shifty-looking patrons that would attempt to sell electrical equipment from a black bin bag.
Because of all of this, CCTV was installed and the pub even resorted to serving pints in plastic cups in an attempt to avoid serious injuries when glasses were inevitably thrown during fights.
Interestingly, this reputation didn't scare off Jonathan Ross from enjoying a pint at The Gunner in the 1990s. The TV host reportedly sought out the pub after reading about it in the works of Irvine Welsh.
More recently, The Gunner—which was run by the aptly named Punch Taverns in its final years—was frequented by Hibs stars such as Anthony Stokes and Derek Riordan.
Despite its notoriety, The Gunner remained a favourite amongst locals. Many were sad to see it close in 2015, before the building was demolished.
Online, many regulars still reminisce about their times spent at the pub. While most stories are sentimental or amusing, others are a bit more unnerving.
Writing on the Muirhouse Memories page on Facebook, Sam McIntosh said: "Loads of funny stories from the Gunner. A friend years ago was sold a leather coat in there by someone who rapidly disappeared only to find the owner of the coat had been in the toilet!"
Gordon Guthrie wrote: "Worked for Punch Taverns in here! Walked in, in a high viz jacket and a mobile radio on! Cleared the bar in seconds."
Meanwhile, Jackie Doig joked: "If your house was robbed in the area you could go there and buy it back."
Over on Twitter, @Camthebam66 said of The Gunner: "This place had a fabulous, but unused and slightly decrepit, function suite upstairs. With some TLC would have made a great small venue for live music."
The Gunner frequently appeared in newspaper headlines thanks to some of its patrons. The Daily Record reported in 2015 that one customer attempted to sell Rolex watches in the pub hours after having committed an armed robbery on an Edinburgh jewellers.
One local said at the time: “No one could believe it. You’d think if it was connected to the robbery he’d have waited until things calmed down.”
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