Mystery of exact address of Ambrose’s Tavern solved

● The inn which spawned a series in a magazine has been pinpointed

It is one of the most famous hostelries in Scottish literature – but for years no-one was able to pinpoint the exact location of Ambrose’s Tavern.

Now retired journalist Christopher Reekie has turned detective and solved the mystery of the whereabouts of the 19th century Edinburgh inn.

A series of dialogues known as The Noctes Ambrosianae – Ambrosian Nights or Nights at Ambrose’s – appeared in the Edinburgh-based Blackwood’s Magazine over 71 episodes from March 1822 to February 1835.

They involved a group of semi-fictitious characters who discussed politics, literature, poetry and a host of other subjects as they ate and drank at Ambrose’s Tavern.

The tavern did really exist and its address was given as Gabriel’s Road, an old right of way which survives today as a narrow lane off West Register Street at the east end of Princes Street.

But the hostelry was demolished and for years there were conflicting theories about whether Ambrose’s Tavern stood where the Cafe Royal now stands or whether it was across the lane on the site now occupied by New Register House.

After extensive research – including in old files held by the National Records of Scotland and tavern advertisements in the newspapers kept on microfilm in Edinburgh Central Library – Mr Reekie has unearthed proof that the tavern stood on the current site of New Register House.

He said: “In the 1850s, Register House, built between 1774 and 1788, the home of the National Archives of Scotland, was bursting at the seams with all the material it had to keep, and a place for the records of births, marriages, and deaths was needed urgently.

“The solution arrived when the proprietor of the tenements containing Ambrose’s Tavern offered to sell his property to the government. The sale took place by private bargain, the tenements were knocked down in 1858, and New Register House was built, opening in 1861.

“I found a letter dated 25 January, 1854, from Benjamin Mackay, of 5 St James Square, Edinburgh, to William Pitt

0 New Register House stands where Ambrose’s Tavern once was. Inset below, Christopher Reekie Dundas, Deputy Clerk Register.

“Mackay said the tenements adjoined the most important public building in the city, Register House, which was understood to be overcrowded. No site could be so suited for its enlargement as the ground occupied by the tenements.”

And the letter said the property’s value was “greatly enhanced” by its central situation and by its being “the scene of the celebrated Noctes Ambrosianae Hotel”.

Mr Reekie said: “Benjamin Mackay’s letter proves where the Tavern stood.”