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Leith being cool is hardly news: its fate was sealed as somewhere that had outgrown its up-and-coming status when the tram line was reinstated in 2023, offering a 10-minute journey into the centre of town and with it a skyrocketing housing market. What was once a port village on the outskirts of Edinburgh – complete with a complex history that spans a tickbox list of intertwined industry and tragedy via topics such as whaling and plague – has been wholly swallowed into the belly of the beast to become one of the city’s most covetable neighbourhoods.
In times gone by, the residents of the New Town and Stockbridge might have side-eyed their northeasterly neighbour, but now that its transformation is complete, there are plenty who would trade the cobbles of their Georgian streets for a little sea air, we suspect. There’s much to recommend it, with around 25000 people choosing to call it home. And they’re not just there for the constitutional benefit of life by the water, but instead for its cosmopolitan heart that sees it home to swathes of the city’s best restaurants, a cohort that seems to multiply every time you dare to look away.
There have, of course, always been places to eat in Leith. Martin Wishart opened in 1999 with a Michelin star to follow, but The Little Chartroom might aptly plot the point on the map when the tide started turning in this more modern era. For years, Leith was lazily framed through the lens of Trainspotting, its grit exaggerated and its charm overlooked. A Michelin-starred dining room wasn’t going to rewrite that narrative alone. What chef restaurateur Roberta McCarron Hall offered instead was something special yet approachable, a place for everyone who was serious about food but wanted an offering grounded in neighbourhood warmth.
“Leith is where I live, and back in 2018, when we first opened The Little Chartroom, it felt like a part of town that was relatively untapped for restaurants. The less glamorous side was that the rent and rates were much more affordable. There’s a real energy around Leith, such a diverse crowd who are all looking for great food and great drinks. It’s very exciting.” McCarron Hall has since opened two more venues in Eleanore and Ardfern, the latter of which she says she opened to fill a gap of a “casual, flexible venue open from morning through to night.”
From The Little Chartroom, a whole host of restaurants followed. Mirin, Heron, Dogstar and more have opened in its wake. Yet despite all the development and progress, Leith is a place that hasn’t lost its heart. Where there were once fishing boats landing their catch on quaysides, there are now independent restaurants with their own distinct voices paying homage to the area’s proud past; places where seafood, smoke and salt are never far from the plate. Barry Fish, as the name suggests, magics up plates of the best seafood from Scottish suppliers, while Haze (from the team behind Michelin-starred Timberyard) offers diners a short, sharp menu of drinks and tinned fish sharing plates that feel warehouse-appropriate, if such a term exists.
As Jo Radford, Sommelier and Co-Owner of Timberyard, Montrose and Haze, puts it: “Leith has great energy. It’s industrial and confident in its own identity. There is a European feel to the waterfront, but it is still unmistakably Leith. We love the coastal influence, its diverse mix of residents and its strong creative population. It’s one of the most progressive neighbourhoods in Scotland.” Speaking about the restaurants Haze counts as its neighbours, Radford adds, “It’s varied, serious about quality and still evolving. Higher-end venues sit alongside everyday casual offerings and old industry stalwarts. Leith’s history as a port shapes how the area thinks about flavour.”
