Underground or vaults tour
The Real Mary King's Close
A one-hour guided tour of 17th-century streets buried beneath Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
- 60 min
- 2 Warriston's Close, Royal Mile, EH1 1PG
Haunted pub in Edinburgh
The Banshee Labyrinth
A rock bar built into the South Bridge vaults that calls itself Scotland's most haunted pub. It is named after a scream builders heard in the empty vaults while renovating them.
ReportedRepeated accounts, but without names or detail
The ghosts
- The Banshee, a scream heard by workmen during the renovation
- Lord Nicol Edwards, said to haunt the site of his house and to throw drinks off tables
- A small girl said to walk through locked grates
- Glasses sliding across tables, lights cutting out and gates swinging on their own
History
The bar fills part of the vaults inside the arches of the South Bridge, opened in 1788. The vaults were let to traders, then became slum housing when damp drove the traders out. Many were filled in and only dug out again from the 1980s.
Visiting
- Address
- 29-35 Niddry Street, EH1 1LG
- Food
- No kitchen; bar snacks only
- Children
- Over-18s only
- Dogs
- Not confirmed yet: check with the pub
Details last checked 24 October 2026. Check opening times on the pub’s website.
Ghost tours nearby
Tours starting within a short walk of the pub.
An evening ghost walk through the closes and wynds of Edinburgh's Old Town.
- usually Advocates Close, 361 High Street, opposite St Giles' Cathedral (it can vary)
Underground or vaults tour
Edinburgh vaults ghost tour
A one-hour ghost tour into the vaults beneath Edinburgh's South Bridge.
- 60 min
- 300 Lawnmarket, by the tourist information booth and red telephone box, opposite Deacon Brodie's Tavern
Haunted hotels nearby
More haunted pubs in Edinburgh
Reported
The White Hart Inn
One of Edinburgh's oldest inns, linked by tradition to the murderers Burke and Hare, with a long reputation for a shadowy figure heading for the cellar.
- 32-34 Grassmarket
- Food
Reported
The Last Drop
A Grassmarket pub named after the public hangings held nearby. Staff say it is haunted by a young girl who lived in the tenement that once stood here.
- 74-78 Grassmarket
- Food
Reported
The Tolbooth Tavern
A Royal Mile pub in part of the old Canongate Tolbooth, once a toll house, court and prison. Drinks are said to fly off tables and children's voices to be heard in the bar.
- 167 Canongate
- Food