Athletic Arms [Diggers], Edinburgh (Diggers)

A shadow of its former self is how some local people describe the Diggers, the name coming from its position between two large cemeteries. However the layout of the bar is much as it was. Situated in the ground floor of an 1889 five-storey tenement block, the pub was owned by the T W Innes Trust from 1899 and remained unchanged until purchased by Scottish & Newcastle in the early 1990s. The changes in recent years include the replacement of the bar counter, a new bar top and in 2002 the removal of the partitions that formed the separate jug bar and private bar, as well as the solid wooden screen from the top of the bar counter and a set of three tall fonts. Only the back gantry of sturdy well-carved wood and the small island gantry of oak are original as is the screened Publican’s Offices area created by two low partition walls at the rear.

Away to the right, separated by a glazed screen, is the small back room with tongue-and-groove timber dado and brass service bells. The pub gets packed for Hearts home matches and rugby matches at nearby Murrayfield.

It was internationally famous for serving cask McEwan's 80/- or Heavy at lightning speed from 11 tall founts by up to 15 red-jacketed barmen. It is one of only a handful of pubs in the city to have always sold real ale and in the past customers would raise their fingers as they entered the pub to indicate how many pints they wanted which were poured ready by the time they reached the bar. As the then landlord Bill Farmer remarked, "The person coming into the pub needs a pint more than the person in the bar that's already had a pint!" It has probably the largest number of working Aitken tall founts (eight) serving cask ales by air pressure generated by two electric air compressors.