Victoria Street Refurbishment Started!

Very excited about  our refurbishment which kicked off today January 8th, 8am at Howies, Victoria Street, Edinburgh.

Here on the left you can see the Howies sign on the current exterior which is Purple and Black...don't ask why - I don't know, you see we have just bought the restaurant back after 5 years so you would really have to ask the previous owners......so..anyway inside and out we decided it's time for a change.

Here are some of the photos of the ‘before’.

As you can see a mishmash or colour and all sorts of quirky bits and bobs .

The restaurant has two separate dining rooms.

The front room has 3 huge picture windows that look out onto Victoria Street - Victoria Street was built hundreds of years ago and is genuinely regarded as one of the most beautiful streets in Europe as it snakes from Edinburgh's Grassmarket to George IV bridge, The Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle just round the corner.
Every shop or restaurant here is a one off. So if you want a real flavour of medievil Edinburgh look no further....I digress.

As you can see red, whitea silver extraction pipe and splodges of teal on the wall. These are the colours we are looking at painting it - no not all of it just the pillars and arches. Final decision on colours tomorrow with John the patient and delightful painter.

If you would like to keep up to date with the inevitable stramash (Scots for everything going wrong, then right, then quickly wrong again) then click the follow button at the top right hand button of this page.

 This is the bar which is usually stacked with bottles, glasses, coffee cups and smiling staff but it's all been cleared out for the big turnaround.
Colours have been difficult to decide upon. Howies logo is teal and cream so why mess with something so delicious we are just using those lovely hues to do the whole jing bang (Scots slang for the entire project).

 The current window display is mainly brushes, rollers, and large plastic buckets. We are only shut for 4 days so you can imagine the pressure on turning it round fast. We have 7 - yup count 'em - 7 brides for 7 brothers no no no I mean 7 painters in there with scaffolding, dungarees, a loud radio and a propensity to whistle out of tune.


This is the back room. An in fact the only thing we've done since buying Howies back mid-December is to rehang this amazing battered copper chandalier which was originally an gas fired one in the Victorian era. Tis a thing of beauty so much  so it's being lowered during the refurb so you can see it properly...it's a beezer (Scots slang for a beautiful example) and was hanging in the very first Howies we opened 21 years ago and we've carried it with us ever since.
The high chairs are looking for a home as there just is no room for the little darlings. They look like Ercol and will be wending their way to an Edinburgh charity shop unles you would like one? Free to your lovely baby.
We need stacking high chairs for our mini diners - baby changing facilities also being fitted into the ladies loo. We do love the wee ones. Good news cludgiewise too  the loos  are being done up too - I didn't think you would appreciate those photos...no I thought not.

 Part of the exterior here. The middle section...black, blue, purple and the most attractive addition of the plastic hanging basket which will be ritually burnt as it is truly a hideous thing.

The whole place was done properly a long time ago and since then has been patch painted and occasionally tweaked so it is well overdue a great big wash of coherent colours.

The picture windows were full of people with their noses pressed against them today wondering what on earth is going on. So do tell them......

That both inside and out it is all being done…..exciting stuf. I shall post an update - meanwhile if you want to book a table for the reopening click HERE