New bar that's trying to become a rival to LA's Viper Lounge
By Jonathan Trew
WHEN Christian Slater was in Edinburgh for last year's festival, the Cougar Lounge in Leith was one of his regular hangouts.
About 10 years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a Hollywood star leaning on the bar in a Leith boozer, nursing a hauf and hauf while studying the racing form.
Occasionally, visiting bands would stay at Malmaison around the corner but Leith was hardly a celeb magnet. Ronnie Corbett's brother was rumoured to have owned one of the fish restaurants in the area but strangely enough that didn't seem enough to bring crowds of paparazzi flocking to the docks every weekend. Leith has been on the up for the last15 years but only recently has it been dusted down with showbiz glitter.
The MTV Awards had a fair bit to do with that. Christina Aguilera was not the first to have paraded around Leith Docks in a revealing outfit but was surely the most highly paid.
It will be another 10 years though before say, Elton John, decides to nip down to the Port O'Leith for a quick sharpener before a gig at the Castle Esplanade.
And it will be another 20 years on top of that before The Shore in Leith rivals Sunset Boulevard as an A-list party destination.
Still, Leith is becoming more glamorous and the Cougar Lounge is doing its best to give the place some sparkle. I wouldn't call it a style bar as it is too casual for that but it is just as far away from being a traditional boozer.
It's a big, airy, high-ceilinged room with a mezzanine area that holds a pool table.
There are paw prints dotted about the walls along with a huge black and white painting of a big cat which, I guess, is the moggy the place is named after.
There are loads of black leather sofas from which the customers can watch the satellite sports channels, and other entertainment comes from the live music the bar puts on every Thursday and Sunday evening.
The most eye-catching feature are the six big cloth lanterns that hang from the ceiling.
Imagine Madonna's famous, Gaultier-designed bra after gravity has done its worst and you have an idea of what they look like.
The owner is a former model and Cougar Lounge is supposed to have a tongue-in-cheek policy of hiring eye-candy staff.
I'm not going to make any comment on the attractiveness or otherwise of the staff but let's say they tend to be more Britney than Whitney.
I wouldn't get a job there unless it was to act as a warning against eating too many of their all-day breakfasts.
The other punters are half new Leith and half old school Leith.
Among the blokes in the new Leith half, they aren't afraid to wear pink shirts, tribal tattoos and sculpted facial hair. I'm guessing they know the way to the men's moisturiser section in Boots.
The old school half wear denim jackets, home-made tattoos and the traditional Leith weekend stubble. I'm not even going to mention moisturiser.
It's a colourful mix. Half of them might be cursing quietly at the football on the telly while the other half flick through the style mags from the rack by the door.
How Leith's Cougar Lounge would measure up against LA's Viper Lounge is difficult to work out. The Viper Lounge has probably had more celebs through its doors but it would be a surprise if their breakfast fry-up contained haggis and that has to count against them.
The Cougar Lounge Address: 28 Bernard Street, Edinburgh Tel: 0131 476 8080 Opening hours: Mon-Sun 11am-1am Drinks: Pint of Carling £2.50, Bacardi Breezer £2.80, bottle of Becks £2.60, Sailor Jerry rum £2.30, bottle of Magners £2.80 Rating: Three out of five
