It says something about Edinburgh that it feels the need to have not just an Oxford Bar but a Cambridge Bar as well.
Much as I like the city, every now and then I can't help but feel it sometimes wishes it was somewhere else like the Home Counties. Anyway, the Oxford and Cambridge bars sit about 50 yards apart on Young Street.
The Oxford is probably the more famous as crime writer Ian Rankin drinks there and, in his books, so does his fictional character Inspector Rebus.
The Cambridge has yet to be taken under the wing of a successful author but, unlike the Oxford, it has been modernised recently.
Not much though. It's not the traditional howf it once was, but you would be hard pushed to call it a style bar.
There are deep leather sofas, chunky wooden tables and simple wooden chairs.
It`s just on the comfortable side of basic and it's quite masculine in its looks.
I don't mean that it's unshaven and only just got around to the idea of having women's toilets, but there are no flouncy design touches.
Similarly, there are no frills on the drinks front. There is a good range of draught beers, including a couple of great cask ales, a short wine list and the usual spirits and mixers.
If you want cocktails, shooters or Breezers, then you are in the wrong place.
This being Edinburgh, the bar snacks include bowls of olives although they sell pork scratchings for the hardcore saturated-fat fan.
The Cambridge is within briefcase-throwing distance of Charlotte Square and there was a fair smattering of city-boy bankers in when we visited.
You know the score pinstripe suit, pink checkedshirt to match their cheeks and a barber who thinks Hugh Grant's hairstyle is the last word in follicle fashion.
The place dresses down a bit at the weekend when the blokes swap their suits for fleeces, but still wear black work shoes with their ironed jeans.
The women just let down their hair and wear a rugby top instead of the two-piece. Pashminas are optional.
Don't let this put you off. There are times when the Cambridge can be like the common room at a private school, but stick with it.
While some of the punters have got New Town Posh and Proud written through them like a stick of rock, the pub itself has no pretensions.
The staff are just as friendly whether you are wearing boots or brogues and their kick-ass chargrilled burgers taste just as good wearing Gap or Gucci.
Sport plays a big part at the Cambridge but, as you might have guessed, the rugby will take precedence over a Partick Thistle v Kilmarnock encounter.
A pub full of rugby supporters may be your idea of heaven or hell, especially if the Scottish 15 are taking another beating, but one thing the Cambridge isn't short of on match days is atmosphere.
I like the Cambridge. There is no side to it. It's just a straight down-the-line boozer. It isn't trendy, but nor is it trying to be.
No one is going to rustle up a Flirtini or whatever it is the Sex And The City girls have been drinking this week, but they do a good pint of IPA.
And by Edinburgh city centre prices, it's pretty reasonable.
Buy four pints of beer and you get change from a tenner. I thought those sort of prices had vanished about the same time mobile phones stopped being the size of house bricks.
Take it as further proof you don't need to be a banker to enjoy a drink here.
Open: Mon-Wed, 11am-11pm; Thur 11am-midnight; Fri-Sat 11am-1am; Sunday, noon-11pm.
Food: Served noon-9pm, seven days. Drinks: Pint of Miller, pounds 2.20; pint of IPA, pounds 2.30; bottled beers, pounds 2.50, house wine, pounds 2.50 a glass.
Rating: Three out of five
Details
0131 331 1298
Similarly, there are no frills on the drinks front. There is a good range of draught beers, including a couple of great cask ales, a short wine list and the usual spirits and mixers.
If you want cocktails, shooters or Breezers, then you are in the wrong place.
This being Edinburgh, the bar snacks include bowls of olives although they sell pork scratchings for the hardcore saturated-fat fan.
The Cambridge is within briefcase-throwing distance of Charlotte Square and there was a fair smattering of city-boy bankers in when we visited.
You know the score pinstripe suit, pink checkedshirt to match their cheeks and a barber who thinks Hugh Grant's hairstyle is the last word in follicle fashion.
The place dresses down a bit at the weekend when the blokes swap their suits for fleeces, but still wear black work shoes with their ironed jeans.
The women just let down their hair and wear a rugby top instead of the two-piece. Pashminas are optional.
Don't let this put you off. There are times when the Cambridge can be like the common room at a private school, but stick with it.
While some of the punters have got New Town Posh and Proud written through them like a stick of rock, the pub itself has no pretensions.
The staff are just as friendly whether you are wearing boots or brogues and their kick-ass chargrilled burgers taste just as good wearing Gap or Gucci.
Sport plays a big part at the Cambridge but, as you might have guessed, the rugby will take precedence over a Partick Thistle v Kilmarnock encounter.
A pub full of rugby supporters may be your idea of heaven or hell, especially if the Scottish 15 are taking another beating, but one thing the Cambridge isn't short of on match days is atmosphere.
I like the Cambridge. There is no side to it. It's just a straight down-the-line boozer. It isn't trendy, but nor is it trying to be.
No one is going to rustle up a Flirtini or whatever it is the Sex And The City girls have been drinking this week, but they do a good pint of IPA.
And by Edinburgh city centre prices, it's pretty reasonable.
Buy four pints of beer and you get change from a tenner. I thought those sort of prices had vanished about the same time mobile phones stopped being the size of house bricks.
Take it as further proof you don't need to be a banker to enjoy a drink here.
Open: Mon-Wed, 11am-11pm; Thur 11am-midnight; Fri-Sat 11am-1am; Sunday, noon-11pm. 
