IT is said to be one of Edinburgh's oldest "gastropubs", serving beer and food to hungry travellers for more than 150 years.
Now the Doric on Market Street has been handed to one of the city's youngest landlords – a 27-year-old from Ireland.
The lease has passed to Dubliner Michael O'Sullivan after the pub was sold by previous owner Alistair Mowat for an undisclosed sum
to pub and restaurant group Caledonian Heritable. Mr Mowat, a former director with city brewer Scottish & Newcastle, had years of experience in the trade before taking on one of Edinburgh's most historic watering holes.
But the incoming Irishman was quick to point out he has been working in the Capital's pubs and clubs for longer than his customers might expect.
He said: "I originally came to Edinburgh to do a month's work experience, but this month has now stretched to nine years. I started out in an Asian fusion restaurant called The Wok Bar, which isn't around any more, then I moved on to a place called the Baillie.
"I started working for Caledonian Heritable at Ryan's Bar, and have moved about a bit since then. I've been general manager at Dropkick Murphys, the bar Negociants and its attached nightclub Medina – and most recently Why Not? on George Street. I think this experience, coupled with living in Edinburgh all these years, has given me a good idea of what people are looking for in a good pub."
To help maintain the Doric's reputation for good food, the Irishman has hired Brazilian-Italian Sandro Fariello, 42, as general manager. Mr O'Sullivan said: "Sandro has been in the business nearly all of his life.
"He's half-Brazilian, half-Italian and has worked in pubs and restaurants in both countries, so he knows quite a bit about food and wine. He'll also talk to anyone who walks in the pub, so I'm sure he'll become a popular personality."
Mr O'Sullivan, a family friend of Caledonian managing director Kevin Doyle, said the Doric's location helped attract a wide range of customers.
"The Doric is popular with people coming out of the station, and the tourists coming out of The Dungeons across the road and does a good trade during the Festival," he said.
The Doric is the second pub in the area to be put on the market in recent weeks after the city's smallest pub, The Halfway House on Fleshmarket Close recently went up for sale for more than £500,000.
The FactsThe Doric was named after the dialect spoken in the North East of Scotland.
The property itself was built by Robert Mylne around 1710, and first appears on town Ordnance Survey records as a pub in 1852.
Then it was known as the Northern Tavern, and it was around this time that the pub is reported to have started selling food.
A few years later the pub would have seen an upturn in fortunes as work began on Waverley Station, bringing first a slew of workmen seeking a pint and some decent Victorian pub-grub, and later hoards of hungry travellers. It was also well known in Edinburgh as a popular watering hole for the city's writers, journalists and artists.
The Doric still relies on a steady stream of railway passengers to this day.
In the mid-80s the pub was bought over by German Rayner Voss, and changed hands again in 1998, when former Holyrood Export chairman Alastair Mowat took over.
Mr Mowat has now entered semi-retirement and has sold up to Caledonian Heritable, which is leasing the premises to Michael O'Sullivan.
