Edinburgh doesn't need another bar. What it needed was a temple—a place where whisky is treated with the reverence it deserves, where every dram tells a story, where the room itself becomes part of the ritual.
The brief was irresistible: create Harry Potter's private whisky room. A space of magic and mystery, where over 500 whiskies would be displayed like the precious objects they are.
We created a whisky library in the truest sense. Not a bar with books as decoration, but a genuine collection—hundreds of bottles displayed in carved cabinets, oak barrels repurposed as side tables, crystal decanters filled with amber light.
The walls demanded drama. We chose a deep burgundy—the colour of velvet curtains in Victorian theatres—and covered them floor to ceiling with gilt-framed portraits sourced from auctions across Britain. Aristocrats, merchants, characters with stories we'll never know. They watch over the room like a parliament of ghosts.
The fireplace anchors everything. Carved stone, roaring flames, a mounted stag presiding over the mantel. Around it, we arranged a deliberate chaos of seating: emerald velvet armchairs, royal blue wingbacks, burgundy sofas draped with tapestry throws. Nothing matches. Everything belongs.
Brian Cox—the legendary Scottish actor, Logan Roy himself—visited with his wife. That's the kind of room this was. A place where Scotland's finest came to celebrate Scotland's finest export.
Sadly, the venue no longer exists. But for those who experienced it, the memory lingers like smoke from a peat fire.
