The Royal Oak Pub, Edinburgh

The Royal Oak in Edinburgh is a pub and folk music venue that has been around for 200 years. It's famous for its live music performances, and it has hosted some well-known Scottish musicians like Kris Drever, Bobby Eaglesham, Danny Kyle, and Karine Polwart in the past.

Back in the 1960s, the pub was owned by Alan Anderson, a former Heart of Midlothian footballer, but it went by a different name at that time, "The Pivot." It became known as a place for folk music when Dorothy Taylor took over the pub in 1978. She ran it alongside her sister Sandra, who was a former star of The White Heather Club TV Show, until 2003. After that, Heather Mckenzie became the current licensee.

In 2008, an album called "The Royal Oak: Best of Folk" was recorded and released by Magic Park Records, featuring musicians from The Royal Oak. The pub's resident folk club, known as The Wee Folk Club, received the "Club of the Year" award at the annual Scots Trad Music Awards.

The Royal Oak is even mentioned in Ian Rankin's novel "Set in Darkness," which is part of the Inspector Rebus series. According to Rankin, it's his favorite among all the pub scenes in the Rebus series.