The Hub

We walked by The Hub a couple of times before actually deciding to go in for lunch. It was a near thing, but I’m glad we chose to stop here.
The building is impressive on its own, and the space that The Hub occupies is just as lovely. There are leaded, tall windows that let in a lot of natural light right next to modern art and chrome. It doesn’t sound like it should work, but it does.
The dining room is warm and inviting, with tables for dining and couches for relaxing. They have a pastry bar up front, if you’re so inclined, or a full kitchen in the back.
We were shown to a table right away, and placed our drink orders — chai latte for me, regular latte for him — before taking our time with the menu. Most of the things looked really good, so it was hard for me to choose, but I eventually decided to go with a half sandwich (smoked salmon) and the soup of the day (creamy tomato). My husband got the mushroom risotto.
Our waitress was very friendly and helpful, and seemed almost reluctant to interrupt us if we were in the middle of a conversation. But, she was sweet and efficient, which we both really appreciated.
The food was actually really good! I didn’t expect a whole lot, to be honest, but the quality was there. I enjoyed my sandwich — the fish was smoked without being too smoky, and was served on artisan bread with condiments and a small salad on the side. My husband’s risotto was the clear winner, though. I shamelessly helped myself to more than one spoonful off of his plate, and was surprised to find that the risotto was creamy and full of flavor. It was also a rather large serving, which was a bonus, since I couldn’t stop myself from eating off his plate.
This was a very good find — from the location to the service to the food. Had we more time in the city, we would have absolutely gone back for another meal.

Attended a wedding at The Hub recently. WOW.
We spent our day mostly in the main hall (the former church sanctuary) and balcony as well as the library (used as a bar/​gathering area). Great food and lovely set-​up. The colors in the main hall are garish and take away from the beautiful aspects of the carved ceiling, I feel. But it didn’t detract too much from the lovely and intimate balcony setting of the wedding itself and the great space in the hall for the reception dinner and dance.
They were a bit let down with service. It was here and there. Great at some times and totally lacking at others. The manager for the day was clearly present, but didn’t always keep her staff on the same page. Our table barely got dessert. This was sad because I love cake.
Very beautiful setting that lends itself well to smaller and larger groups, as I experienced.

Th Hub is for me a focal point especially when the Edinburgh Festival is in full flow either for aquiring tickets, making show enquiries, information on events or a quick lunch bite. It also doubles as an event venue, and has private meeting room upstairs, in this structure that dominates the city skyline… but for me I have yet to fully experience a show or some food here.
For me the its location is fairly central in an converted church, now a regional meeting place where its quiet enough to escape the hussle and bussle of outside, during busy tourist season! Enjoy the shop, free maps and guides, chatting to Hub staff finding out if there are any tickets left for usual sold out events that Edinburgh is famous for, and the afternoon weekend teas are great as well as weddings and pre-​tattoo suppers.
They have wifi, not sure if it is free but according to the ticket staff, you cant get access to www from the shop area but possibly need a password from the restaurant staff.
For full information visit the hub website

Was a former church…
Is the festival centre…
Have a decent lunch.

Another converted church and this time the church became an event center and restaurant.
The hub is situated centrally near Edinburgh castle and a convenient place to hold events or to enjoy a quick coffee downstairs in the coffee shop.
The event I joined was arranged from work and we had plenty of space to wonder around, enjoy a few drinks and being seated comfortably to dine in an interesting environment. I believe the room we were in contained an altar and praying space in past times. What do we expect, it was a church, once !!!
Having said this, I liked the quirky touches to the room, which still maintained some of the churches character.
The room was very well prepared for the afternoon and evening entertainment. The staff was really friendly and helpful.
The food was nice, the wine ok and the ambient efficient.
Would I recommend this place for certain business events? Yes I would.
Would I recommend this place for private parties? Not sure. I assume it depends on how personal your taste… and for what you want to book the rooms for…
I also want to mention that I have only seen one section of this place and hopefully one day I will be able to see more.

This is a really good venue to hold meetings in Edinburgh. We hired the ‘Glass Room’ at the top of the building which had its own private balcony with stunning views across the city.
The Hub provided us with lunch — just sandwiches– but they finished it off with some really good, gooey chocolate cake which made me love the whole venue even more! They also left some Edinburgh rock on the tables for us to munch through… so whenever my meeting became boring/​overly bureaucratic I could have a sugar high to bring back my normal hyper-​ness!

the menu doesn’t include a flat white but i’m pleased to see that the flat white has now finally arrived in edinburgh and so they were happy to whip one up for me. (reminder a flat white is essentially a double shot latte in a normal size tea cup) they do table service which isn’t built for speed so you do need to be a little bit patient.
the coffee was too hot but not completely scalding. it tasted like hot, bitter milk with some saving graces of flavour, but not many. it was reasonably strong which was in it’s favour but no milk texture and flabby, whipped egg white-​like froth popped on top for effect.
i have to admit i expected worse in the epicentre of tourist-​ville but it definitely rates as bad coffee. to rest your weary legs when you’re on the sightseeing trail though, it’s a nice enough spot to relax.
twitter: @edinburghcoffee

What’s not to like about a £5 lunch?
The Hub has a great location on the Royal Mile, an attractive dining room, pleasant servers, and has a set deal of £5 for soup and sandwich.
Plus by the time we got there after touring the Castle and strolling down Castle hill, we did not want to go one step further.

The venue is great being in a central location and of quite contemporary décor. The service was prompt but lacked any wow factor. The menu is sadly lacking with very little variety. The specials board was merely soup, nothing else. I opted for a burger with chunky chips — I guess chunky is subjective and if compared to Mcd’s fries then I guess they were. I left wishing we’d visited one of the many other quirky backstreet offerings of Edingburgh City!

The Hub is a venue owned and run by the International Festival, right in the heart of Edinburgh. Converted from a beautiful church, this main festival venue, which can be hired out for functions, also contains a large café restaurant. The beautiful church façade is unfortunately a little let down by the modern interior.
I’ve been to the Hub café a few times to meet people for coffee or lunch on businessy sort of meetings. Its a fantastic location, right at the top of the Mile and just around the corner from the castle. This is probably the main cause for the Hub’s business.
Despite the beautiful building and the convenient location the café isn’t the best. It serves ordinary sorts of teas and coffees and light lunches. The lunches themselves aren’t terrible, after finally extending their menu, but the prices are. For what you get, which is fairly small portions of «fancy» food dressed up, the cost is too much. In the past the staffing has been too slow and a bit inconsistent.
A great location venue but with a poor café and a lot of room for improvement,

The Hub is a well established events venue, which is owned by the Edinburgh International Festival, and also includes a café, called Café Hub (keeping it real) and a ticket office. The Hub is housed in a really striking renovated church building near the top of the Royal Mile, and is a pretty clear landmark for anyone trying to navigate their way around the Old Town.
I’ve been to the Assembly Hall upstairs in the Hub, plus another one of the smaller rooms for an arts event, and they both provided a pleasant atmosphere for socialising and relaxing. The interior of the Hub is bright and modern, in contrast to the gothic exterior of the building. The café comes well recommended, with its selection of hearty breakfast and lunch options, all at inexpensive prices.

Café Hub is an addition to The Hub venue and does a pretty nice lunch deal on weekdays.
We actually went here just before we went to a gig in The Hub itself, and really enjoyed the food. The décor is of the traditional church interior, except painted bright yellow, with glass panels separating it from the venue.
We took advantage of the lunch time soup and sandwich deal for £5, which runs from noon till 3pm. I had a nice tomato and red pepper soup with a plain cheese sandwich on brown bread, and it was just what the doctor ordered! We were starving and it was nice, home-​made comfort food which was perfect for what we wanted.
Nice yummy food but not too sure about the yellow décor! A little mismatched for the building.

I like the Hub mostly because of its location and nice interior. I think there is much to be asked for from staff and service, not one of the best I have ever experienced. I find the place also a bit pricey but given its centrality then it is within the reasonable. There is an outside/​terrace area which is not very well served, I mean that you can spend almost half an hour sitting there and not be approached by any staff member.

Decent bar and restaurant right near the castle. We stopped in here to have a coffee and sit in the sun after hitting the castle. Decent service, good location and quality menu. If in the area worth stopping in to sit outside and enjoy things going on around it from your seat. Indoors was average and hence I’d recommend coming only if you can sit outside.

We had our wedding here last year — the venue is just amazing — has the Wow Factor. The staff here were so good — they looked after us every step of the way. Louise was our wedding co-​ordinator and really couldn’t have done more for us.
We had a winter wedding — it was the perfect venue as there are lots of places in doors for pictures and if the weather is nice you can go up the the castle for pictures.
Definitely worth looking at if you want an unusual venue in the heart of Edinburgh.

Castlehill
Edinburgh
EH1 2NE
Tel: +44(0)131 473 2000
Fax: +44(0)131 473 2003
0131 473 2015
I have given this place several chances but it keeps letting down. Almost uneatable food and rude staff I have left more than once without finishing because of the food. A shame cause the location and venue is one of a kind.

The Hub is a really cool bar and restuarant. It’s dead chilled out and the prices are reasonable. The staff are friendly and there are often offers on food and drink. It’s open all day and at night is lively. A great venue for drinks!