The claim
On the north side of the Grassmarket beneath the Castle rock, the White Hart claims records back to 1516 in its cellars, though the building above dates from about 1740. Robert Burns stayed in 1791 and Dorothy Wordsworth in 1803. It is a compact, beamed bar with live music nightly and plenty of stories about bodysnatchers and ghosts.
What the records show
Historic Environment Scotland lists 30-40 Grassmarket, which takes in the White Hart, at category B, and its statement of special interest says records of the inn go back to 1516 — without naming one. So the 1516 is not the pub's alone, but nobody who publishes it points at a document. The tenement itself is about 1740, built by James Lithgow, damaged in a Zeppelin raid in 1916 and restored in 1994-5. CAMRA's Edinburgh branch has the cellarage from 1516 and the rest from 1740, which is the same story. Burns in 1791 and Dorothy and Mary Wordsworth in 1803 are well attested and appear in the listing; the Burke and Hare connection is tradition. Canmore, the same body's national record of the historic environment, adds a complication rather than a document. Its entry for 32-34 Grassmarket, site NT27SE 5401.00, made in February 2004 and last touched in January 2006, carries Dunlop's Court as an alternative name and classes the site as an inn of the fifteenth century and a public house of the eighteenth; the other halves of the same listed range, 30 Grassmarket and 36-40, are classed as tenements, shops and a restaurant of the eighteenth century. A period in a classification field is not a record of anyone drinking there, and Canmore and the statutory list are one body on two hosts, so this is one publisher saying two things rather than two publishers agreeing — and the two things do not agree, a fifteenth-century inn against a tenement of about 1740. The statutory entry is firm on its own facts: the title runs 30-40 (even numbers) Grassmarket, including White Hart Inn, category B, designated on 14 December 1970, with two further points added to the mapped range on 8 October 2024.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1516 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| c.1740 | Present building | Historic Environment Scotland listing |
What to look for inside
- Robert Burns stayed in 1791
- Dorothy and William Wordsworth stayed in 1803
- Damaged in a 1916 Zeppelin raid
Visiting
The White Hart Inn is in Edinburgh, Scotland, at 32-34 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2JU. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- camra.org.uk/pubs/white-hart-inn-edinburgh-151644
- britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/200407734-30-40-grassmarket-edinburgh
- www.scotlandspubsandbars.co.uk/location/the-white-hart-inn/
- www.belhaven.co.uk/pubs/edinburgh/white-hart
- portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB28938
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/121220
- inspire.hes.scot/arcgis/rest/services/CANMORE/Canmore_Points/MapServer/0/query?where=CANMOREID+IN+%28112369%2C254664%2C254665%29&outFields=*&returnGeometry=false&f=html
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.
How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.
