Units 6 & 7
Omni Leisure Centre
Greenside Place
Edinburgh
EH1 3AA
0131 524 9300
You might think calling a bar Walkabout would be enough of a clue to what sort of place it was. But the owners of this chain pub in Edinburgh's Omni Centre have gone one step further and stuck a large plastic croc above the bar.
How they resisted the temptation to hammer home the point and stick a swaggy hat with corks on the croc's head is a mystery.
As you may have guessed, Walkabout is an Australian bar and they serve the kangaroo burgers to prove it.
It's a relaxed kind of place and there are no airs and graces to it.
The decor is pretty basic. I've never been in a Bush bar at Broken Back, but Walkabout could probably give it a run for its money in terms of stripped-down ease of use.
The bar has a good range of amber nectars, with lots of bottled brews from Australia and New Zealand.
It also has a dance floor which, by nine o'clock on a Friday evening, was already taking a bit of a pounding as Erasure's Respect hit the decks.
Half an hour later, a covers band had taken to the stage and was belting out Pulp's Common People before moving on to Stealers Wheel Stuck In The Middle With You.
No one said it was sophisticated stuff, but the after-work office crowd was whooping it up as though the next morning they weren't going to feel guilty about snogging Kev/Karen from accounts.
If Walkabout is mainly a frills-free zone, the one place where they have splashed the cash is on the TV screens for watching sport.
On the night I was in, I was disappointed by the lack of Australian Rules Football. Only the Australians could invent a sport that crosses kicking a ball with kung fu. Eric Cantona would have been a natural had he ever fancied chancing his luck down under.
Apparently, the Australian outback is so vast and contains so few people that you can walk for days without seeing another soul.
At Walkabout on a weekend night, you can go about half a second without someone brushing past you. The main bar has a capacity of about 600 and on the night I was in, it felt as though 599 others had the same idea.
Obviously, Walkabout is doing something right, but it's not the place for a quiet or classy night. On the other hand, if you are looking for a few drinks and a bit of a boogie, then it's a bonzer watering hole.
Jongleurs comedy club in the Omni centre is owned by the same company and at the weekends, it's not unheard of for punters at Walkabout to head over for the Jongleurs sticky disco once the comedy finishes.
On other occasions, your hard-working correspondent has wowed the crowds there with his dancefloor air guitar displays. Great fun at the time, but I felt a right dag the next morning.
Open: Noon-1am
Drinks: pint of 4X (what else?) £2.40; glass of Jacobs Creek £2.80; house spirit and mixer £2.60; VB bottled beer £2.70 Rating: Three out of five
Details
0131 524 9300
The bar has a good range of amber nectars, with lots of bottled brews from Australia and New Zealand.
It also has a dance floor which, by nine o'clock on a Friday evening, was already taking a bit of a pounding as Erasure's Respect hit the decks.
Half an hour later, a covers band had taken to the stage and was belting out Pulp's Common People before moving on to Stealers Wheel Stuck In The Middle With You.
No one said it was sophisticated stuff, but the after-work office crowd was whooping it up as though the next morning they weren't going to feel guilty about snogging Kev/Karen from accounts.
If Walkabout is mainly a frills-free zone, the one place where they have splashed the cash is on the TV screens for watching sport.
On the night I was in, I was disappointed by the lack of Australian Rules Football. Only the Australians could invent a sport that crosses kicking a ball with kung fu. Eric Cantona would have been a natural had he ever fancied chancing his luck down under.
Apparently, the Australian outback is so vast and contains so few people that you can walk for days without seeing another soul.
At Walkabout on a weekend night, you can go about half a second without someone brushing past you. The main bar has a capacity of about 600 and on the night I was in, it felt as though 599 others had the same idea.
Obviously, Walkabout is doing something right, but it's not the place for a quiet or classy night. On the other hand, if you are looking for a few drinks and a bit of a boogie, then it's a bonzer watering hole.
Jongleurs comedy club in the Omni centre is owned by the same company and at the weekends, it's not unheard of for punters at Walkabout to head over for the Jongleurs sticky disco once the comedy finishes.
On other occasions, your hard-working correspondent has wowed the crowds there with his dancefloor air guitar displays. Great fun at the time, but I felt a right dag the next morning.
Open: Noon-1am
