Great Scot!

First it was Undershaw, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s once-prized residence in Surrey, that was threatened by developers, only to be spared--at least for the time being--thanks to efforts by Britain’s Victorian Society. Now, another landmark closely associated with Conan Doyle, as well as Robert Louis Stevenson, is apparently endangered. It’s Rutherford’s Bar, established in 1834 on Drummond Street, in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.

Although it was remodeled in 1899 by Edinburgh architect James M. Henry, and its interior was modernized in the mid-20th century, Rutherford’s elegant historic façade remains, as do “the terrazzo floor and marble walls of the lavatory and boxed-in sawdust spittoon channel,” according to Edinburgh’s Evening News. However, that newspaper adds, the pub’s original purpose may now be in peril:

Today, Rutherford’s Bar in Drummond Street on the Southside is facing permanent closure and could be turned into an extension of an Italian restaurant and gay nightspot with a dancefloor.

This bleak prospect depends on the outcome of the decision to be made by the licensing board on Monday as to whether or not to grant the new applicant building permission and, of course, a licence.

The new applicant is Ciao Roma Restaurants Ltd, based round the corner on the South Bridge, who plan to combine their cellars thus creating the aforementioned dancefloor.

The existing bar upstairs would be gutted and turned into a restaurant, an annex of the main restaurant next door. The new restaurant, which is unwanted, unnecessary and certainly not needed, will just add to the plethora of food outlets in the immediate area. Rutherford’s already faces on to four restaurants in a small street with two other Italian restaurants round the corner, within 100 yards.

Longtime patrons of Rutherford’s have campaigned to maintain the place as is, citing its historic relevance to Scottish literature, as well as its current relevance. (Ian Rankin’s Detective Inspector John Rebus, for instance, visits Rutherford’s in the 1991 novel Hide and Seek.) But that may not be ammunition enough. Although the Evening News story cited above, published last Saturday, suggests that a major decision on the pub’s future was to have been made this week, I don’t see any updates on the Web. If anybody knows more about the fate of Rutherford’s, please let us all know in the Comments section of this post.

(Hat tip to The Elegant Variation.)