Morten Andersen tends to treat hostel bars with suspicion, because they usually trade location for everything else. Belushi's on Market Street is the exception worth making: a hostel-attached sports bar that takes the screens seriously and stays open when the Old Town pubs have called last orders.
The bar sits at 32-34 Market Street, in a curve of the Old Town a minute below the Royal Mile and a short walk from Waverley Station. It is the Edinburgh outpost of the Belushi's chain that runs across nine European cities, and it bills itself plainly as a sports bar with Sky and TNT Sports across big screens and a projector (Belushi's official site). Yelp files it under sports bars rather than as a hostel afterthought, which is the right call (Yelp).
The screen coverage runs wide rather than narrow. Football and rugby anchor the week, but the projector also carries NFL, boxing and Formula One, which matters in a city where the late kickoffs and overnight American fixtures need somewhere with a licence to show them. The main room is large and loud on a marquee weekend, with the projector wall giving a clear sightline from the back tables that smaller pubs cannot offer. The screens are spread so that no single corner owns the view, which helps when two fixtures clash. Staff used to a backpacker turnover handle a busy kickoff without fuss, and the door policy stays relaxed enough that a group can land late and still find the game.
The drinks and food are a backpacker-friendly list rather than a cellar to study: keg lager and cider, cocktail jugs, and a kitchen running burgers and global comfort plates through the day. Order a pint and a burger before a big fixture, keep the cocktail jugs for the group nights, and do not arrive expecting cask ale, because that is not what this room is for. For that, our wider Edinburgh craft beer guide points to the proper taprooms.
Who it is for is the visitor or student who wants a guaranteed screen for a specific match with sound and a crowd, plus a late finish. Stag and hen groups, travelling supporters and anyone tracking an overnight American fixture all fit the room. Locals after a quiet pint will find it too loud on a derby weekend, and that is by design. For the city's full set of match-day options, see our roundup of the best sports bars in Edinburgh.
Best time to go is a weekend afternoon or evening with a major football or rugby fixture, when the projector is the centre of the room and the late licence carries the night on. The bar opens at 11am every day and runs to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1am on Friday and Saturday (DesignMyNight), so a 9pm kickoff is no obstacle. Avoid the back corner during a Six Nations Saturday unless you have claimed it early.
The honest read on Belushi's is that it does one thing well and does not pretend otherwise. It is not a heritage pub and it will not win on the drinks list, but for a named match shown properly, late, with a crowd and a projector, it covers the Old Town gap that the traditional pubs leave when they shut at eleven. That reliability is worth more to a travelling supporter than any amount of character.
Belushi's earns its place in this guide as Edinburgh's most dependable late sports room in the Old Town, open seven days and built around the screens. For a broader tour of the city, start with our Edinburgh bar guide.
Sources: Belushi's Edinburgh official site; Yelp venue page; DesignMyNight listing.
