A speakeasy style Scottish bar has been named number one in the world by a global list. The Top 500 Bars named Edinburgh’s Panda and Sons as the best bar in the world in their 2025 ranking.
The bar, which this year was named number 34 in the World’s Best 50 Bars for 2025, has also seen owner Iain McPherson named best bartender by Drink’s International’s Bar World 100 list, the ‘Oscars’ of drinks awards.
The speakeasy, which is hidden below a Victorian-style barbers on Queen Street in Edinburgh, opened in 2013 by Mr McPherson who also owns Nauticus in Leith.
Panda and Sons has become known for its innovation and creative cocktails, with Mr McPherson using freezing techniques in some of the drinks in their Transcend menu.
The Top 500 had this to say about the popular bar: “Panda & Sons is the brainchild of famed Scottish bartender Iain McPerson. It’s a table service cocktail bar that’s all about friendly Scottish service in an intimate and cosy surrounding.
“Their cocktail menu offers exciting drinks using the latest techniques including their very own called ‘switching’.
The Top 500 aggregates data from over 2000 sources on the web, in more than 20 languages to determine their annual top 500 list of global bars. The team also speaks to experts, journalists, influencers, rankings, reviews, social media and search engines.
They said that this sheer amount of data “makes it possible to appeal the greatest number of opinions on the model of ‘the wisdom of crowds’”
Speaking to The Scotsman on our Scran podcast, Mr McPherson explained that winning awards “feels amazing to raise that flag for Scotland - a tiny wee country and an even smaller city.
“We were probably aiming to be the best bar in Scotland, if not one of the best in the UK, and just take it from there.”
More information on the Top 500 can be found here.
