Hamish Champ: Do Edinburgh's troubles point the way for the rest of us?

Last week saw me in Edinburgh, the city where my mum was born and yes, my spiritual home.

In glorious - if somewhat uncharacteristic - sunshine and in the delightful company of Stephen Crawley and his colleagues at Caledonian Brewery I managed to sample quite a few of that small but perfectly formed company's cask ales and lagers.

At the same time I learnt how the brewery has bounced back from disaster - two major fires in the last decade or two - and looks to gear up for life under the ownership of new masters, Dutch brewing behemoth Heineken.

As interesting as it was finding about how a long-established business like Caledonian is doing in the current troubled climate while necking back several glasses of Deuchars, it was equally fascinating getting a snapshot of how Edinburgh's pubs were coping with those issues that are now all-too-familiar to most of us. The findings, while anecdotal, were not hugely encouraging.

True, the world famous Edinburgh Festival is looming, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors into the city, many of whom will throng its pubs and bars.

But local observers were suggesting that Edinburgh's watering holes have been quieter in the last few months than they'd been in a long while.

It was less about the smoking ban - although this was having a negative effect on certain types of establishments - rather it was people's reluctance to spend over and above what they felt was prudent as an economic downturn hoved into view.

Now, some English readers might argue that Scots pub goers have always been somewhat reluctant to put their hands into their pocket to pay for a drink, but as a three-quarter Scot myself this would be an assertion I should have no truck with.

It is after all, more 'the economy, stupid'.

Later in my visit I met up with a family friend who lives and works in Edinburgh. From him I gleaned yet more that all is not well with the city's high street nor its drinking establishments.

Shops that a year ago were hugely busy were now impersonating church mice. Restaurants, even the trendy ones, did not need booking months in advance to secure a decent table.

And pubs were finding the going tough to the point that a couple of well-known hostelries in the city centre have managed to negotiate themselves what might be described as 'significant' reductions in their rents and better terms for their beer supply from their large pubco landlords. "Blimey," one muttered to one's self.

Edinburgh was described to me on this particular trip as akin to a suburb of London, such was its replication of the UK capital's social and economic trends, albeit in stunning microcosm. Walking through the West End of London after my return train journey and as the sun shone down on hordes of tourists and office workers milling about I was struck by how busy the pubs in areas such as Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and the South Bank were.

My friends in Edinburgh, however, would tell us lot down south to make the most of it. Never mind the downturn this year; they fear 2009 will be an almighty 'annus horriblis'​, and for all concerned…