We’ve been to the Hippodrome cinema again but as usual have gone on somewhere else for something to eat. Today it’s the turn of the Railbridge Bistro in South Queensferry.

La Binoche

The film we saw was an extraordinary French movie called ‘The Taste of Things’. It’s a gentle tale of romance centred around gastronomy. There’s a lot of talk about their pot-au-feu, being as heavenly as a Mozart symphony.  Set in 1889 it could only have been made in France. Us Brits, apart from a few mmms and aahs, usually talk about everything except the food when we eat. It’s why the French regard us as an  uncultured lot. The film was beautifully crafted; no music, sparse dialogue but great acting by Juliette Binoche. Sound and visuals were recorded in such a way that you could virtually smell the food. However, if you like rootin’, tootin’ shootin’ this is definitely not the film for you.

With three iconic bridges spanning the river Forth, South Queensferry has the dubious honour of being extremely popular with tourists. With its very narrow streets, it got so chaotic in the summer months that they’ve introduced a one way system. You can come in from the west but if you want to return the same way, you can’t. It all gets a bit complicated! Heyho, on the upside because it’s so busy it can support an entire frontage of large pubs and eateries. This Railbridge Bistro  is one we haven’t visited before.

Six Nations

Lots of noisy landscaping work going on outside which was a bit off-putting but we decided to venture in anyway. It’s big and even has an upstairs balcony for even better views of the bridges. The Six Nations Rugby Championship is on at the moment so it was bedecked with flags of all the participating countries. The staff had iPad type devices for placing orders hanging round their necks so it’s geared up to cater for the hungry hordes. Luckily it wasn’t too busy for us and they seated us on a comfortable big leather sofa where we could watch a screen showing a movie about the construction of the bridge. We now know all about it now so will bore you with stats later, but first the scones.

We ordered fruit scones which came with jam cream and a nice selection of berries. It was all really nicely presented and the staff were very friendly and attentive. The scone itself was also surprisingly good. However, with all the mechanical noise going on outside the overall experience wasn’t quite what it could have been. No topscone, but close!

Progress

From a Health & Safety point of view the construction of the three bridges illustrates how H&S has improved over the years. 73 workers lost their lives building the rail bridge in 1890, then 7 were lost building the first road bridge in 1964 and only 1 was lost building the most recent one in 2017.

The Railbridge is an engineering wonder. It was built to restore the public’s faith in bridges after the Tay Bridge Disaster in 1879 when a passenger train passing over it plunged into the river. Unfortunately it also resulted in some of William McGonagall’s worst poetry. 

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

‘Twas about seven o’clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-
“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”

Obviously, something had to be done to prevent McGonagall writing stuff like that again. Today, after over 130 years, the Forth Railbridge is still used daily by 200 trains.  

A good movie followed by a good scone … that’s a good day!

EH30 9TA           tel: 0131 331 1996           The Railbridge

///proofs.reinvest.culminate