The Leith Puma

[LustForLeith]

Any of the older folk on here know any more details about the pub down the shore (now Giuliano's On The Shore) that had an actual puma in it? Even better, anyone got any photos of it? I can’t find any?

Today I’ve just discovered that such a thing happened and I can’t get my head around it!

[Bangkok Hibby]

Any of the older folk on here know any more details about the pub down the shore (now Giuliano's On The Shore) that had an actual puma in it? Even better, anyone got any photos of it? I can’t find any?

Today I’ve just discovered that such a thing happened and I can’t get my head around it!

Pretty sure it was Fairleys. Gogo dancers and a caged puma. The owner got done eventually after it attacked a female customer? I'm sure its all on google.

[LustForLeith]

Pretty sure it was Fairleys. Gogo dancers and a caged puma. The owner got done eventually after it attacked a female customer? I'm sure its all on google.

I’ve found some stuff but no photos of the actual car. Curious as to hear more about it from anyone who went.

Crazy!

[Moulin Yarns]

I heard about it recently from a neighbour. I live in pitlochry!

I was feeding the birds and it was cold. I was wearing a Hibs beanie and we got talking about Leith. He mentioned this as one of his memories, the cat lived in a cage on the bar. It got out somehow and the female customer came out of the toilet to come face to face with it.

[bingo70]

Any of the older folk on here know any more details about the pub down the shore (now Giuliano's On The Shore) that had an actual puma in it? Even better, anyone got any photos of it? I can’t find any?

Today I’ve just discovered that such a thing happened and I can’t get my head around it!

I am told the pub was called the Westward Ho (probably wrong spelling) when it had the Puma in it.

Also told it was a panther, not a puma, person telling me it is adamant. Seems a bit far fetched for it to be a panther but then, what’s not ridiculous about this story?

[Jack]

I am told the pub was called the Westward Ho (probably wrong spelling) when it had the Puma in it.

Also told it was a panther, not a puma, person telling me it is adamant. Seems a bit far fetched for it to be a panther but then, what’s not ridiculous about this story?

I think you're right. However I remember it as a glass 'cage' that just about ran the length of the bar. I was never there when it was allegedly brought out on a lead at 10pm closing time to encourage the punters to leave!

It should be remembered that at that time exotic pets were allowed and not that uncommon in folks houses, although maybe not so much big cats, monkeys and stuff like that.

There were more than half a dozen pubs down the Shore that had go-go dancers. You'd never think it seeing them now. One pub that's no longer there, the Steamboat near where the new Aldi is, was even used in a TV advert for Tartan Special or Tennents lager!

Leith generally was a different place from what it is now, very different!

[bingo70]

I think you're right. However I remember it as a glass 'cage' that just about ran the length of the bar. I was never there when it was allegedly brought out on a lead at 10pm closing time to encourage the punters to leave!

It should be remembered that at that time exotic pets were allowed and not that uncommon in folks houses, although maybe not so much big cats, monkeys and stuff like that.

There were more than half a dozen pubs down the Shore that had go-go dancers. You'd never think it seeing them now. One pub that's no longer there, the Steamboat near where the new Aldi is, was even used in a TV advert for Tartan Special or Tennents lager!

Leith generally was a different place from what it is now, very different!

When asking my father in law about it he said “it didn’t seem that odd at the time, it was just one of those things in a radge part of leith”

😂

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

person telling me it is adamant.

Stuart Goddard?

[CropleyWasGod]

Stuart Goddard?

Gerald Harper. :cb

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Gerald Harper. :cb

Showing your age there, I'm just a youngster! 😊

[LustForLeith]

I asked my dad about it and he Leith was a crazy place. He used to go to it. He didn’t like the pub that had a parrot on it cause it crapped all over the bar. He wasn’t scared of a puma but was worried about the parrot crapping everywhere!

[Eaststand]

I am told the pub was called the Westward Ho (probably wrong spelling) when it had the Puma in it.

Also told it was a panther, not a puma, person telling me it is adamant. Seems a bit far fetched for it to be a panther but then, what’s not ridiculous about this story?

My memory can sometimes be a bit iffy, but the stories about the big cat are all 100% true, and unbelievably in the early 70s the cat could sit inside the pub behind the big windows looking out onto commercial street.

I'm fairly sure the pub in question was at that point called the Merrymaker, it was located on the corner next to the water of Leith opp the customs House, and was owned by a family friend called Graham Reynolds
The cat used to get to walk around the pub after closing time and that usually was safe enough, well so Graham thought.
*I def witnessed the big cat walking around the pub a few times after closing time and it just walked around the pub like a big dog would.

Unfortunately Graham was wrong to trust the cat as it attacked a gogo dancer stopping in for a closed door drink after the then 10pm closing time.
She wasn't seriously hurt, just a few scratches, but it must have been a terrifying experience for her.
I'm fairly sure the evening news ran a story and pics when it happened.

The cat was supposed to have been gotten rid of, but I believe it was transferred secretly to a secure kennels in the southside of Edinburgh and lived happily ever after.

Leithers nowadays have never lived 😂🐱

[LustForLeith]

My memory can sometimes be a bit iffy, but the stories about the big cat are all 100% true, and unbelievably in the early 70s the cat could sit inside the pub behind the big windows looking out onto commercial street.

I'm fairly sure the pub in question was at that point called the Merrymaker, it was located on the corner next to the water of Leith opp the customs House, and was owned by a family friend called Graham.
The cat used to get to walk around the pub after closing time and it usually was fine or so Graham the bar owner said. I witnessed this a few times after closing and it just walked around the pub like a big dog would.

Unfortunately Graham was wrong to trust the cat as it attacked a gogo dancer stopping in for a closed door drink after the then 10pm closing time.
She wasn't seriously hurt, just a few scratches, but it must have been a terrifying experience for her.
I'm fairly sure the evening news ran a story and pics when it happened.

The cat was supposed to have been gotten rid of, but I believe it was transferred secretly to a secure kennels in Edinburgh and lived happily ever after

Leithers nowadays have never lived 😂🐱

That’s amazing! Mad to think that this happened and it wasn’t too long ago!

Imagine being the dancer who got attacked though? Scary!

A few of my mates have stories from their families past. One of my mates grandads won a monkey at a game of cards!

And not £500!

[WeeRussell]

😂😂😂 absolutely mental stuff. Don’t know whether to tell you all to f*** off.. or google the story for more info 😂

[Moulin Yarns]

😂😂😂 absolutely mental stuff. Don’t know whether to tell you all to f*** off.. or google the story for more info 😂

Do you think everyone got together to concoct the story? 🙄

[Eaststand]

😂😂😂 absolutely mental stuff. Don’t know whether to tell you all to f*** off.. or google the story for more info 😂

I actually agree it all sounds so unbelievable by today's standards, but it's all 100% true.
There is a wee bit about this on Google but not too much detail as this was all before the Internet etc.

I'm actually not too sure what species of cat it really was but it was a dark sandy brown colour about the size of a big labrador dog.
After the gogo dancer incident, Graham was meant to have got rid of the cat and it was believed he'd done so. But as I've said in my earlier post, the cat was rehoused very secretly to a secure dog kennels on the city outskirts.
Graham emigrated to Spain a few years later so I'm not sure what happened to the cat afterwards

Ps, Our family and friends all knew which kennels the cat was rehoused to and we used to have a laugh imagining the resident dogs barking at the scent of a nearby cat, then running like hell when the saw the size of it 😂🙀

[WeeRussell]

Do you think everyone got together to concoct the story? 🙄

No I don’t. I believe it. It was my way of saying what an amazing and bizarre story it was.

[H18S NX]

I am pretty sure it was Fairleys,on the corner before the bridge.

[Wembley67]

No photos but loads of wee accounts of it here...

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_edin/1_edinburgh_history_-_recollections_leith_wild_cat.htm

[LustForLeith]

I still can’t get my head around this story or the fact I’d never heard it until I was 44

Anyone know what it was called? I really want it to have a proper Leith name. I read about the pet shop at Tollcross that had a lion called Jason

[blackpoolhibs]

Did anyone watch the tv programme last night with Ross Kemp about the lunatics that keep lions and tigers?:no way:

[pollution]

I still can’t get my head around this story or the fact I’d never heard it until I was 44

Anyone know what it was called? I really want it to have a proper Leith name. I read about the pet shop at Tollcross that had a lion called Jason

#


Would Shug do ?

[overdrive]

Did anyone watch the tv programme last night with Ross Kemp about the lunatics that keep lions and tigers?:no way:

Just watched it and it has totally reinforced my belief that all pet ownership is completely immoral and wrong. And yes, I do mean dog, cat and budgies (of which I used to ‘own’). It’s disgusting. I’m not even a militant vegan but i
I’d class a lot of so called vegans in that bracket too!

[Kato]

Whats morally wrong about having a dog?

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[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Whats morally wrong about having a dog?

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Picking up its merde might not be morally wrong but, I doubt I'll ever love an animal enough to handle that sort of stuff.

[Kato]

Picking up its merde might not be morally wrong but, I doubt I'll ever love an animal enough to handle that sort of stuff.That's preference though, not morals.

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[blackpoolhibs]

Picking up its merde might not be morally wrong but, I doubt I'll ever love an animal enough to handle that sort of stuff.
Just get yourself a pair of dark glasses, and a stick. :wink:

[Hibby70]

Just watched it and it has totally reinforced my belief that all pet ownership is completely immoral and wrong. And yes, I do mean dog, cat and budgies (of which I used to ‘own’). It’s disgusting. I’m not even a militant vegan but i
I’d class a lot of so called vegans in that bracket too!


Dog? What's immoral about that? Humans have had dogs since Hearts won the league cup.