Bar spy: Destination, Edinburgh Destination, 17 Albert Place, Leith Walk, Edinburgh Style: Pre-club gay Cost: Pint of Kronenbourg £2.50; large vodka and coke £3.50 Best for: Cruising Not for: A meeting with the Christian Union Wheelchair access: Yes You're in a bar in a David Lynch movie. It's a spit'n' sawdust kind of joint, a place where men are men and women are at home with the ironing. It has a touch of the Irvine Welsh about it, being half-way down Leith Walk and opening at 5am to cater to posties, winos and clubbers. With its tar-stained walls and flags in the windows, it's as unpretentious as they come. But, this being a Lynch film, things start to turn weird.

You look up from your pint of heavy and realise you're not in the bar you thought you were at all. Certainly it's at the same address as the Old Salt, that beloved home of early-morning tipplers, and it kind of looks the same, but now you see the far wall is draped in red velvet curtains, like the nightmarish finale of Twin Peaks, and there are disco lights flashing across the floor.

It gets stranger. This Lynch movie must be a collaboration with John Waters because the bar is now full of girls who are boys who like boys to be girls, the music is set to pre-club ear-shattering and there's a larger-than-life drag queen on the 6ft stage.

Last August, in the most unlikely transformation on the Edinburgh pub scene, the Old Salt renamed itself Destination. No longer the haunt of thirsty shift workers, it has extended the city's gay village from its Blue Moon/CC Blooms axis into territory previously untroubled by the pink pound.

Destination's unique selling point is its small but perfectly formed cabaret stage, offering live entertainment Thursday to Sunday, with karaoke on a Tuesday.

On the wildest of nights, you'll see the old Old Salt regulars looking like they don't know what's hit them as they share bar space with an up-for-it gay crowd. The biggest culture shock comes late at night when the noisy disco atmosphere demands full party spirits. Even the bar staff succumb to the pulse of the music, pouring pints with high-energy flamboyance. Turn up early evening, however, and the mood is laidback and sociable, equal numbers of men and women chatting quietly to a soundtrack of David Byrne and Rachel Stevens.

Alongside other new hang-outs on Broughton Street and in the New Town, its arrival marks a rejuvenation of the capital's gay scene.

But there's something temporary-looking about Destination that makes you wonder if it's here to stay. From the outside it's uninviting and, despite the comfy leather sofas, it doesn't feel like it's serving its purpose until the party crowd arrives.

Something more adaptable would surely cater to the broader tastes of a diverse gay market.