The city council is expected to lay out a timetable this week for the reopening of Princes Street “within weeks not months”, as wind-delayed work continues to shore up the shell of the burnt-out former Debenhams building.

The local authority is stressing the city centre remains “open for business”, despite the ongoing closure of Princes Street between Frederick Street and South Charlotte Street to facilitate “painstaking” preservation work.

Loose stonework is being removed by hand and steel reinforcements installed in an operation that is now expected to be able to save the historic facade of the building. The operation is so delicate that “even slight gusts (of wind cause) work to be paused”. You can see the council’s full update here.

That means transport disruption is likely to continue throughout the Festivals and perhaps beyond. The now traditional pedestrianisation of parts of George Street during the Fringe has already been scrapped to accommodate diverted bus services, with entertainment moved instead to St Andrew Square. Meanwhile, there are complaints of passengers being turned away from full buses between Leith and the city centre, as we head towards a fourth week with tram services suspended to the north and east of Princes Street.

Growing confidence: Council leader Jane Meagher said she has been encouraged by the good progress that has been made on site, adding: ”I am now confident that we are talking weeks not months in terms of reopening Princes Street.”

Growing repair bill: The cost of the emergency work to shore up the remains of the old Debenhams building is expected to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. The city council is directing the operation and will seek to recoup the cost from the building’s owner, London property billionaire Asif Aziz, through his company Criterion Capital.

Why not just bulldoze it? That question has been raised by the city’s transport convener Stephen Jenkinson. Responding to calls for more urgent action to get transport moving through the city again, from Tory councillor Jason Rust, Jenkinson posted on Facebook: “Look, if it was down to me I’ll just knock the building down and get the road reopened asap however like most things it isn’t quite as simple as that.”

Heritage organisations have been pushing hard for every effort to be made to preserve as much as possible of the remains of the badly-damaged B-listed Victorian building. That looks to be paying off in heritage terms, which will inevitably prolong the next steps of drawing up fresh plans for its future.

YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING

GOING FOR GOLD: Edinburgh’s twin 1,500m world champions Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman are set to go for gold in what promises to be one of the highlights of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Assuming they come through their qualifying heats on Wednesday morning, the pair will go head to head on Saturday evening. With fellow Scotsman Neil Gourlay also running, some commentators are asking whether Scotland could possibly record a 1-2-3 in one of the Games’ Blue Riband events.

FRINGE TICKET LOTTERY: Audiences will get a chance to land tickets for sold-out shows at this year’s Fringe thanks to a new Broadway-style lottery system. Shows at venues including Shedinburgh, run by Baby Reindeer producer Fransesca Moody, will hold back a handful of tickets for shows to offer on the Sold Out Board website. Venues in Broadway and London’s West End have run a similar scheme for many years.

COUNTING COST OF WILD FIRE: Conservationists fear a colony of rare butterflies may have been wiped out by the recent wild fire beneath Salisbury Crags. Park ranger Matt McCabe told the Evening News it would be next year before the impact on the Northern Brown Argus butterfly would be known. “If this colony has not been entirely lost, it will have been severely negatively impacted,” he said.

META GLASSES BAN: The promoters of the Edinburgh Comic-Con has banned Meta glasses from its events after complaints of “secret filming” of guests and attendees. Monopoly Events said the ban would apply to all “wearable recording devices” and followed a number of guests saying they would be reluctant to appear at conventions after being filmed without their knowledge.

MURDER ACCUSED DEAD: A man accused of murdering his ex-partner at her home in the capital was found dead in HM Prison Edinburgh yesterday. Lee Greenan, 46, had been remanded in custody after being charged with killing beauty business owner Vikki Soloman.

YOU DANCING? Talking Heads star David Byrne has earned a string of rave reviews for his theatrical sell-out shows at the Playhouse, but city-based comedian Phil Jupitus has sparked a debate by complaining about the way dancing was encouraged during the shows. Jupitus said a pre-show announcement saying dancing was allowed in the all-seated auditorium effectively discriminated against people who were disabled or unable to stand for an extended time.

TRACK CHANGES: Engineers at Heriot-Watt University, working with colleagues in Leeds and Europe, have designed a self-levelling railway sleeper that could help reduce the cost of maintaining high-traffic “transition zones” on the rail network. Researchers say the recycled plastic sleepers could help cut costs and improve passenger comfort.

BLACK(ROCK) DAY FOR LOCAL DEMOCRACY: The go-ahead for a 544-bed super hostel in the West End, which The Inquirer revealed was connected to the world’s biggest investment fund manager Blackrock, has sparked protests. The developers bypassed the city council to win Scottish Government approval for its controversial plans. Philip Flockhart, a conservation architect and spokesperson for the community campaign against the scheme, said: “There will now be understandable concern that this creates a roadmap for other heavily-financed developers to pursue similarly intensive schemes while bypassing meaningful local democratic scrutiny.”

CYCLE GROWTH: Edinburgh Napier University has partnered with South of Scotland Enterprise to drive the growth of Scotland’s cycling and mountain biking economy – worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year. At the heart of Bike Innovation Scotland is the new Caerlee Mill Bike Campus in Innerleithen, which will bring together businesses, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to develop and test new ideas and products.

‘GLORIOUS HUMAN’: Popular comedian Paul Sneddon, better known to audiences at the Fringe and The Stand as alter ego Vladimir McTavish, has been remembered as “a glorious example of a human being”. His brother, Sandy, paid the tribute at his funeral at Warriston Crematorium, where other eulogies came from broadcaster and comedian Susan Morrison and Stand co-founder Tommy Sheppard.

ONE HOME TO 11 FLATS: A single home in Merchiston and extension would be turned into 11 flats under plans submitted to the city council. Slievemore Development Limited has applied for planning permission to convert the home at 8 Merchiston Crescent and demolish its garage and extension to create 11 flats.

Pic of the week

THE BUSINESS

Edinburgh’s visitor economy being monitored as tourist tax goes live

Businesses in Edinburgh’s hospitality sector - which generates more than £2.5 billion and supports tens of thousands of local jobs - have put the city council on notice that they will “monitor” the impact of the new Visitor Levy, which went live last week with tourists now paying the 5% accommodation tax.

However, city council leader Jane Meagher, expressed satisfaction that the visitor levy – expected to raise £50 million – was now live, and added: “We now have a unique opportunity to invest more in the things that make our city so special. We know that the city’s popularity comes at a cost through the pressure it puts on our services and on the people who live and work here all year round. This small new contribution from overnight visitors will help improve the services and public spaces we all depend on, while better managing the effects of tourism and major events.”

Marc Crothall MBE, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance said: “There’s great uncertainty around how visitors will respond … Will it lead to some choosing not to stay over in Edinburgh or to take shorter stays, or will it result in people still coming but spending less in the destination’s restaurants, pubs, shops, attractions, and other local businesses?

“These are impacts we’ll be monitoring over the coming weeks and months, and we will be expecting authorities to do the same.”

No Celebration

Leon Thompson, executive director of UKHospitality Scotland, was forthright in his view: “The UK’s first visitor levy is not a cause for celebration. It’s a landmark moment for all the wrong reasons – increasing costs for visitors, hitting Edinburgh’s local economy and harming our reputation on the world stage. It has not taken long for visitors to notice the price increases that hotels have been forced to pass through.”

Others have adopted a pragmatic approach. Roddy Smith, Chief Executive at city centre BID company Essential Edinburgh, said: “ The key thing from businesses’ point of view is that the money that’s collected needs to be used well and visibly and there has to be accountability for what is delivered…

“We see our job as being a critical friend to this process and holding the council accountable for how they spend the money. The additional cleaning and the additional policing is a really good start, but it is a start.”

Edinburgh employs 36,000 in its food and accommodation sector, 25,000 in retail and a further 20,000 in culture, arts and recreation.

RATES WATCH: Scotland’s pubs and clubs will be looking to the Scottish Government to match new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s decision to cut the sector’s business rates south of the border by 20% from April next year, reports Daily Business.

CHAIR APPROV-ED: Edinburgh headquartered fintech Approov has appointed Silicon Valley veteran Rex S. Jackson as independent chair to succeed Lucio Lanza, who will continue to serve on the board as a non-executive director. The firm is based in the Capital and Palo Alto, California.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

ROYAL RETURN: Take a peek inside the newly-refurbished King’s Theatre, grab a drink in the cafe, gaze at the beautiful John Byrne dome and see what three years of work has created. Pop in and meet the King’s team on its reopening weekend on Saturay and Sunday.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK: For the first time since 1940, the outdoor amphitheatre in Braidburn Valley Park will host a performance. On Saturday, the Edinburgh Brass Band will host a free concert from 1-3pm.

STRANGE BEAUTIES: The first major retrospective of Welsh artist Gwen John in more than 40 years opens at the Gallery of Modern Art on Saturday. Rarely seen drawings and watercolours features in Gwen John: Strange Beauties which showcases works inspired by her religious beliefs, French modernism, and her surroundings in the Parisian suburb of Meudon.

QUICK BITES

NEW ARRIVAL 1: Asu, the latest project from the team behind Glasgow’s admired Five March, has launched on the Shore at super-trendy venue Brown’s of Leith. Restaurateur Joanna Nethery and her team promise to bring “the vibrant flavours of Asia” to the new restaurant, and executive chef David Cleary has previous, having headed up Michelin recommended Hanoi Bike Shop.

NEW ARRIVAL 2: Specialty coffee company ZeroBars has opened its first pop-up café in Scotland. The new café, which uses an innovative cold extraction process, is located in the main food court at Waverley Market.

A new sponsorship announcement for a sports club to tidy up its historic “club house” with a lick of paint and some tender loving care was by no means the Capital’s biggest story of the past week. But it did concern an Edinburgh gem that is not so much hidden, as hiding in plain sight.

A tiny building linked to one of the earliest places where golf was played – home to the world’s oldest golf club - formed years before the Royal & Ancient at St Andrews. And yet, the extent of the Capital’s influence on one of the world’s most popular sports remains under-appreciated.

The earliest records of women playing golf were recorded here. A report in the Caledonian Mercury in 1738 reported that two married ladies played a match at Bruntsfield Links, their husbands acting as caddies, and that the competition was won by the “charming Sally” and the news was picked up internationally.

Sporting history in one of the globe’s most popular sports – and one that continues in uniquely accessible fashion today as locals and visitors alike play the short-hole course, cheek by jowl with dog-walkers, cyclists, families, students and residents enjoying the undulating landscape with its views to Edinburgh Castle and Arthur’s Seat. A far cry from the hallowed fairways of Scotland’s elite links golf courses.

Much-loved landmark

Bruntsfield Short Hole Golf Club members were delighted that an international hotel chain provided the wherewithal to refresh their distinctive clubhouse – a former Cabbies’ Hut situated on Bruntsfield Links. Its green livery has been restored, the hut exterior refurbished with a new door and new roof, and drainage improved through a new soakaway.

Cabbies note – not caddies. The hut was originally housed in nearby Marchmont as a shelter for the cab drivers of the horse-drawn cabs – short for “cabriolets” - as the taxi carriages were then known.

The Dubai-headquartered JA Hotels & Resorts operates the 4-star Bruntsfield Hotel, which looks directly across the links and is itself to undergo a major redevelopment later this year. General Manager Alistair Bruce was in no doubt the sponsorship was money well spent. “The starter hut is a much-loved feature of Bruntsfield Links and forms part of the rich history of one of the world’s oldest public golf courses. It is an important local landmark. Recognising its historical significance and its importance to local golfers and residents, the hotel was pleased to support its refurbishment and ongoing upkeep.”

Guests, particularly from overseas, “are unaware of the Short Hole Golf Course, its history, or the hut’s existence unless they take a walk around. Recently, thanks to our sponsorship of the refurbishment, the course has become a topic of conversation among our guests.”

“Most notably, we had 12 American golfers who were particularly fascinated by the course and the history of the hut.”

The hut dates back to the days of the Horse-drawn Trams and was originally located at Marchmont Road, where it had been a Cabbies’ Hut. It was also relocated to a putting green on Whitehouse Loan, before it came to Bruntsfield Links where it has served as the clubhouse for the Short Hole Golf Club since 1929, a central hub for competitions, featuring noticeboards and scoreboards to keep members updated on competition results.

Edinburgh, of course, is the tourism magnet that brings visitors to Scotland in greatest numbers. However Golf is also a hugely important driver of Scotland’s visitor economy. St Andrews, often described as the Home of Golf, is very much at the heart of its appeal. But in Bruntsfield and Leith Links, Edinburgh is home to two courses and clubs that are older, and that is without adding Musselburgh Links to the equation.

Golf tourism booming

The international appeal of golf means golf tourism is worth in excess of £300 million a year to the economy in Scotland, with overseas golfing visitors (around 25% of them from the US) spending on average £340 per day. A recent article in The Traveller magazine said the boom was “strengthening transatlantic air routes”.

And there’s no sign of that slowing down. The global golf tourism market is projected to grow from $18 billion to $27 billion over the next five years.

Golf has been played at the links since the 15^th century. In its early days, golfers had to compete with other activities, notably quarrying stone for the fast-expanding city of Edinburgh. Aware of the competing tensions, in 1695 the city council granted permission for a small part of the links to be made available for quarrying “always being at ane distance from the place where the neighbours play at Goulf(sic).”

The golf club recognised as the oldest in the world played the six-hole course at Bruntsfield Links – the Royal Burgess which dates back to 1735. Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society came into existence in 1761 and was responsible for drafting some of the earliest rules of golf (for example, that the player furthest from the hole should play first). What is now the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is the world’s second oldest club, coming into existence in 1744, based at nearby Leith Links.

For context, the Royal & Ancient at St Andrews, responsible for the rules of golf as we now understand them, came into existence in 1754.

The members of both the Royal Burgess and Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society moved to their neighbouring homes in the north-west of the city in the later nineteenth century.

Just bring your clubs and play

In this same period, specifically in 1890, demand was such that the city council relocated “the long game” to a new 18-hole course at Braid Hill. That left the land at Bruntsfield Links itself, and in 1890 the 36-hole short-hole golf course was founded – and it is still going strong today, a unique and open golfing community.

A spokesman for Bruntsfield Short Hole Golf Club, told the Inquirer they were grateful for the support of the hotel, and then added: “At the golf club, there are no green fees - playing is completely free! Players simply need to bring their own clubs and balls. For those who prefer to rent equipment, The Golf Tavern offers clubs and balls for hire. Club membership is available to anyone aged 14 and above, and it includes access to regular weekly competitions during the summer season. New members are always welcome!”

“The holes range in length from 45 to 90 yards, offering a unique challenge over varied terrain. Throughout the year, the course is open for play from late April until September. During the winter months, from October to April, it reverts to a 9-hole layout. Both courses are maintained by the City of Edinburgh Council, supported by dedicated volunteers from the club who are committed to preserving this historic facility.”

For today’s long read Will Quinn has been looking into the cost of staging a show at the Fringe. Every year, we hear dire warnings about the soaring cost of accommodation in Edinburgh - and there is no doubt it has generally become eye-watering - and the impact on the affordability of performing at the Fringe.

The cost of staying in the capital in August creates many issues, from forcing homeless families out of accommodation in the city to turning Edinburgh into one of Edinburgh’s premium tourist destinations.

But what does it mean for the performers who continue to beat a path to the city each summer? Are we pricing out all but the most affluent from putting on a show at the Fringe? The answer is more complicated than you may have been led to believe.

More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.

Your Edinburgh Briefing

TAX AXE: Scottish Ballet has blamed the city’s incoming Visitor Levy - which starts to be charged from tomorrow - for cancelling plans for some of its festive shows. This year’s Christmas show Cinders! will go ahead but plans to stage five performances of a touring show between Christmas and New Year will not. Steven Roth, executive director of Scottish Ballet, told The Herald said: “A visitor economy that becomes too expensive for both the artists who animate it and the audiences who come to see them risks undermining the very thing that makes Edinburgh worth visiting.” Overnight visitors will be charged an extra 5% on the cost of their first five nights in the city from tomorrow.

FRINGE SWITCH: Pop-up Fringe venues are set to move to St Andrew Square as a result of buses being diverted along George Street in the wake of the Princes Street fire. The area outside the Assembly Rooms was due to be pedestrianised for the duration of the Festivals, but those plans are to be scrapped. St Andrew Square was until recently the home of the book festival.

HOSPITAL CRASH: An 85-year-old woman and a man aged 88 are fighting for their lives after being hit by the driver of a car outside one of the main entrances to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Police are appealing for dash-cam footage of the incident involving a red Peugeot 208 on the Midlothian side of the hospital at about 3:40pm on Monday.

NEURODIVERSITY WAITS: NHS Lothian has been ordered to develop a plan for dealing with long waits for neurodiversity testing for children. The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman found the health board failed to develop an appropriate plan to cut down a waiting list that has risen to around 11,000 children after concerns were raised by a whistleblower in 2024.

MAN CHARGED OVER DEATH: A man has been charged in connection with the death of a beauty clinic boss Vikki Soloman, aged 44, who was found dead in her home in the city’s East Craigs on Monday evening. A 46-year-old man has been charged after police were called to a disturbance at the property and is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

Pick of the (Cultural) Pops

Greetings, Pop Pickers!

August is fast approaching, and the city council is worried about preserving ‘heritage features’ at the burned-out husk of the old Debenhams building on Princes Street, writes Will Quinn. You might think that decades of mismanagement have made the city’s principal thoroughfare a hideous hodgepodge, and that restoring the tram service and not compromising the Fringe’s remaining New Town stronghold on George Street with traffic diversions should be the obvious priorities… but I couldn’t possibly comment.

Appreciated by those in power or not, however, the Fringe’s shadow now looms so large that it’s hard for the other cultural flowers to bloom - but not impossible! The Honourable Mentions have wilted away, however, leaving only 5 choice dates for your diary before the world’s largest celebration of the performing arts takes over. Alright? Let’s get on…

New in at Number 5 is... Modern Love (Netherbow Theatre, tonight)

We are starting things off at the Scottish Storytelling Centre with the debut production from new theatre-makers Atelier 32. The piece follows Estelle and Andrew, a couple who have been together since their university days. When Estelle suddenly pulls the plug on the relationship, the play explores the messy six-week period where they are forced to continue living under the same roof before finally separating. It looks to be a grounded, realistic look at the emotional fallout and practical tensions of untangling a long-term partnership, examining how people actually treat each other when love is on the line.

New in at Number 4 is... Escape from New York (Filmhouse, Ongoing). Crashing straight into the charts is John Carpenter’s sci-fi cult classic, back on the big screen where it belongs. It remains a brilliant retro treat. Watching Kurt Russell’s iconic, eye-patch-wearing Snake Plissken navigate the gritty ruins of a maximum-security Manhattan to rescue the US President is pure 80s cinematic tension. Catching this properly projected in the dark at the resurrected Filmhouse is a great excuse to get out of the sun!

Moving to Number 3 is... Edinburgh Folk & Food Festival (Assembly George Square Gardens, Friday – August 2nd)

The Assembly Festival’s now annual warm-up in Assembly George Square Gardens makes certain no one takes their thoroughly curated food-vendor line-up for granted. Not all the trucks and stalls will still be here come August however, so don’t make the mistake of thinking your favourites will be here until September comes calling. Over at theQR.co.uk, my wife and I produce an annual Fringe Food Guide, so you can believe me when I say there’s not a bad stall on offer. But if you’d like an insider’s tip, whilst you can stop by for a nice meal at Ting Thai on Lothian Road (and elsewhere), their street-food incarnation is something (very delicious) else! Oh yes, and there’s some spectacular folk to enjoy alongside your scran, not least multi-award-winning contemporary folk stars Breabach. Delicious!

New at Number 2 is... Ordinary Elephant (Traverse Theatre, July 27th)

Stopping by the Traverse on their latest tour is the husband-and-wife Americana duo, Ordinary Elephant. Crystal and Pete Damore aren’t just rehashing the traditional folk canon; they bring their own character-driven storytelling to the table. If you appreciate clean harmonies, sharp banjo and guitar work, and a straightforward, unpretentious approach to acoustic music, this should be right up your street.

Staying at Number 1 is... Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (Across the city, until Sunday)

And still reigning supreme at the top of the pops! Before the August madness takes over the capital entirely, the city’s premier musical showcase is serving up its final weekend. If you want to lean into the smoother, blues-influenced side of the tracks, there are some absolute standouts left to catch. On Thursday, British blues powerhouses The Cinelli Brothers team up with the spectacular Alice Armstrong. On Friday, Jerron Paxton brings his multi-instrumental acoustic blues to the stage. And for the ultimate weekend vibe, you cannot go wrong with Saturday’s dedicated Blues Afternoon. Brilliant stuff! Yes, indeed!

And that’s your Top 5! As the festival countdown ticks away and the shadow of the Fringe grows by the second, these five crackers will give you all the high-quality cultural fuel (and literal fuel if you stop by the Folk & Food Fest) you need. Grab those tickets, support our fantastic local venues, watch out for those traffic diversions around the New Town, and let me know what you’re seeing in the comments below!

Until next week: Stay bright!

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You can still perform at the Fringe as cheaply as in the 1990s

The real cost crisis hitting the Festivals, its roots and what it means for performers

by Will Quinn

It is an August tradition as reliable as the rain: the annual lament over the cost of participation in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. PR Matthew Shelley captures the prevailing industry mood precisely: “There is a continued steep trajectory towards total unaffordability for those without substantial private means - or who don’t make serious sacrifices.”

Headlines routinely declare the festival financially impossible. Even the then Fringe Society CEO Shona McCarthy warned the Scottish Government - as I reported back in a 2024 investigation for The Edinburgh Inquirer (Rats, Rents and Missing Data) - that the “dreaded rising cost of accommodation” had become a “grim reaper” threatening the event’s survival. Performers publish balance sheets detailing five-figure losses. The sector blames landlords, greed, and a broken system. Yet, run the data through a Bank of England inflation calculator and the numbers tell a more nuanced story.

According to historical accounts from former Fringe Administrator Michael Dale and contemporary industry reporting in The Guardian and The Stage, staging a self-funded solo run at a commercial venue in the year 2000 cost between £2,500 and £4,000. Adjusted for inflation to 2026, that upper limit equals roughly £5,750. Today - as an itemised budget breakdown later in this piece will detail - an artist willing to bypass the super-venues such as the Pleasance or Underbelly can execute a four-week run for under £3,000. In real monetary terms, the bare-bones Fringe may be cheaper now than it was at the turn of the millennium.

Edinburgh’s affordability problem, you see, did not appear overnight. It represents a long-term structural shift. To understand why performing in the Scottish capital feels cripplingly expensive, you must understand both the city’s affordable accommodation crisis - at least partially self-inflicted - and the commercial machinery of the Festival itself. You must, trace the industry’s obsession with costly, high-end production back forty years. First, however, let’s look at some more recent developments.

Read more

Sixteen years ago Stefan King saw independent cinemas as the future.

The millionaire nightclub owner turned property mogul had made a success of the Grosvenor cinema in Glasgow’s West End. The historic cinema off cobbled Ashton Lane had been a big hit since he bought and reopened it almost a decade earlier, writes Emma Newlands.

Its winning formula - which continues to work today - seemed on the surface straightforward to duplicate. A storied venue within spitting distance of the historic university and its growing student population, it mixed accessible art house screenings with more mainstream releases, had big, comfy seats, a licensed bar and good food.

In Edinburgh, King first tried to buy the Cameo in Tollcross with the idea of reportedly turning its main auditorium into a bar-restaurant, before turning his attention to the Odeon in the Southside.

When he bought the empty Odeon in 2014, it was not an isolated purchase. The deal was part of a strategy to build a chain of independent cinemas across the country, taking over existing venues, bringing old ones back to life and creating brand new picture houses.

His G1 Group hired a “cinema development manager” to help drive the plans forward.

He bought Perth’s long-running Playhouse cinema and drew up plans to reopen the historic and eccentrically-named White Elephant Cinema in Glasgow’s Shawlands. The White Elephant once boasted a ballroom and restaurant alongside the big screen, but had not been used as a cinema since the 1960s. More recently, it had been run as a nightclub by G1, but now it seemed its glory days might be ahead of it again.

The beautiful Art Deco Odeon in South Clerk Street would be the chain’s first Edinburgh venue.

The plans for the White Elephant and the Odeon stalled. Still sitting empty in 2023, the White Elephant suffered severe damage when the building was set alight, leaving it a burned-out shell.

Despite work being carried out in recent years to shore up the historic building, the Odeon still sits empty. It is 12 years since King bought it and more than 20 years since it was last in regular use.

Concerns are growing for its future. That inevitably includes the fear that the longer it sits empty the greater the risk it could fall prey to fire, like the White Elephant and a string of other historic buildings in Edinburgh and Glasgow in recent years.

King’s biggest uncompleted project

A lot has happened in the intervening years. King has rescued The Scotsman Hotel, the historic former home of the famous newspaper of the same name, on North Bridge, from liquidation, turning it into one of the city’s leading luxury venues, complete with its own in-house Picture House.

Through his Scotsman Group property company, he has invested heavily in pubs and hotels across the capital, spending a reported £30 million on The Three Sisters, in the Cowgate; The Bank Hotel, on the Royal Mile; Biddy Mulligan’s, in the Grassmarket; the Murrayfield Hotel; and others.

He has diversified outwith Edinburgh, converting the former Kilrymont High School in St Andrews into student accommodation, and the former BBC headquarters on Glasgow’s Queen Margaret Drive into his own corporate HQ.

Eleven years after buying the Odeon and announcing plans to turn it into “a world-class entertainment destination”, it remains his biggest uncompleted project.

Read more

The stretch of Princes St outside the Debenhams fire site will remain closed for “the foreseeable future” as work continues to make the building safe and determine how much of its historic fabric can be saved.

Plans to support businesses affected by the closure and keep public transport moving as smoothly as possible, including during major events such as the August festivals, are being put in place.

The section of Princes St between Frederick St and South Charlotte St is expected to remain closed for several weeks, while “complex and time-consuming” work is carried out to make the building safe and preserve as much as possible of the historic building.

The businesses forced to close on Rose St reopened over the weekend and the council is sending out a message that the city centre is “open for business”.

In the meantime, trams are stopping at Shandwick Place, leaving Leith and Newhaven without a service, and buses are being diverted mainly down George St.

Appeal to Scottish Government: Council leader Jane Meagher has written to the Scottish Government to ask for help dealing with the costs of the recovery from the fire. It provided up to £10 million to support businesses affected by the Union Street fire in Glasgow (largely through rates relief) and subsequent disruption as well as another £1 million towards demolition costs. The scale of disruption in Glasgow - 71 businesses were forced to shut compared to six on Princes St and Rose St - means the sums involved are likely to be much smaller here.

£2k a day rates lost: Rates are automatically waived for businesses forced to shut by such emergencies. That has cost £2,000 a day in lost revenue to the Scottish Government, although the reopening of five stores on Rose St at the weekend means that figure drops to £1,400 a day (the daily business rates bill for Boots). However, many businesses outside the cordon may have faced significant disruption and could qualify for discretionary relief on their rates.

Unpaid rates raid: The gift shops operating in the building which burned down were raided by enforcement officers within the last month and stock seized in lieu of unpaid rates, The Herald reports.

Mixed trading fortunes: Some city centre businesses have reported a huge drop in trade, with the Mor Bakehouse on Princes St close to the fire scene telling The Sun it had been forced to cut staff hours it was so quiet, but the Day-Today Express store finding itself busier than usual due to extra footfall on Castle Street.

Buses and trams: The council are working with Edinburgh trams to see how quickly it can resume even a partial service beyond Shandwick Place, with the potential for the south side of Princes Street to open before the north carriageway.

‘Quieter’ Leith: Some businesses in Leith, including the Diggers Leith bar, are reporting being a lot quieter than usual as a result of local tram services being off, with calls being made for extra buses to help ease the problem.

Get on your bike: An extra 200 e-bikes are being made available to hire through the Voi on-street scheme by the ed of the week, taking the total fleet up to 1,000. There will be extra bike parking in the city centre to help people cycling in from Leith and Newhaven.

Improvised plans: The council is looking at tailored plans around major events to minimise the disruption, with the Edinburgh Festival Carnival adapting its parade route at the weekend and Shandwick Place being closed to traffic for much of Saturday to accommodate extra tram passengers boarding there for the rugby at Murrayfield.

Official updates: You can get updates on the council’s plans on a dedicated web page here.

YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING

SMASHED IT! Josh Kerr didn’t just beat the world record for the mile, he smashed it, in front of a raucous 60,000-strong crowd at London’s Olympic Park on Saturday. The Edinburgh runner knocked around half a second off the 27-year-old world record. He had been targeting the record as part of what he called Project 222 which he announced in March. That included wearing a specially designed black running suit and spikes. Afterwards, he said he was setting his sights on the 1,500m world record and winning the London Marathon. Before that, he runs for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games.

CRAGS WILD FIRE: Six fire crews spent the night tackling a large blaze on the slopes beneath Salisbury Crags. Emergency crews were called out shortly after 6.30pm last night. It was the second major blaze in Holyrood Park in little more than a month.

TAX TIME: The so-called tourist tax comes into effect on Friday with overnight visitors required to pay a 5% levy on overnight stays. The Visitor Levy is expected to raise £50 million a year once it is up and running, but some accommodation providers have warned of potential hitches from starting to impose the charge a week before the launch of the Fringe.

OPEN HOUSE: The beloved 200-year-old palm houses at the Botanics will reopen in October following a five-year restoration programme. The £20m refit included installing 5,000 new panes of glass and an upgraded heating system. The hothouse doors will reopen on a ticketed basis from 2 October.

WATER OFFICES HOMES PLAN: Scottish Water has applied for permission in principle to demolish its offices at Fairmilehead to make way for housing. The building is underused following the rise of working from home since the Covid pandemic and considered unsalvageable due to severe problems with RAAC, the so-called crumbling concrete. Scottish Water is moving to offices within the city council’s Waverley Court complex.

‘THE SCRATCHER’ ARRESTED: Police Scotland have announced the arrest of a 25-year-old man, who they say is known as “The Scratcher”, following a spate of vandalism to cars across Edinburgh.

COMMUNITY FAIR PROTEST: The organisers of the Corstorphine Fair have launched a national petition calling for a Scottish Government review of the licensing, regulatory and financial burdens placed on volunteer-run community fairs and gala days. The community fair in Corstorphine went ahead successfully this year only after facing significant last-minute licensing and administrative difficulties, despite extensive early engagement with the local authorities.

GOLF HUT: The community golf hut on the historic 36-hole short course on Bruntsfield Links has been refurbished for the benefit of the thousands who used the free course each year. The refurbishment was sponsored by Dubai-based JA Resorts which owns the four-star Bruntsfield Hotel overlooking the Links.

ROADS RELIEF: There has been some good news on road closures with Scottish Water confirming that the 6-month closure of part of Gorgie Road for essential work will finish as planned on Friday, 31 July.

FROM CURRIE TO THE WORLD: Currie Boys Football Club were famously presented with a bag of new footballs as a thank you when he first signed for Hearts as a schoolboy. Now he is being hailed as one of Scotland’s greatest ever keepers after announcing his retirement at the age of 43. His 25-year career included many highs and lows including a £9m then British record transfer for a goalkeeper, comebacks from potentially career-ending injuries, and 84 caps for Scotland.

Pic of the week

THE BUSINESS

Edinburgh syndicate wins top investor award

The Edinburgh angel investment institution which has backed city and Scottish businesses has been crowned as the Angel Group of the Year at the UK Business Angels Awards.

Archangels, which claims to be the world’s first angel investment syndicate, has leveraged almost £18 million in Scottish businesses in the first six months of this year alone - £7.2 million directly via its members’ funds and an additional £10.7 million of co-investment.

Archangels has more than 100 member investors, and typically invests more than £10 million in Scottish businesses each year – in particular in technology and life sciences.

In the first half of the year, that included University of Edinburgh spin-outs Biocaptiva and Bioliberty.

David Ovens, Joint Managing Director at Archangels, said: “Scotland’s early-stage ecosystem continues to punch well above its weight, and while the macroeconomic backdrop remains uncertain, the pipeline of innovative companies coming through gives us real confidence going into the second half of the year. Archangels has been backing Scotland’s best founders for over 30 years, and the ambition and quality we are seeing today is as strong as it has ever been.”

HEALTHY BOOST: Regenerus Laboratories, an Edinburgh-based diagnostic health testing company, has secured £8 million of investment, with £5m equity from private equity company Foresight and a £3 million research and development grant from Scottish Enterprise, reports Daily Business.

EVENT WINS: A series of event wins for Edinburgh International Conference Centre will bring estimated £50 million in future economic benefit for Edinburgh. The EICC has released the figures after securing 91 new events in the first half of this year, with an expected 54,000 delegates expected over the years through to 2031.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

DRESSING THE STARS: Celebrating 60 years of one of Britain’s most celebrated costume designers, Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop takes you inside the world of cinema period dramas. The cast which the company has dressed includes Helena Bonham Carter in A Room with a View, Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and Leslie Manville in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. The exhibition runs until 16 January at the Dovecot Studios.

FOOD ‘N’ FOLK: The Edinburgh Folk and Food Festival returns for a second year of mixing its foodie roots with top music acts including Mercury Prize nominee Seth Lakeman and Scottish folk stars Breabach. The action gets underway in George Square Gardens from Friday until 2 August.

BYRNE-ING DOWN THE HOUSE: If you don’t already have tickets, then you’re too late, but Talking Heads founder David Byrne brings his Who is the Sky? tour to the Playhouse for three sold-out nights from tonight.

QUICK BITES

IT’S GELATO, PETAL: Iconic Italian gelato arrived in Edinburgh at the weekend with the opening by the Vittoria Group of the first sore for luxury brand Amorino at 27 North Bridge. The flower-shaped “petal gelato” comes in authentic flavours including tiramisu, stracciatella, pistachio, and amarena.

SUCCESS ON A PLATE: Four Edin­burgh eateries have been named in the list of Bri­tain’s 100 Best Local Res­taur­ants 2026 by the Good Food Guide – Ardfern in Bonnington Road, The Palmerston at Palmerston Place, Barry Fish in Leith and Bruntsfield’s Leftfield. The list honours the UK’s best neighbourhood restaurants.

There are hairdressers and barber shops, bingo halls and snooker games, water aerobics classes for the elderly, kissing couples, classes at the Royal Blind School, dancing children, and numerous scenes of protest and resistance, writes Grace Campbell.

People are at rest and at play, alone and together, there are the young and the old. Depicted on black and white film, the images line the walls of two floors of the City Art Centre, where they comprise the largest exhibition to date of the work of prolific documentary photographer Sandra George, and the first at a major institution in the city she called her home.

George, who died in 2013, was a dedicated and well-known community worker in the Wester Hailes and Craigmillar areas, where she ran participatory workshops for children and young people on photography and other creative skills, was involved with numerous social action projects, and founded and administered a charity called the Niddrie Community Youth Group.

For thirty years she was also an accredited press photographer working freelance for a range of community papers and organisations across Edinburgh, who captured a vibrant social history of the city that went unexhibited and largely overlooked in her lifetime.

That is about to change. Depicted on black and white film, the images line the walls of two floors of the City Art Centre, where they comprise the largest exhibition to date of her prolific work of prolific, and the first at a major institution in the city she called her home.

Her son Tyler George Hewitt, himself now an artist and community organiser, describes the scale and scope of her work – in which he is tenderly featured – as “humbling.”

Documenting the lives of people

Born 1957 in Nottingham to Jamaican parents, George lived in Birmingham and Jamaica as a child, and moved to Edinburgh in the mid-1960s, living in the city for the rest of her life. She studied photography at Edinburgh University and became one of few women of colour working as documentary photographers in Scotland in the eighties and nineties, producing hundreds upon thousands of images of the people among whom she lived and worked. The title of the exhibition, “Start from the Level,” is taken from her own words, and embodies the compassion, respect and humour with which she approached her subjects.

The exhibition, which is organised thematically, encompasses several decades of Edinburgh life. “Community,” captures the political upheaval of Scotland in Thatcher’s 1980s: protests against nuclear arms and pension cuts, arrests, meetings of various activist groups. In one photograph, members of the Young Communist League stand triumphantly astride an abandoned car, in another, radical feminist protest the opening of a sex shop. Other sections showcase George’s gift for capturing joy and togetherness.

She was a particularly accomplished photographer of children: in the section entitled “Childhood,” they appear swinging from monkey bars, dancing ecstatically in a gym hall, jostling and grinning impishly for the camera. George’s artistic practice and her passion for social justice were seamlessly interwoven: among her personal effects displayed in glass cases throughout the exhibition are books on ethical issues and equality in youth work, one opened to reveal her meticulous annotations. This sensitivity to the vulnerabilities and interests of young people is evident in the photos themselves, which mostly picture children in unguarded moments of play and spontaneity.

At ease in her presence

For Stuart Fallon, one of the exhibition’s curators, George’s images of children and young people showcase her unique ability to win the trust and respect of her subjects. “There’s one image in particular of 4 boys standing on a makeshift structure (possibly a bonfire) in Leith in 1979,” he says. “It’s a very different Leith from now. Sandra would have been in her early 20s, in her final year of studying at Napier. She must have had great confidence to choose to document these boys – on their territory. But there’s something in the eyes of the boys looking back at her that shows a reciprocal respect, that she must have created. Even as one of them gives her (and us) the V-sign! These looks are mirrored across all of Sandra’s work – people were clearly at ease in her presence.”

Some photos hint at the knottiness of both British and Scottish identity: an Orange Walk; a grinning man pulling open his shirt to reveal ENGLAND tattooed across his chest; a quiet, contemplative image of a young Black man in a kilt dosing in a chair. For Fallon, George’s perspective is that of a “Black woman, living in what was (and still are) predominantly white spaces. This results in work that has a sense of being ‘from’ the communities, as opposed to being ‘of’ them.”

Amidst George’s enduring fascination with the energy and bustle of the collective are more introspective, scenes of solitude In one shot, a young girl appears almost swallowed up by what looks like a deflating bouncy castle. Some of the most affecting pieces in the exhibition, gathered together in the section entitled “Home,” are those George produced for herself, not for any publication. They are family snapshots, delivered with an artist’s eye for composition. George’s pictures of her son Tyler are tender and wryly humorous: we see him as a scrunched-faced newborn being bathed in a bucket; as a toddler bundled up against the snow, captured mid-wail; as a child posing cheekily for the camera.

The close-knit bond between mother and son is evident, the poignancy of the images intensified by the fact Tyler was born three months premature, which came with a much more uncertain prognosis in the early eighties. Tyler believes the photographs were in part a means of coping with his delicate health as a baby: “At the time of taking them, Sandra would not have known if I would survive, and photography was something to help and also a way to remember. Oddly, thinking about it just now, she did the same thing nearing the end of her life, documenting her cancer, the treatments, and its effect on her body.”

Facing challenges

Although, in his own words, he “grew up in front of a camera,” and was used to seeing himself depicted in his mother’s work, he was unaware of the size of George’s oeuvre until it began to be catalogued. “I grew up with some pictures on display and in photo albums,” he says, “but to learn that there were so many more was quite humbling.”

As detailed in his essay in the exhibition catalogue, George faced various challenges in her personal life during Tyler’s childhood, including a diagnosis of cancer in her early 30s, and a period of hospitalisation for schizophrenia. It is notable that a photographer so adept at coaxing vulnerability and candour from her subjects, and so tireless in her service of others, appears in her own self-portraits as enigmatic, even elusive.

In one she is a blurred figure next to a painting; in another a shadow reflected on the ground beside her son. In another, blown up large onto the exhibition walls, she sits on the floor in front of a mirror, her face is half-obscured by the camera while Tyler, then a very small baby, is propped between her legs. These images seem to reflect the psyche of an artist involved in a complex process of self-interrogation– but always passionately committed to documenting her life and the world around her, even through periods of struggle and uncertainty.

The breadth of the material on show is striking– especially when you consider that George’s work was almost never shown to the public at all. Indeed, it was not until 2020 that a chance conversation between Billy McKirdy– then a volunteer with the Craigmillar Now community arts centre– and Jimmy Hewitt, the father of George’s son, revealed the scale of her achievement. When Hewitt mentioned in passing that he had George’s entire life’s work– some 80,000 pieces – stored in boxes and binders at home, McKirdy and others were prompted to create a dedicated archive at the arts centre, ensuring George’s work could be properly catalogued and preserved for posterity.

McKirdy says, “I truly believe that Sandra’s work is of international importance, I profoundly believe the depth and range of events recorded by Sandra through her camera lens over nearly 40 years of dedication is remarkable and unparalleled in its scope and range.”

In keeping with her passion for community education, the archive is maintained by volunteers, many of whom are from the local area, who learn skills in curation, preservation and cataloguing.

Of and from this city

Fallon first became aware of George’s work when visiting her 2024 exhibition in Glasgow, curated by Jenny Brownrigg from Glasgow School of Art: “I was struck by the quality of the work initially, but was also struck by why the work hadn’t been shown in Edinburgh – since it’s almost entirely of, and from this city. So I made it a priority to bring the work here [...] It was at that point that I really understood the scale of the archive, and the amazing work CN [Craigmillar Now] have been doing to care for it over the past 5 years.”

The New York-born, Glasgow based artist Christian Noelle Charles, who co-curated the show, thinks one of the reasons George’s work has been overlooked is because it presents an alternative vision of Edinburgh to what is often marketed to tourists. “The first impression of going into Edinburgh is that it is a tourist city; it is a picturesque city.” George’s work, meanwhile, is more concerned with the day- to-day lives of the city’s residents, particularly its working-class residents. Fallon agrees, describing George’s as, “a slice of Edinburgh that is rarely seen – the vitality of communities that have been traditionally placed on the peripheries.”

Tyler, who writes in his catalogue essay of finding his mother propped up in bed writing funding applications for her charity just a few days before her death from cancer, hopes her work will continue through community arts projects and other initiatives: “She loved learning and believed deeply that education, done right, was a great leveller.”

For today’s long read we highlight the work of a city research team whose breakthrough could allow earlier diagnosis and more targeted cancer treatment for countless thousands of people around the world.

More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.

Your Edinburgh Briefing

SHIRT AFF: Edinburgh council’s trading standards team led what is thought to be the UK’s largest haul of counterfeit football kit this week. The nine tonnes of 58,000 fake shirts, mainly Scotland and England, were intended to be sold during the world Cup and are worth £5.5 million. The operation in the capital was carried out by the trading standards team along with Police Scotland and the National Trading Standards Intellectual Property team in Newport Trading Standards.

RECORD BREAKER? Josh Kerr will aim to beat Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record for the mile at the London Stadium on Saturday. Fellow Edinburgh Athletics Club (EAC) alumni Jake Wightman joins a strong line-up in the 800m at the Diamond League meeting, in one of the pair’s last races ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. (Read more about EAC in How to forge world champions)

PRINCES ST CLOSURE: Princes St is likely to remain closed into August as work continues to assess the fire-damaged former Debenhams building and make it safe. The street remains closed to all vehicles and pedestrians between Frederick Street and South Charlotte Street, with buses diverted along George Street and Queen Street, and trams from the airport terminating at Shandwick Place.

TWERK OFF: The senior Historic Environment Scotland (HES) manager accused of twerking in front of actor Martin Compston during an official function at Edinburgh Castle has been sacked, The Herald reports. The manager was also reportedly the subject of a complaint about a separate incident. Meanwhile, former Fife Council chief executive Ronnie Hinds has been appointed interim chair of Historic Environment Scotland, the third person to hold the post in the last year. He has been asked to help strengthen “the culture, governance and leadership” of the Newington-based agency which oversees more than 300 of Scotland’s most historic buildings.

NO GOLDEN GOODBYES: Councillors who are not re-elected in next May’s local elections will not be offered severance payments of up to £27,000. The pay-outs were one of the recommendations of an independent review in 2024 which said the lack of resettlement payments was a significant barrier to attracting people to stand in council elections. However, the Scottish Government said there was not enough time to set a scheme up before next year’s elections.

CRIME WAR TRUCE: The dispute between drug gangs which saw a series of firebombings and other attacks across Edinburgh has ended after the rival factions made a truce, police have said. There has been a “resolution of differences” between the two gangs, following a police operation which resulted in dozens of arrests, according to an update to the Scottish Police Authority.

CLEARING CLOSED: Heriot-Watt University has closed its clearing process to Scottish students after filling its Scottish Government-funded spaces. The number of home-based students at Scottish universities is capped due to the funding system which sees their fees paid by the Scottish Government. Meanwhile, spaces remain open to fee-paying students from other countries. The restrictive nature of the system has come under growing criticism in recent years.

FIRE FIRST: Work has started in preparation for building the capital’s first new fire station in more than 30 years. The existing Liberton Fire Station will be demolished to make way for the £10m facility. The future of the under-threat Marionville Fire Station remains uncertain.

MCTAVISH AWARD: The Stand comedy club has launched a new Fringe award in memory of the popular stand-up Paul Sneddon, better known to audiences at Vladimir McTavish. The prize, run in conjunction with The List magazine and THe Comedy Unit, will recognise the most outstanding show by a Scottish or Scottish-based act. The winner will receive a £2.5k prize, sponsored by the city’s W hotel, a Fringe run at The Stand and comedy mentoring.

Pick of the (Cultural) Pops

Greetings, Pop Pickers!

The August madness is practically breathing down our necks, but there are still a few cultural hits worth catching before railings everywhere vanish behind posterboards! Whilst we’ve had a few rainy blips, Edinburgh’s rather pleasant version of the national heatwave has continued to bring boundless joy - and an army of golden retrievers - out onto our sun-drenched streets. The aftermath of the Princes Street fire may be bringing traffic to a complete halt, but, fortunately, Edinburgh remains a most walkable city, so there’s no reason not to satisfy your cultural cravings this week!

Indeed, there’s so much cracking stuff on the radar that the Honourable Mentions have made a triumphant return. We are blending local youth theatre, side-splitting double acts, a homegrown musical production, thunderous Irish feet, and a city-wide jazz takeover. Alright? Let’s get it on...

Honourable Mentions: Bubbling just under the main chart, we have a true cinematic belter! John Carpenter’s dystopian sci-fi cult classic Escape from New York (Filmhouse, Ongoing) is back on the big screen, offering a glorious slice of retro tension as Kurt Russell’s iconic, eye-patch-wearing Snake Plissken navigates a maximum-security Manhattan to rescue the US President. Over at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, the fresh-faced creatives of Atelier 32 are staging their debut piece, Modern Love (Netherbow Theatre, July 23rd), promising a witty, highly relatable look at the chaos of 21st-century situationships and the messy realities of...modern love. Don’t miss ‘em!

New in at Number 5 is… Summer on Stage 2026 Double Bill (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Friday and Saturday)

Kicking off our chart this week is a magnificent showcase of tomorrow’s talent! Every single year, the Lyceum opens its doors to local youth aged 7 to 19, pairing them with seasoned theatre professionals to create something truly magical. This time around, they are tackling Philip Wilson’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s brilliantly dark Grimm Tales, stripping those classic fairy tales right back to their creepy, psychological roots. It is a wonderful opportunity to support the next generation of creative minds and experience the stage through entirely fresh eyes. Who knows, you might just catch the debut performance of a future superstar! Yes, indeed!

New in at Number 4 is... Hammer Lake (Monkey Barrel Comedy, Friday)

Crashing straight into the chart is a double act that I promise will have you rolling in the aisles! I’ve been waxing lyrical about Sam Lake in reviews for a few years now, and the word on the street is that teaming up with Kate Hammer is making for comedy gold, brilliantly blending his trademark wholesome camp with her high-octane absurdity. They are heading to the Monkey Barrel to unleash their unique cocktail of stand-up and sketch chaos. They’re here to solve your life’s problems while undoubtedly creating a few new ones along the way. If you are in the market for some joyful, unadulterated belly laughs to kick off your weekend, look no further! Not ‘arf!

Moving to Number 3 is... Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Church Hill Theatre, until Saturday)

Climbing up two spots to Number 3, we are looking at a notable homegrown effort this week. Forget the massive commercial tours; this production comes from Find Your Light Productions, showcasing the students of the SJM Performance Academy and Edinburgh Acting School. For those unacquainted with the script, it follows the true-life-inspired story of a 16-year-old Sheffield schoolboy who overcomes local prejudice to step into the spotlight as a fierce drag queen. The positive critical buzz surrounding this company’s previous outings suggests they are a team to watch. Keep an eye out for Fionn Cameron—who earned my well-deserved praise in Southern Light’s Guys and Dolls earlier this year—and the magnetic Cherry West making waves from the drag scene. All in all, this promises a slick, thoroughly engaging evening of song and dance.

Staying at Number 2 is... Lord of the Dance: 30th Anniversary (Edinburgh Playhouse, until Sunday)

Holding steady in the silver spot! Thirty years, pop pickers! It has been three full decades since Michael Flatley decided to branch away from Riverdance and create a rhythmic empire of his own. While the legendary showman has handed over his dancing shoes to a fresh crop of incredibly swift-footed talent, the production still delivers a staggering display of synchronised footwork that aims for the exact same stadium-shaking punch it pioneered in the nineties. You aren’t booking a ticket for a sophisticated narrative - Flatley’s focus always lay in his spellbinding choreography and pure showmanship - but audiences can expect a blistering evening of pyrotechnics and world-class precision tapping. It’s an absolute powerhouse!

Staying at Number 1 is... Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (Across the city, tomorrow until July 26th)

Right! Still reigning supreme at Number 1! It’s simply unshiftable, music lovers! Before the August madness takes hold, this expertly curated festival proves you don’t need a sweaty attic to experience international greatness. Boasting over a hundred shows, it’s a mammoth musical feast! We’re spinning those heavyweight highlights we flagged last week: the legendary Bad Plus bidding us a fond farewell, Tuba Skinny bringing the New Orleans heat, and Louisiana blues dynamo D.K. Harrell. Throw in the brilliant Brian Kellock tribute, the cutting-edge Dutch ‘SPARK’ showcase, and the sun-soaked return of the Grassmarket Mardi Gras! Yes, indeed!

And if you’re a bit less jazz-initiated? Never fear! Recognisable national treasure Jools Holland is bringing his sensational Rhythm & Blues Orchestra to town for a massive blast of unparalleled boogie-woogie piano and unmistakable big-band swing! Grab your diaries, pop pickers, and let’s get booking!

And that’s your Top 5! As the countdown to August ticks away, these crackers will give you all the high-quality cultural fuel you need to tide you over. Get those tickets booked, back our brilliant local venues, and let me know what’s tickling your fancy in the comments below. Alright? Oh, and if you do find your next cultural obsession thanks to my wise words, don’t be shy: let the world know!

Until next week: Stay bright!

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City cancer research breakthrough could save thousands of lives

New lung cancer testing that would speed up diagnosis and enable more targeted treatment

Read more

In the nicest possible way, meeting Alison Atkinson at work does feel a little bit like stepping back in time. Only because the business she runs is Edinburgh’s oldest continuing family business still proudly using many of the craft skills, methods and machinery that staff in Victorian times would recognise.

The first woman to run one of the city’s most renowned small business is, however, a thoroughly modern businesswoman. She has worked for some of the world’s biggest and best-known brands before throwing all of that hard-earned experience into charting a future course for the family enterprise.

Alexander Kirkwood & Sons is a Capital institution, that has served most of the city’s plethora of even more renowned institutions at some point or another in its 200 years of history. And not just in the Capital, but august organisations further – much further – afield.

Established two centuries ago this year, Alison is the sixth generation of the Kirkwood family to run the company, and the first daughter. Her father, David, is now in his 80s and retains a keen interest after running the business for decades.

Read more

Structural engineers are assessing whether any of the former Debenhams building on Princes Street can be saved following devastating damage in last week’s fire.

The two upper floors of the five-storey B-listed Victorian building will have to be removed immediately for safety reasons, with fears the rest of the facade and remaining gable wall may also be too unstable to save.

With the site now likely to sit empty for years while new plans are agreed for its development, conservation groups - including Edinburgh World Heritage, the Cockburn Association and the Scottish Civic Trust - are calling for every effort to be made to save what remains of the building’s facade and historic interior.

Work had been due to start on converting the site into Edinburgh’s largest hotel. Controversial property billionaire Asif Aziz had secured planning permission through his development company Criterion Capital for Scotland’s first Zedwell hotel, with 652 rooms, a mixture of windowless ‘sleeping pods’ and regular bedrooms.

The fire: At its peak, 50 firefighters tackled the blaze, after being called out shortly before 3am on Thursday. No one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

History lost? Opened as the Palace Hotel in 1869, 109-111 later served as the magnificent home of the Scottish Liberal Club, before becoming Debenhams with River Island and Levis shops on the ground floor. Beautiful stained glass windows, grand wooden staircases and the club’s wood panelled and ornately decorated Gladstone Memorial are among the historic features feared destroyed. A bust of the former Prime Minister William Gladstone survived the blaze having previously been removed for storage.

What next? The first job will be securing the safety of the site, then thoughts will turn to its future. The extent of the damage means the Zedwell plans is almost certainly impossible to deliver in its current form. New proposals will need to be drawn up and agreed. Experience suggests the process is likely to take years rather than months.

Two hotel plans hit: The fire means work cannot temporarily take place on the neighbouring site, where demolition had already been carried out to make way for a £100 million, 247-bedroom Ruby Hotel.

Will Aziz walk away? There are suggestions the disruption to the existing Zedwell hotel plans may convince Aziz to sell the site rather than pursue fresh plans. Previous development proposals were pulled in 2023, when then owners Legal & General decided against pursuing its own hotel and restaurant plan and sold up instead. Criterion Capital has simply said ensuring safety is its current priority, adding: “This building is an important and historic part of Edinburgh’s city centre, and we continue to liaise with the emergency services and relevant authorities.”

Fire risk review call: Last week’s was at least the third blaze on Princes St in the last five years. That comes alongside a series of major fires in historic buildings in Glasgow. Edinburgh World Heritage is now calling for a review of the fire risk in the city’s historic buildings. There was a blaze at 112 Princes St, nextdoor to the latest fire site and another part of the old Debenhams store, in 2021, as well as one in which firefighter Barry Martin was killed in the Jenners building in 2023.

YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING

ANTIQUE STAR: Tributes have been paid to Antiques Roadshow expert Theo Burrell following her death from a brain tumour at the age of 39. Burrell, who worked for Lyon and Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh and lived near Longniddry, became a popular member of the BBC show after joining its team as an on-screen valuer in 2018. A statement from her family said: “She was an incredible person who fought hard for her family, friends and raising awareness of this cruel disease.”

SPARK STATUE: Award-winning sculptor and photographer Jacqueline Donachie has been chosen to create a permanent memorial to Dame Muriel Spark in Princes Street Gardens. The Glasgow-based artist’s winning design features a series of curved terrazzo forms with steps and seating areas that encourage visitors to pause and reflect on Spark’s legacy. Spark is widely regarded as one of the greatest novelists of the last century and the memorial will be the first in the gardens dedicated to a woman.

BLACKFORD HILL WILDFIRE: Firefighters tackled a wildfire on Blackford Hill near the Royal Observatory as temperatures rose to 25C on Friday evening. Two fire crews extinguished the fire with no injuries reported.

FOGGY GOLF: South Korean Tim Kim shed tears of joy as he won the Genesis Scottish Open after play was stopped by thick fog in North Berwick on Saturday. Kim beat a strong field including Bob McIntyre and Rory McIlory at the Renaissance Club course.

POLICE STOP: Right-wing YouTuber Craig Houston has been stopped by police at Edinburgh Airport under anti-terror laws. Police Scotland have confirmed the 53-year-old has not been arrested or charged but said that his electronic devices have been seized and inquiries are ongoing.

STABBING INCIDENT: A 33-year-old man is expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today in connection with an alleged stabbing in Loanhead at the weekend. A 21-year-old man had to be taken to hospital after the incident in the High Street area on Friday evening.

DOCTORATE FOR GLENN: Edinburgh Napier University has awarded an honorary doctorate to BBC Scotland political editor Glenn Campbell. The award recognizes his work in journalism and for raising awareness and funds for brain cancer research. Mr Campbell was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2023.

BRIDGE WORK: Network Rail is set to begin a £1.3m project to renew a rail bridge over Westfield Road in the west of Edinburgh. To carry out this work safely, a series of overnight lane closures will be in place on Westfield Road between 8 August and 9 October, with a full road closure in place from 8-18 September. You are encouraged to plan ahead and take extra time when travelling through the area.

ART MAP: The Edinburgh Art Map initiative is being launched to promote visual arts events and exhibitions across the capital to a wider audience. Hosted by the Embassy gallery in Leith, and following the model of the Glasgow Art Map, it will post weekly website event listings and social media updates. Art lovers are invited to support the initiative through a crowdfunder appeal.

Pic of the week

THE BUSINESS

Arena delays push opening back

The developers of a new 8500-capacity arena at Edinburgh Park in the west of the city have stressed they “remain committed” to delivering a project.

It emerged last week that the project has been delayed due to the inability to secure a contractor and rising supply chain costs. Permission for the venue was granted two years ago, and it was expected that the first events would be staged in 2027.

That now appears less likely. Targets had already slipped by a year, and further extensions now seem probable.

Alistair Wood, executive vice president for real estate and development at AEG International, which is behind the project, said: “We remain committed to delivering the Edinburgh Park Arena and continue to make progress behind the scenes as we work through the next phase of the project

“As with any major development of this scale, timelines are kept under regular review as design, procurement and commercial discussions continue.
Proposed-AEG-arena-in-Edinburgh.

“We are particularly focused on securing a main contractor and supply chain, which remain a challenge in Scotland at the current time.”

PROJECT MILESTONE: Edinburgh’s biggest single-site student accommodation project has hit a milestone in its development. Design and build contractor McAleer & Rushe marked the “topping out” of Mantle Yard, a 604-bed Purpose-Built Student Accommodation development on Baltic Street in Leith.

OFFICE DEMAND: Demand for high-quality office space is outstripping supply in Edinburgh. A new market report from Lambert Smith Hampton, with Ryden providing analysis for Scotland, reveals occupier demand is driving rental growth. Take-up reached 118,760 sq ft in the first quarter of the year, the strongest since the final quarter of 2024. Prime rents increased by 6.7% year-on-year to £48 per sq ft.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

STONE ME: The European Stone Stacking Championship returns to Dunbar on Saturday and Sunday. The championships mark the culmination of a week of events at the European Land Art Festivals which gets underway tomorrow.

ALL THAT JAZZ: The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival brings world-class performers to the capital for 10 days from Friday. Enjoy a taste of New Orleans in the Grassmarket on Saturday with three live music stages throughout the afternoon.

FESTIVAL CARNIVAL: Still looking for more of the Festival spirit? More than 1,000 festival performers will parade down the Mound to the west end of Princes Street, followed by an afternoon of entertainment in the gardens, when the Edinburgh Festival Carnival returns on Sunday.

BLOCK PARTY: Discover some of Britain’s best new bands when the Cowgate Block Party returns to Sneaky Pete’s and the Mash House on Saturday.

QUICK BITES

BLACKBIRD BACK: Popular neighbourhood cocktail bar The Blackbird on Leven Street in Tollcross is to reopen later this month following a six-figure interior makeover, in time for this year’s Fringe Festival. The work is to give the venue a contemporary new look, with further developments planned later in the year.

AMERICANA LANDS: Airport hospitality specialists TRGC has brought new dining concept to passengers at Edinburgh Airport. Forth and Main diner represents a fusion of Scottish and American hospitality, and is open from breakfast to last flight of the day.

When you’ve “walked” almost 200 miles above the earth and later plunged almost seven miles deep to the deepest part of the world’s oceans, you deserve all the accolades that come your way.

NASA veteran Dr Kathy Sullivan, the “world’s most vertical person,” received yet another when she accepted an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh over the past few days, in recognition of her substantial contributions as an astronaut and as an oceanographer.

A gravity-defying CV, Dr Sullivan was one of the first women accepted into the astronaut programme, as part of the Space Shuttle Challenger team, and was the first USA woman to carry out a spacewalk, and helped launch the Hubble telescope.

Yet before launching her career as an astronaut she had trained as an oceanographer and fulfilled another first when she became the first woman to reach the deepest known point in the ocean, Challenger Deep, in 2020 gaining entry to the history books and Guinness Word Records as the only person to have both orbited the world and reached its greatest depths.

After her ground-breaking time with NASA no less than two Presidents, Clinton and Obama, asked her to help lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Dr Sullivan’s degree recognition follows a 2025 visit to the University of Edinburgh, where she toured the newly launched Edinburgh Space Hub and at that time she also spoke at the Edinburgh Science Festival.

Based at the University’s Bayes Centre, the Space Hub brings together academics and industry together to drive advancements in space technology.

Dr Sullivan said: “I am deeply honored to receive this degree from the University of Edinburgh, an institution renowned for its long commitment to inquiry and public service.”

Ahead of her visit to Scotland’s capital last year, and a talk on the “The New Space Age”, she told IFL Science magazine: “I think the one thing that most excites me is there are so many new players, companies, universities, and other countries. I think the kinds of challenges that they will undertake, their approaches, the technologies they may develop, that’s going to be very exciting. You can expect a blossoming of new possibilities, new capabilities, and new ways of doing things that Russia, the US, and China haven’t needed to do or haven’t gotten around to doing or just didn’t think of! So that imaginative, creative, entrepreneurial, innovative dimension, I think it’s going to be very exciting.

“There are going to be a lot of challenges. It’s common to cluster those together and say there’s going to be a challenge in the years ahead: space will be ever more congested, ever more contested, and ever more commercial.”

She has long been a champion of diversity in space, and is on the record as saying that it’s essential the first crew on Mars includes a woman. She explained her view on diversity thus: “A wider range of prior experiences and frames of reference really matters when you’re trying to do something creative. Common groups of people are shaped by common sets of experiences. That gives you blinkers.

“But mix more people in with different perspectives, different backgrounds and the amount of lateral thinking and creativity just soars. Absolutely soars.

“Secondly, if you really mean you come in peace for all mankind, then you ought to be bringing all mankind with you.”

After three NASA Space Shuttle missions, including the 1990 deployment of the Hubble space telescope, she was asked by President Clinton in 1993 to become Chief Scientist of NOAA, and during the Obama administration she was elevated to the position of Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator.

Her first love had been studying the oceans, and she fully intended to pursue the career had her brothers had not talked her into applying for the astronaut programme after reading that the Space Shuttle programme was seeking women to get involved.

Her interest in space was always rooted firmly in the opportunities it gave to study the earth. “My deepest personal motivation for even filling out the astronaut application,” she said, “was that if by some miracle I beat the odds and got selected, I’d get to see the Earth with my own eyes.”

The great science communicator and astronomer Carl Sagan memorably persuaded NASA to turn the Voyager 1 camera around to photograph earth, what he later described as “a pale blue dot.” For Sullivan, looking at earth from space provided a different experience, saying she saw “a vivid blue beach ball.!”

The Edinburgh link for Dr Sullivan does not end with the visits last year, as Professor Iain Woodhouse, Chair of Applied Earth Observation at the University, said in his laureation address:

“Exactly 150 years ago, the HMS Challenger expedition, led by Sir Charles Wyville Thomson, a professor here at the University of Edinburgh, returned from its 3.5-year voyage circumnavigating the globe. This expedition transformed ocean science and defined modern oceanography. Today, it is quite fantastic that this University continues its tradition of celebrating scientific exploration by recognising Dr Sullivan, a scientist who has ventured to both outer space in the Challenger space shuttle and to the ocean’s deepest location, the Challenger Deep, both named after HMS Challenger.”

For today’s long read Emma Newlands has been looking at the city’s plans to invest £5 million a year from the proceeds of the capital’s new so-called ‘tourist tax’ in affordable homes.

Flats being built on the edge of the city centre are going to be reserved for “visitor economy workers”, but who exactly will benefit and how will these protected properties be managed?

More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.

Your Edinburgh Briefing

FILM STAR SPOTTING: Bridgerton and Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan has been spotted filming on the Dumbiedykes estate for Operation Wipe Out. The film, directed by Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, tells the story of a teacher who helps her pupils channel their anxieties about the climate crisis into a radical theatre production. Meanwhile, the Netflix hit crime thriller Dept Q has been filming on location around the city including at the Bridge 8 Hub and Paddle Cafe in Sighthill and Warriston Cemetery.

HONEYCOMB HOTEL: The A-listed former Scottish Widows headquarters on Dalkeith Road will be converted into a hotel under change of use proposals submitted to the city council by Ica Studios. The Basil Spence-designed landmark would retain its distinctive honeycomb design, with seven interconnected hexagonal modules, with a separate residential scheme for the remainder of the site.

LA SCALA REBOOT: The former La Scala cinema on Nicolson Street will be converted into a cafe and community space under plans submitted to the city council. The Southside landmark, opposite Surgeons’ Hall, has also been a music hall and more recently a bingo hall, before falling into disuse in the last ten years.

SUMMERTIME STREETS: The council has confirmed details of its traditional Summertime Streets programme of pedestrian measures, covering several city centre streets across 50 days from 27 July to 7 September.

COP SHOP SHUT: Gayfield Square Police Station has been forced to shut to the public more than 100 times already this year, as a result of staffing pressures, 1919 Magazine reports. The station at the top of Leith Walk has closed 49 times during back shifts, 22 times on early shifts, and 31 times on night shifts.

GOLF COAST: East Lothian has overtaken St Andrews as the country’s top golf property market. More properties sold for £500,000 or more in the county’s golfing hotspots of Gullane, Archerfield and North Berwick than in St Andrews in 2025, and so far this year, according to research by data consultancy HomeBench on behalf of buying agency Fyndd.

Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops

Greetings, Pop Pickers!

The Edinburgh Fringe is looming larger than a shadow over Arthur’s Seat, and the immediate cultural calendar is staying quiet as venues batten down the hatches for the oncoming storm. Aside from some global megastars hitting the Castle rock for a series of titanic summer concerts - gigs which certainly don’t need my help to shift tickets - the pickings right now are pretty slim. Because of that, we’ve binned the honourable mentions for the second week running. I’d far rather give you a tight, killer chart of genuine belters than pad it out with filler just to make up the numbers! Not ‘arf!

Thankfully, what we do have has real pedigree, writes Will Quinn. We’ve still lined up five top-tier contenders to keep your diary buzzing, blending local musical triumphs, thunderous Irish feet, pristine cinematic suspense, and a city-wide musical takeover. Alright? Let’s get it on...

New in at Number 5 is... Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Church Hill Theatre, July 16th – 18th)

This isn’t a stop on some relentless marquee national tour, pop pickers - this is a homegrown production from the dynamos at Find Your Light Productions! This vehicle for the talented students of the SJM Performance Academy and the Edinburgh Acting School is stepping into its third year, and the critical buzz surrounding their previous offerings suggests a company to watch. Yes, indeed! I expect a slick, thoroughly professional show here. Keep your eyes peeled for Fionn Cameron, who smashed it in Southern Light’s Guys and Dolls earlier this year, alongside rising drag scene star Cherry West, leading the charge. The show itself might be narratively light, but if it’s a deluge of cracking song & dance you’re looking for, you’ll find it!

Staying at Number 4 is... Hitchcock 4K Restorations: Vertigo (Filmhouse, Sunday) With Rear Window now done and dusted, our big-screen gaze turns completely to the second half of this glorious classic double-bill. Speaking honestly, the intro and Q&A wrapped around Rear Window last week were nothing to write home about, but the sheer joy of seeing a pristine, sparkling remaster of a Hitchcock masterpiece on the big screen was unmistakable! Vertigo is the ultimate psychological head-trip. Watching Jimmy Stewart’s retired, dizzy detective spiral into complete madness and obsession over Kim Novak across the gorgeous, colour-drenched hills of San Francisco on the big screen is the stuff of cinematic bliss. I’ve already got my ticket for Sunday - see you in the stalls!

Staying at Number 3 is... Marjolein Robertson: Clouds (WIP) (Monkey Barrel Comedy, Sunday)

“Marjolein Robertson’s star isn’t rising, it has risen. It’s powerful, bizarre, and hilarious in equal measure.” That was my verdict when reviewing her phenomenal 2024 hour O, and this Sunday she’s taking over the Monkey Barrel to road-test her brand-new work-in-progress show, Clouds. Catching even a top-tier comic sharpening her tools and tweaking the gags before the August festival madness kicks off is a risk, but trust me, she’s worth it! She has a knack for blending deeply intimate, traditional yarns and traditional storytelling with delightfully bizarre, out-of-the-blue punchlines. Seeing her construct this fresh material from the ground up could be the highlight of your Sunday evening.

New in at Number 2 is... Lord of the Dance: 30th Anniversary (Edinburgh Playhouse, July 16th – 19th). Taking the silver spot this week is an absolute juggernaut! Can you believe it’s been thirty whole years since Michael Flatley thumbed his nose at Riverdance and strode out to do his own thing? He turned traditional Irish footwork into a stadium-shaking, global phenomenon. Now, while the 69-year-old maestro has finally hung up his own sparkly shoes, he’s recruited a few exceptionally nimble Irish lads to take his place on the Playhouse stage. Look, don’t walk through the doors expecting a complex literary plot - Flatley’s prodigious talents are strictly limited to dancing, choreography, and being a decent boxer (back in the day). But do expect jaw-dropping choreography, dazzling pyrotechnics, and the thunderous precision of a world-class troupe putting on a masterclass in pure kinetic spectacle!

Right! Straight in at Number 1 is... Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (Across the city, July 17th – 26th)

Crashing straight into the top spot is the colossal 2026 programme for the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival! Often overshadowed by the hype of the Fringe that immediately follows it, this is a jewel in the city’s summer crown. It has all the international clout of the August festival, but comes with expert, discerning curation and—maybe the best bit—not a single sweaty, windowless basement venue! Over ten days and 100 stellar concerts, the highlights are mouth-watering. We’ve got legendary American avant-garde trio The Bad Plus stopping by on their official farewell tour, the powerhouse New Orleans street jazzers Tuba Skinny making their highly anticipated Edinburgh debut, and Louisiana blues sensation D.K. Harrell bringing his award-winning Talkin’ Heavy tour across the Atlantic. Throw in a celebratory tribute concert for the late, great Scottish jazz icon Brian Kellock, a beautifully curated ‘SPARK’ showcase of cutting-edge Dutch jazz, and the return of the free, sun-soaked (a boy can hope) Mardi Gras to the Grassmarket, and you’ve got a spectacular musical feast.

And that’s your Top 5! As the countdown to August ticks away, these five crackers will give you all the high-quality cultural fuel you need to tide you over. Get those tickets booked, back our brilliant local venues, and let me know what’s tickling your fancy in the comments below. Alright? Stay bright!

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The tourist tax is building cheap homes for city workers

Who will be at the front of the queue when they open their doors?

by Emma Newlands

Prospective tenants queuing down the street when a new block of flats opens in the city centre is nothing unusual. That comes with the territory.

What will be different at two blocks of flats due to open in Meadowbank and Fountainbridge in around 18 months time is that some of them - 111 to be precise - will be reserved for “visitor economy workers”.

This will be one of the first fruit’s of the city’s so-called tourist tax, officially the Visitor Levy, which is expected to generate up to £50 million a year by charging visitors an extra 5% on their accommodation bills.

Edinburgh has followed the example of some of the most pressurised tourist resorts in the world, from Alpine and North American ski resorts to Hawaiian beach destinations, by introducing subsidised public housing reserved for industry workers.

The city council has committed £5 million a year to the idea which will be used to kickstart developments comprising 472 affordable homes at Fountainbridge, Meadowbank and Coatfield Lane in Leith. As well as creating 361 social rented homes, the first two developments will include 111 homes for mid-market rent (MMR) which will be reserved for industry workers.

“Levy funds would, along with rental income, support the cost of borrowing, and free up resources within the wider housing budget for investment in more homes to address the housing emergency,” according to council documents.

It’s an idea which, as well as being threatened with potential legal challenge (which never ultimately materialised), has won widespread support.

James Garry, assistant director at conversation charity The Cockburn Association, told The Inquirer the principle behind the proposal to create homes for tourism workers is “understandable”. “Edinburgh’s visitor economy depends on people being able to live and work in the city, and the cost and availability of housing is increasingly affecting recruitment and retention across a number of sectors,” he adds.

Read more

It started as a residential street, with grand terraced townhouses for the city’s wealthy residents. Today it is evolving from the city’s premier retail thoroughfare into a mix of shops, hotels and hospitality. But the future of the public realm of Princes Street remains uncertain with debate continuing to rage.

Radical revamp or practical progress? Do we need to think bigger and bolder, or could the pursuit of perfection be the enemy of progress?

Take a walk along June Princes Street any sunny day in June, and it is likely to be packed, with noisy construction works at the former Jenners site sounding a constant reminder that revival is happening.

With major hotel investment, record visitor footfall and only a handful of vacant shop units, it appears to be more resilient than many key city centre streets elsewhere in the UK.

At the same time there’s no denying it’s dire need of a facelift and has been for many years. But the long-awaited overhaul of the public realm is in limbo.

After the council’s Princes Street and Waverley Valley strategy fell flat, transport, heritage and culture experts attended a special summit earlier this month to come up with a more “ambitious and exciting” strategy.

Beyond agreement on fixing broken pavements and improving access to the Gardens no consensus emerged on what a scheme should look like or when it could be delivered.

“We need stewardship”

The debate has been going on for many years. Yet we still don’t have a clear, overarching vision. So, what is the ambition for Princes Street?

Nearly ten years on from the last ambitious scheme heritage chiefs warn that we are still not clear on that fundamental question.

Read more

Napier University is making plans to sell its traditional home in Merchiston as it faces a massive repairs bill and other cost pressures.

Significant parts of the campus are affected by RAAC, so-called crumbling concrete, and need repairs estimated at £220 million. The site sits in one of the city’s most desirable residential neighbourhoods so will be much sought-after among developers.

The university says its plans are at an early stage despite reportedly already having an offer accepted on a replacement at the Gyle.

The university - which is cutting jobs in an effort to tackle a recurring overspend - is also exploring a merger of backroom operations with Queen Margaret University (QMU) in Musselburgh and the Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), which has campuses at Oatridge in West Lothian and within Edinburgh University’s King’s Buildings.

The move comes amid financial pressures across the higher education sector with falling numbers of overseas students following changes to visa rules, rising operating costs and pressure on public spending.

A merger, you say? The leadership of the three institutions stress they will remain independent while exploring potential efficiencies from sharing admin and support services, such as IT, HR, procurement and research support. Noting how such collaboration has led to full mergers elsewhere, the University Lecturers Association has raised fears that this could be the start of a “merger by stealth”.

Napier’s cash crisis: Staff at Napier are taking ongoing strike action over plans announced last year to cut 70 jobs in the face of an anticipated £8 million-plus overspend this year. It is cutting its five academic schools (business, applied sciences, health and social care, arts and creative industries, computing, engineering and the built environment) to three (business, health, creativity and AI).

Merchiston no more: The move from Merchiston would mean more than just leaving a campus. The site is built around Merchiston Castle, the 16th century home of John Napier, after whom the university is named. In a message to staff, Michael Greenhalgh, Napier’s director of strategy and planning, stressed the mooted move was not simply a cost-saving exercise, saying: “The building is nearing the end of its working lifespan, and we must now do what is right for colleagues, students, and the financial sustainability of the institution.”

‘Still independent’: QMU, which is facing its own losses, also stressed the three institutions would maintain their independence, instead exploring areas where they could collaborate to achieve efficiencies, including “shared services, procurement, curriculum collaboration, student pathways and regional skills planning”.

YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING

DODDIE’S LEGACY: Family and friends have marked what would have been rugby star Doddie Weir’s 60th birthday on Saturday by celebrating the legacy of his fund-raising work for Motor Neurone Disease. The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which he set up to raise money for research into the condition, has collected more than £24 million. A new research project in Edinburgh is one of three due to be announced in the coming weeks.

BONNET DITCHED: Edinburgh University has dropped its 150-year-old tradition of doffing graduating students with the John Knox Cap or Geneva Bonnet. Some students had been ducking to avoid being tapped on the head with the cap said to be made with material from a pair of Knox’s trousers. The founding father of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland is a controversial figure. Credited with a vision of education which paved the way for the founding of the university, he was also known for his outspoken attacks on women rulers and Catholics.

TREASURE IN THE ATTIC: A collection of antique silver which a family found in their New Town attic has sold at auction for almost £60,000. They found more than 100 pieces dating back to the early 18th to century in a dusty chest as they prepared to sell the home. It was expected to sell for around £23,000 but more than doubled that prediction when it went under the hammer at Elmwood’s auction house in London.

KNIGHT QUITS: Former British Museum director Sir Mark Jones is to step down nine months into a four-year contract as chairman of Historic Environment Scotland (HES). HES, which oversees Edinburgh Castle and more than 300 other historic buildings, has been beset by controversy including complaints of racism by one senior leader and another “twerking” in front of guests at an official event. Sir Mark was reportedly frustrated at the “resistance to change” within the organisation.

COPS AND AMBASSADORS: A dedicated city centre policing unit has been launched partly funded by the capital’s so-called tourist tax. Consisting of one inspector, three sergeants and 45 constables, the unit is expected to lessen the need to pull officers away other duties elsewhere in the capital. The Visitor Levy will provide £1 million of its £2.78 million annual staffing bill. The levy will also pay for ten "Festival City Ambassadors” to patrol the streets during August to help visitors find their way around.

‘RAM‘ RAID: Police are investigating a raid on the Co-op in Gullane in which its door was left smashed and hanging off its hinges in the early hours of Saturday morning.

GANNET RECOVERY: The Gannet population at the Bass Rock is not expected to recover from the “unprecedented deadly blow” of 2022’s bird flu outbreak until 2041 at the earliest. A new study by the RSPB highlighted a 26% decrease in the size of the internationally important Bass Rock colony. (Read more about the rock and its birds here: Bass Rock belongs to no one but the birds)

Pic of the week

THE BUSINESS

EXPANSION PLANS: Edinburgh-based Farmer Autocare is promising further expansion after acquiring Hunters of Linlithgow. The West Lothian business will join with 21 Farmer Autocare centres in Scotland. Earlier this year, Farmer Autocare joined Kerr’s Tyres, based in Northern Ireland, earlier this year. The group has plans to expand to expand to 250 sites throughout the UK and Ireland.

START UP CHEERS: Tailored Spirits Co, the Leith-based whisky specialist which creates bespoke spirits for clients and brands, has been crowned Scotland’s Overall StartUp of the Year 2026 at the UK StartUp Awards. The judging panel pointed to the firm’s rapid growth, its “distinctive approach” and highlighted its £2.35 million turnover.

RISING FAST: More Capital success to celebrate – LendingCrowd, the award-winning fintech platform, has featured in the inaugural Sunday Times Scotland Fast 50 list of fastest growing businesses north of the border. The business provides fast, affordable business loans to SMEs across the UK.

GIVING BACK: Edinburgh hospitality business Vittoria Group has donated more than £8000 to city charities and community organisations in the first six months of its Giving Back initiative, launched to mark its 55^th anniversary celebrations.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: Fantasy role play comes to the Castle Esplanade when Critical Role hots a live Dungeons and Dragons show on Sunday. Comedian Daniel Sloss appears as the Masters of Ceremonies.

LOCAL HEROES: Callum Beattie and Garbage will put local talent centrestage on the Castle Esplanade this weekend. The People Like Us singer-songwriter from Musselburgh is Friday’s headliner with Porty’s own Shirley Manson following on Saturday night. James Taylor, Deacon Blue and Snow Patrol are next up in the following week.

QUICK BITES

COCKTAIL FOR SUCCESS: Edinburgh’s legendary cocktail bar Panda & Sons has won yet another accolade, coming out as the 20^th best bar in Europe in a new list of the top 50 bars in Europe, sponsored by Perrier. In addition, the city bar won the top prize for Best Cocktail Menu.

SPORTING CHEERS: Leading craft brewery Cold Town Beer is the official partner for the Edinburgh 7s – Scotland’s largest sport and music festival. The event takes place at the University of Edinburgh’s Pefffermill Playing Fields from Friday to Sunday. The festival attracts more than 120 teams and more than 5000 people, taking in three sports – rugby, hockey and netball - five bars and two music arenas.

The Luckenbooths were once the commercial heart of Edinburgh. Gone now, but not lost to those willing to trace the city’s earliest permanent shops.

Many locals avoid the Royal Mile, passing through only out of necessity and hurrying past throngs of tourists and tartan-clad clothing rails. Yet centuries ago, this stretch of the High Street was where the city gathered: to worship, hear news, and watch - or endure - public punishment. Along the north side of St Giles’ Cathedral, residents traded in the dense market stalls of the Luckenbooths for almost 400 years.

For much of that time, there was little alternative. Until the mid-1700s, Edinburgh was a walled city, and its approaching 60,000 residents were hemmed into a space less than a mile long and less than a mile wide. Space was at a premium, and for shopping there were few options beyond the timber-fronted stalls that could be locked at night, situated mainly on the ground floor of what was a block of two-storey tenements. The name “Luckenbooth” comes from the Scots for “locked booth.”

Other markets existed, but they were limited. A market of bazaar style stalls and booths known as The Krames, also known as the “Stinking Stile” because of waste thrown from the surrounding tenements, offered cheaper goods. The Grassmarket or Leith docks served those seeking necessities or larger items.

The Luckenbooths, by contrast, were the key destination for traders. They offered higher-quality wares, greater variety, and reliability not found elsewhere. Merchants could also lock up their goods at night, a simple protection not guaranteed in other markets.

An Edinburgh Emblem

Jewellery was the earliest and best-known trade. Small silver and gold pieces, crafted by goldsmiths and silversmiths, were the first goods sold here. These jewellers produced and sold baubles and trinkets alongside more expensive items, to a city keen to display both faith and status.

Brooches were especially popular, worn by men and women alike to fasten cloaks and plaids. Over time, one style became so synonymous with the stalls that it took its name from them. The Luckenbooth brooch features two intertwined hearts and a crown, often referred to as the Heart and Crown of Scotland, and is linked to Mary, Queen of Scots. Many examples feature an “M,” said to reference the brooch she reportedly gave to Lord Darnley as a symbol of love and devotion.

Despite the ill-fated outcome of that particular romance, the brooch became a tradition. A man would present a Luckenbooth brooch to his betrothed on their wedding day. When their first child arrived, the same piece of jewellery would be pinned to the baby’s shawl to protect it from “evil spirits.” Variations of the design are still sold on the Royal Mile today.

Books, Burns and Brodie

Soon, other traders followed. The High Street stalls came to house watchmakers, haberdashers, toymakers, stationers, and apothecaries. Wigmakers - known as perukers - also operated from the Luckenbooths from the 17th to the late 18th century, catering to Georgian demand for elaborate wigs worn by the fashionable and wealthy.

Scottish poet Allan Ramsay began his career as a successful wig-maker nearby. He apprenticed in the trade and eventually opened his own business. Around 1725, he gave up wig-making to focus on literature, relocating to more prominent premises in the Luckenbooths. There he opened a bookshop called the ‘Sign of the Mercury’ at the head of what is now Niddry Street.

By then, the Luckenbooths had grown into multi-storeyed buildings. Ramsay’s shop sat on the first floor, reached by a stone staircase climbed by figures such as John Gay and Alexander Pope. They led to a lively meeting place for the city’s writers and intellectuals.

A year later, Ramsay opened what is often said to be the world’s first lending library, transforming Edinburgh’s literary life. For many in Edinburgh, books cost more than a week’s wages. Ramsay’s subscription system allowed readers to borrow books for a small fee.

The library stocked poetry, contemporary fiction, classical texts, and practical handbooks. It catered to a growing middle class hungry for learning and leisure, helping lay the groundwork for Edinburgh’s later reputation as the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Ramsay ran the library for around fourteen years, but its legacy continued through several other owners before it was purchased by Alexander Kincaid, a printer and publisher who later passed it to his stepson, William Creech.

The building became known as Creech’s Land, and he remained there for forty-four years, rising to become the city’s chief publisher and most prominent bookseller.

In 1786, Creech met Robert Burns. That meeting led to the Edinburgh Editions of Burns’ poems, offering readers a first glimpse of works such as “Address to a Haggis,” “A Winter Night,” and a few now-famous spelling mistakes.

Creech also published his own writings. After serving on the jury at the trial of Deacon William Brodie, he produced a personal account of the case, which was on sale in his shop within days.

Indian Pete and the Penny Post

The Luckenbooths were a hive of innovation. In 1769, they became the base for Scotland’s first regular postal service, run by one of the city’s most remarkable characters.

Peter Williamson ran a Penny Post from his premises, giving Edinburgh residents a reliable way to send letters and small parcels for a single penny. Already well-known as ‘Indian Pete’ for dressing as a Native American, he had a dramatic past: kidnapped from Aberdeen as a child and transported to America, he survived years as an indentured servant before returning to Britain, where he challenged his abductors and supported himself through coffee houses, publishing and performances.

The Penny Post was eventually absorbed into the General Post Office. For three decades, however, it had operated from the Luckenbooths themselves.

Trade, print, communication, and spectacle all met here. The market had become indispensable, and its very success would soon seal its fate.

Old maps of Edinburgh’s Old Town show the Luckenbooths flush against the Old Tollbooth prison, a bottleneck in the bustling street.

Early in the 19th century, council planners decided to remove the shops and prison to ease congestion, allow vehicle access, and improve the city’s appearance.

The Luckenbooths had witnessed royal upheaval, reformation, and survived plague and fire. By 1817, they were gone, the merchants dispersing into nearby closes.

Traces of History

Further down the Mile is John Knox’s House, the oldest building on the street. Inside, you’ll find the only surviving physical remnants of the Luckenbooths.

Although most booths had stood outside the cathedral, smaller versions existed elsewhere along the High Street. The ground floor of John Knox’s House was one such example, safe from destruction. You can see the old shop fronts near the current bookshop and reception area, visible between windows and bookcases.

In the Canongate, the often-overlooked Museum of Edinburgh features a detailed scale model of the Royal Mile, showing the medieval layout of Old Town. It is just one of many exhibits offering a visual insight into the past of this incredible city.

Across from St Giles is ‘Luckenbooths,’ a restaurant that keeps the history alive. Its walls and menu are adorned with sketches of the old shops, and, in partnership with Old Town Chambers, it offers a curated range of local gifts in its lobby.

Edinburgh council ensured that the presence of these historic buildings would not be forgotten. Today, all that remains of the St Giles Luckenbooths are brass bricks set into the Royal Mile’s cobbles, tracing the outline of the stalls.

These brass setts form part of Edinburgh’s broader heritage landscape, alongside markers for the Netherbow Port, the old tollbooth, and even the last public hanging spot in the city. They invite passersby to imagine the stalls that once thrived there, glimpsed under the heavy footfall.

Here Indian Pete once stood, regaling people with tales of his colourful past. Perhaps your ancestor waited to speak to an apothecary about an ailment long gone, or wound through the crowd clutching their first copy of Burns, eager to read the verses that had everyone talking.

One of Mary Stuart’s royal servants may have purchased a brooch for her husband-to-be here. From 1440 to 1817, almost every resident of Edinburgh - rich, poor, or middling - would have walked these cobbles, making their own purchases.

Perhaps that’s enough to make us slow our pace through these streets, to carve out time early in the morning, before the tourists arrive, and imagine shopkeepers setting up for the day almost 600 years ago.

There are tonnes of statistics about cycling in Edinburgh with counts on various routes around the city and ongoing surveys about public attitudes towards getting on our bikes.

One of their more interesting findings is the growing cycle traffic on Picardy Place. That suggests the much-mocked Leith Walk cycle lane - once dubbed the worst in Scotland - has helped increase the popularity of cycling on that route, despite the twisting and turning path it takes along the pavement.

For today’s long read, Sarah McArthur has been digging into what else the latest research can tell us about Edinburgh’s cycling journey.

More on that below, after your regular midweek news roundup and cultural highlights for the week ahead.

Your Edinburgh Briefing

KEN AND EWAN: Kenneth Branagh and Ewan McGregor will be among the stars appearing at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. A 30th anniversary screening of Trainspotting featuring live commentary from the cast and crew, plus and a UFO conspiracy drama starring Michael Sheen, feature in the line-up for the 79th edition of the revamped festival on 13-19 August. There will be 38 new feature films and 21 world premieres, ten of which will compete for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence.

UNI EXAMS ‘UNDERMINED’: Some senior academics on the University of Edinburgh’s exam board are warning a marking boycott has weakened normal safeguards around this year’s exam results. Some exam board refused to ratify results before being overruled by the university’s emergency procedures, according to The Times. The concerns centre around the high number of dissertations assigned to replacement markers, making it impossible to be confident of the consistency of the marking. The marking boycott is part of ongoing industrial action against job losses as part of £140m cuts.

DOLLY AT 30: The National Museum of Scotland is staging special events to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dolly the sheep. There’s a Summer Family Fun Day tomorrow where visitors can sign a birthday card to Dolly and buy Dolly-themed cupcakes in the museum cafe. On 16 July, adults can learn about The Life and Legacy of a Cloned Sheep. Named after Dolly Parton, the first cloned mammal ever to be created from an adult cell was born on 5 July 1996 at the Roslin Institute, in Midlothian.

COMEDY ‘ICON’: Some of the country’s leading stand-ups have paid tribute to Paul Sneddon, a stalwart of the city’s Stand comedy club, known for his stage personas Vladimir McTavish and ‘football pundit from hell’ Bob Doolally. Announcing his death, colleagues at the Stand described his “kindness, encouragement and generosity”. Susan Calman described him as “an icon and legend”, while Gary Tank Commander star Greg McHugh called him “the best maniac I’ve ever met”.

‘AT RISK’ CINEMAS: Two empty Art Deco cinemas, the former Odeon on Clerk St and The George in Portobello, have been added to a heritage campaign group’s buildings ‘at risk’ list. The former Leith Corn Exchange in Constitution Street and an old warehouse in the port’s Duke Street were among a record number of new properties on Save Britain’s Heritage’s register.

CAMERON TOLL QUEUES: Drivers are being warned to expect queues as one of the city’s busiest roundabout, Cameron Toll, is closed between its junctions with Lady Road and Dalkeith Road from 10am on Friday until Monday for essential repairs.

KNIFE MAN LAUGHED OFF: A robber who threatened shop staff with a large knife fled empty handed after they laughed at him and told him the till was empty. Finlay Crawshaw, 21, was jailed for three years for the attempted robbery of the News Plus Store, on Gorgie Road, and two other robberies.

Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops

Greetings, Pop Pickers!

The Northumberland deckchairs are officially packed away, and I am back at the desk facing an incredibly chaotic inbox with a conspicuously rosy face. The city, in contrast, is currently holding its breath; the local calendar having gone conspicuously quiet as venues batten down the hatches for the oncoming storm that is the Edinburgh Fringe, writes Will Quinn.

Honestly, it’s only thanks to having five genuinely strong contenders that we didn’t end up with a more truncated chart. But what we have has real pedigree: world-class dance, brilliant literary satire, top-tier local comedy, and classic cinema.

Let’s count them down...

New in at Number 5 is... An Evening with David Sedaris (Usher Hall, Saturday)

I’ve been entertained by his singularly enchanting cadence on the radio for decades. However, if you think you’ve heard it all, his live appearances famously offer more than just a live version. Rather than just dialling his show in, Sedaris builds the evening around readings of brand-new, unpublished material and unfiltered selections from his personal diaries. You get the full force of his distinct, slightly absurd, and razor-sharp observational wit, dissecting the mundanities of modern life with sharp-tongued precision. The second half typically includes an audience Q&A, and both before and after, there is also an opportunity to get a book signed (presumably by David, but you do you).

New in at Number 4 is... Hitchcock 4K Restorations: Rear Window (Friday) & Vertigo (July 12th) (Filmhouse)

A major treat for film enthusiasts. The newly returned Filmhouse is screening pristine 4K restorations of two of Alfred Hitchcock’s most enduring masterpieces. In case you aren’t aware, these are films that helped shape the vocabulary of cinematic suspense. Whether it’s Jimmy Stewart’s housebound photographer peering into his neighbours’ darkly complicated lives in Rear Window, or a retired detective spiralling into psychological obsession across the dizzying hills of San Francisco in Vertigo, no director has delivered mysterious thrills any better. Experiencing these landmarks of visual craftsmanship in high-definition glory, projected inside one of the country’s most iconic independent cinemas, sounds like a cinephile’s dream!

New in at Number 3 is... Marjolein Robertson: Clouds (WIP) (Monkey Barrel Comedy, July 12th)

“Marjolein Robertson’s star isn’t rising; it has risen. It’s powerful, bizarre, and hilarious in equal measure.” That was my verdict when reviewing her phenomenal 2024 show O, and now she is heading to the Monkey Barrel to road-test Clouds. Catching a comedian, even one of her calibre, refining a new hour before it hits the big festival stages requires a little trust, but Marjolein (pictured above) is definitely worthy of it. Having followed her creative path closely over the years, I know she excels at weaving deeply personal storytelling with brilliantly surreal punchlines. Seeing her shape her next project from the ground up should be well worth your time.

Staying at Number 2 is... The Burns Project (Royal Lyceum Theatre, until Sunday)

Holding firm at number two is the Lyceum’s theatrical exploration of Robert Burns. This production earned its reputation in far more intimate, domestic quarters earlier this year, and the real test will be seeing that scale translated into the Lyceum’s grander halls. Writing for The QR, my colleague Alena Shmakova found the initial run deeply powerful, noting that actor James Clements ensures “his Burns is not an impersonation; it is a presence,” and praising how the staging transforms the audience into “guests encountering a working-class prodigy within aristocratic surroundings.” Expect a necessary, reflective watch that cuts straight through the national myth.

Staying at Number 1 is... This is Rambert (Festival Theatre, tonight until Saturday)

Our top spot remains undisputed. This centenary triple-bill from Rambert features striking contemporary work from (LA)HORDE and Emma Evelein. They remain the benchmark for modern movement, proving week in and week out that a historic dance company doesn’t have to become a museum piece. As I noted on their last visit to Edinburgh, “...KISMET finds Rambert in rude health and on tremendous form.” If you want to see technical and choreographic ambition operating at the highest possible level, take the chance to catch them before the run ends this weekend.

And that’s your Top 5! The Fringe storm is gathering, my inbox is reaching critical mass, and I’m strapped in for a busy month of preparations. Secure your tickets, support the venues while they catch their breath, and let me know your thoughts on the selections in the comments below. Meanwhile, wish me well as I dive back into the madness known as my to-do list. Stay bright!

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Why cyclists are starting to feel safer on the streets of the Capital

And what else we can learn from the latest cycling statistics

by Sarah McArthur

This summer and spring there has been a steady trickle of interesting stats around cycling in our city. Local stats guru Ed Tissiman has shown that the number of cyclists passing Picardy Place continues to rise every year, and cycle campaign group Spokes recorded an increase in bicycles at Lothian Road and Forrest Road in its yearly traffic count. As of this month over 53,000 people have hired the city’s new Voi bikes, making it the company’s most successful city out of the 125 locations in Europe. It seems the city is getting in the mood to welcome the Tour de France Hommes in 12 months’ time.

Read more

Ian Morrison has an enviable job. As the council’s Trees and Woodlands Officer for southeast Edinburgh, he spends several days a week ambling through the capital’s verdant parks, gardens and tree-lined streets.

Among the jobs he is tasked with is “systematic inspection of the city’s tree stock.” Nowhere near as sterile as it sounds, this means he looks for signs that trees might be likely to fall, have been damaged, or have been infected by a disease of some kind.

One in particular is a constant source of worry: Dutch elm disease.

It began in 1967 when a tiny Scolytus bark beetle, no more than half a centimetre long, arrived on the shores of the British Isles. It was inadvertently giving a ride to thousands of microscopic fungal stowaways, spores of the species Ophiostoma novo-ulmi. When the fungus comes into contact with an elm, it quickly spreads throughout the branches, trunk and roots, inevitably killing the tree.

While the disease had been recorded in the UK before, this was a particularly virulent new species. It swept across the country in a few short years and is estimated to have killed between 25 and 30 million elms.

Edinburgh was not spared. “It went through them like wildfire,” says Morrison. He estimates that around 30,000 elms have been lost since it was first recorded in 1976.

Yet, against the odds, Edinburgh today is home to around 15,000 healthy elms, according to council records — far more than any other city in the UK (except perhaps Brighton and Hove, whose 17,000-strong population garnered the accolade of being the ‘National Elm Collection’).

A city of elms

“Edinburgh was a city of elms,” says Morrison.

In Victorian Edinburgh, it was the preferred tree for planting in the public realm, a status attested to by streets like Elm Row, named after the double row of elms that once extended 600 feet down Leith Walk. “Trees were a status symbol,” he adds, and competition to cultivate the most impressive specimens created a wealth of expertise that has largely been lost.

Read more

Soaring levels of theft have seen Edinburgh overtake Glasgow as Scotland’s shoplifting capital, with offences almost trebling in the last decade.

The problem has grown significantly across Scotland since falling sharply during the pandemic, but is growing faster in Edinburgh than almost anywhere else. Only Inverclyde has seen a bigger increase than the 182% rise in Edinburgh.

Organised shoplifting gangs and societal issues such as those stealing to feed an addiction are said to be among the factors fuelling the problem. The rise also coincides with the opening of the St James Quarter which has seen Edinburgh attract growing numbers of shoppers.

The numbers: Latest Police Scotland figures show 10,595 incidents were reported in Edinburgh in 2025/26. That’s the equivalent of more than one an hour around the clock throughout the year. It represents a 182% increase over the last decade, compared to a total of 9,722 incidents in Glasgow and a 70% increase in 10 years there.

Falling detection rates: Across Scotland, shoplifting has hit its highest level since 1971, according to the latest official figures. The rise has coincided with a fall in detection rates from 71% in 2016/17 to just 51% over the last year.

Hotspots: Areas with high levels of shoplifting include all the main retail areas, from Princes Street, the St James Quarter, the Royal Mile, Leith Walk and Fort Kinnaird. Shop security was one of the main issues raised by Old Town retailers during a recent survey on the idea of creating a Business Improvement District.

‘No consequences’: Pete Cheema, of the Scottish Grocers Federation, told The Times: “It is not only a few items going missing each day. Organised groups are also carrying out violent raids behind the counter and repeat offenders are clearing whole shelves in the belief there’ll be no consequences for their actions.”

The response: Police Scotland launched its Retail Crime Taskforce last year with a team dedicated to tackling the issue working in Edinburgh and other hotspot areas. That has included Essential Edinburgh’s Shopwatch initiative - which links 56 stores around Princes Street and the St James Quarter with the city council’s CCTV scheme using radios - and has resulted in a number of arrests for both shoplifting and assault.

YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING

RECLAIMING THE STREETS: An estimated 5,000 people joined an anti-racism rally in Leith in the wake of a series of anti-Muslim attacks in the capital. Demonstrators sat in the road at the spot in Leith Walk where some of the attacks took place, beforing attending a rally in Pilrig Park. The Reclaim Our Streets rally drew support from politicians, trade unions, local people and community groups.

GREAT SCOTT: Scottish rugby great Gavin Hastings described his brother Scott as “one of the great human beings” at a celebration of his life at his former school, George Watson’s College. The sentiment was echoed by several others in attendance. Among hundreds of guests were many of the brothers’ former Scotland and British and Irish Lions teammates. Scott died at the age of 61 in May following complications arising from his cancer treatment.

GREATER POWERS? Andy Burnham’s anticipated ascendancy is raising hopes more powers may be handed to cities in Scotland. Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken says the former Manchester Mayor becoming Prime Minister could be “a gamechanger” for the city’s push for “a devolution deal matching those already provided to our peers in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands". Here, council leader Jane Meagher is pushing for a similar deal for the Edinburgh City Region.

SUPER COMPUTER NEWS: Construction work has started on the home of the UK’s new £750 million supercomputer on the outskirts of Roslin in Midlothian. Hosted by the University of Edinburgh, the exascale computer will be the size of a small supermarket with thousands of processors capable of making a billion calculations a second. The building, near the institute where Dolly the sheep was cloned, is expected to be ready by next autumn.

LIGHTNING STRIKE: A man escaped unhurt after his house in Dalkeith was set alight by a suspected lightning strike. Stuart Drummond ran into the street in his pyjamas when it caught fire shortly before 3.30am, as dramatic thunderstorms hit the country.

BALACLAVA THUGS: A man has been taken to hospital after being seriously assaulted by three men wearing balaclavas on the Innocent Railway cycle route and footpath. The attack took place at around 10.20pm on Saturday, June 20, between the Bingham tunnel and Duddingston Road West, with the attackers leaving on a white motorbike.

CABLE TIE TEACHER CLEARED: A teacher at Merchiston Castle School has been cleared of assault charges after binding a 7-year-old boy’s wrists and ankles with cable ties. Richard Robin Greenwood, 46, who had been looking after the boy at a property in the city, told Edinburgh Sheriff Court the incident took place during a game of “cops and robbers”. The chemistry teacher was cleared following a three-day trial.

WHAT? ONLY SECOND! Edinburgh has been named the second most beautiful city in the world by the travel website Time Out. The magazine interviewed 24,000 city residents around the world how they rated where they live. In Edinburgh, 82% said they would describe their home city as beautiful, beaten only by Cape Town, in South Africa, with 86%. Eat your heart out Paris and Sydney!

GLOBAL TOPS: Well, well. Guess which Scottish city has come out tops in a global hunt to find which cities have the best customer service and friendly staff. If you’ve had your tea in Edinburgh, chances are it’s been served with a smile and a friendly word. The Capital came top of the heap in an analysis of more than 100,000 reviews around the world including restaurants, bars and visitor attractions. Hanoi, in Vietnam, came second, with Liverpool in third.

Pic of the week

THE BUSINESS

Food for thought as Capital food hall scores a world first

Edinburgh’s St James Quarter food hall Bonnie & Wild has clinched a world first – becoming the first food hall to become a certified B Corp, an international award for ethical businesses that demonstrate a commitment to their local community, environment, customers and staff.

The food hall has its aim to “proudly serve the best of Scotland” with a policy of championing Scottish produce and products. All of the 14 kitchens and speciality retailers within the Edinburgh marketplace are operated by owner-led small Scottish businesses, providing more than 100 jobs across the full unit. It opened in 2021 and has seating for almost 400 .

Ryan Barrie, Managing Director of Bonnie & Wild said: “B Corp certification means our guests can be assured that the money they spend within Bonnie & Wild is with a purpose-led business committed to championing Scottish entrepreneurs and start-ups, supporting our teams and the local community, and working to safeguard the wider environment.”

Bonnie & Wild’s B Corp certification was undertaken as part of the Edinburgh B Corp 500 – an initiative led by Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Everyone’s Edinburgh to support 500 businesses in the capital achieve B Corp certification by 2030.

TURBULENT TIMES: International law firm CMS Scotland hosts its On Point Business Conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. This year’s theme is Leadership in Turbulent Times. Keynote speaker will be former UK Government Cabinet Minister and Yale Professor Rory Stewart. Further details on the 1 October event can be found here.

GRATING COST OF OUTDOORS: A group of around 50 Leith businesses – the Shore Business Collective – has petitioned the city council to re-evaluate its charges to license outdoor dining and drinking. The group says costs can top £200 per square metre for those in the city’s World Heritage area. Equivalent charges in Glasgow are significantly lower at £110 in the city centre, and as little as £20 in further outlying areas they say. The petition has already gained enough signatures to be debated by councillors and is likely to be scheduled for discussion on August 14.

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

DIVINE COMEDY: Enjoy the talents of one of our finest story-telling songwriters when Neil Hannon returns to Edinburgh with his band The Divine Comedy. Touring the album Rainy Sunday Afternoon, you can catch him at the Usher Hall on Friday.

GARDEN TONIC: The Alloyed Collective brings jewellers Andrea McCarthy, Sasanqua Link and Lyndsay Fairley to Dr Neil’s Garden at Duddingston for a free exhibition exploring the healing art of craft. ‘Tonic’ takes place in the garden’s glass shelter from Thursday until Sunday, 11am-5pm.

SEVEN HILLS: One of the most scenic sporting events in Scotland returns to the city on Sunday in the shape of The Seven Hills of Edinburgh. A combination of road-running, trail-running, hill-running, and urban orienteering, the challenge follows a course of at least 14.3 miles in length and with 2200 feet of ascent/descent.

QUICK BITES

SHORT BACK AND CAPPUCINO: The owners of well-known barber shops Half-Cut in the Capital have transformed one of them into one of the city’s newest cafes. Half-Cut Coffee, 23 Candlemaker Row, is handily placed just yards from the tourist draw that is the statue of Greyfriars Bobby. The venue’s barbers, meantime, have relocated to one of the firm’s other shops in Broughton Street.

CURRY FAVOUR: Multi-award winning Midlothian restaurant The Radhuni has helped sponsor one of the county’s oldest community events – Loanhead Children’s Gala Day. The restaurant, which received its most recent accolade at the UK Restaurant awards where it came top of 13,000 curry houses across the UK, provided £500 to support the Promenade Concert.

When I was younger, largely untouched by the boundaries of religion and culture, I wanted to be a dervish. Maybe beneath the mask of everyday living, I still want to be one. To be a swirling silhouette against the backdrop of a God that is attainable, writes Himani Tripathi.

Lately I have been wondering what it means to aspire. A good job, a happy relationship, some money in the bank. Here I am still, sulky as the day I was born, looking for meaning in life. Life, to me, is serious business. The only thing that cuts through this never-ending task of living is to dance.

Bogomir Doringer, the Serbian researcher and curator, writes about ‘the dances of collective crises.’ Something he witnessed when rave club culture helped him and others with the emotional coping in Belgrade during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. The first time I read that phrase, it clicked into place.

This is why the idea of starting Brown Gals Dance Club (BGDC) four years ago had come to me. I started a dance club as a business enterprise, just so I could permit myself to dance. No grace and no shame.

Carving our a corner

Doringer writes, ‘You need to move to resolve something, such as fear, insecurity, restlessness, possible death, and often you also move to find others like yourself.’ I have carved out a corner where my friends and I can dance.

We’re walking down Leith Walk and the sun has braided itself through the red of Lana’s hair. We’re screaming our goodbyes at each other – her, unbothered and full of joy and me, hyperaware of the looks we are getting from those around us. I make my way home and catch snippets of conversations from people sitting outside cafes and bars. I think back to Lana’s face and this way that she has about her, all Arab charm and British wit. A finely blended tea. So fierce and free and beautiful for it. She makes it look effortless. She grew up between Lebanon, Nigeria and England, dancing to Nancy Ajram in her living room. I was in India at the time, where I grew up also dancing in my living room, albeit to very different music.

To be an immigrant is to search for a home that always evades you, and yet, the sky in Leith has been home to me as no other roof. I walk down the street and meet at least seven and a half people whom I know. I love the scent and the sound and the gritty living of it all. It feels real in a way that few things are anymore.

Reclaiming an identity

When Azia, Lana and I started BGDC we had a desire to share our culture with each other – and with the people that we love around us. Azia and I met while working, I was working part-time as a barista to support my studies at the University of Edinburgh. We met Lana later – she was one of the people we photographed for our first exhibition. She has quickly become the driving force behind our work.

There is similarity in our cultures and vast oceans of difference, but for our club nights we tend to focus on the former. We cannot conclusively answer the question, ‘What does it mean to be brown?’. Race is a construct after all. But this perception, the knowledge that an external gaze sees us all the same way can be a disconcerting thing. For us, BGDC is a way of reclaiming an identity that is imposed upon us, rather than something that occurs to us naturally.

Azia, who is a born and raised Londoner, is a talented photographer. Her mixed heritage includes Fijian Indian culture. Her grandmother’s story of living as a part of the Indian diaspora in Fiji, and later in New Zealand has helped expand my own understanding of how fluid national identities really are, and what it means to belong to a place.

We began four years ago now, from my birthday party. I was looking for a rhythm and could only find it in the familiar beats of a home I have left behind. I am lucky to have friends who are obstinately and feverishly against the idea of outsourcing their living to anything. The dirty, back-breaking labour of thought and action is ours to carry and carry it we do. A hard day’s work and our reward is each other’s smiles and attention. I think this makes us good dancers, because at the end of each day when the mask slips, we are all slammed back into bodies that want to move. Are we dancing to remember or dancing to forget? I’m not sure.

Dancing can be an escape from the mind, but it cannot be an escape from the self. To dance well, you must be intimately aware of your body. To be able to isolate and concentrate on the muscles in your waist or your calves for example, and then to imbue them with intuitive movement.

A beautiful feeling

We hosted our first event in March 2023 at Agitate Gallery in Haymarket. It was a photo exhibition and a club night. Everyone was welcome – we simply wanted to share our love and music with people around us. We sold out that first event and have sold out every event since. We hosted our fourth club night at Jamaica Yard (in the New Town) this April. We have been lucky to be able to share this night with people who understand our motives and the intention behind the space we have created. It is a beautiful feeling, to have people from all cultural and racial backgrounds appreciate this atmosphere of joy and abandon. I’ve heard some beautiful and reflective conversations about identity spark alongside the cigarettes in the smoking areas.

We never meant this to be about representation – a term that has been hollowed out and co-opted by corporate entities in the worst of ways. We simply noticed that our cultures had taught us how to loosen our inhibitions, to find and meet ourselves again through music and movement, and we wanted to create an environment for people to be able to do that without judgement, as a partial panacea for the maladies of modern living. I think we have succeeded.

We are dancing our way through our collective crises, both internal and external, and we would like to invite you to join us. Our next event will be in the winter months this year. The best way to keep in touch with us is to follow us on Instagram.

Well, wasn’t it fun while it lasted? Making friends off the pitch, grinding out results on the pitch that were nearly, but not quite, good enough. Wasn’t it always so for Scotland at the World Cup?

According to number-crunchers at the BBC, we still have a 49.2% chance of progressing to the knock-out stages for the first time ever, depending how results unfold elsewhere. Effectively the toss of a coin…

Are you ready for another few days of hope and tortuous maths?

For today’s long read Cliff Heberden has been examining the future of the city’s under-threat Marionville Fire Station. Some reports suggest it has been saved from closure. The truth is far less straightforward.

More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.

Your Edinburgh Briefing

HALF MILLION POUNDS TRAM MAN: Council leader Jane Meagher has asked Edinburgh Trams to investigate the “excessive” pay-off of more than £327,000 given to former managing director Lea Harrison. Including the pay-off, his salary and other benefits, Harrison - who left his job earlier this year and now runs Blackpool Transport Services - received more than £520,000 in the last financial year.

FIRE WOMAN ‘CRITICAL’: A woman is fighting for her life after her clothes accidently caught fire outside flats on St Leonards Street in the Southside. Shopkeepers and two fire crews rushed to help after receiving calls shortly after midday on Monday.

DOCKSIDE HOMES: Forth Ports been given the go-ahead to build up to 250 homes on the dockside near the First Stage film studio in Leith. The four blocks of up to six storeys will feature one, two and three-bedroom apartments, including a third classed as affordable, as part of the wider Harbour 31 masterplan. The development plans also include a Bath Street to Ocean Way bus route, cycle lane and footpath connecting the site to wider developments of Leith docks.

PHONE-FREE FESTIVAL: Audiences at the Edinburgh International Festival will be asked to switch their phones off and put them away ahead of performances this summer. The campaign to make the festival “phone-free” comes after complaints that every performance in its Queen’s Hall chamber music series was disrupted by phone use last year.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE: The number of incidents of “violence with injury” reported in city schools has risen by more than 40 per cent in 12 months to 2,680 in the last academic year, according to a report to the council’s education, children and families committee. The EIS teaching union says more needs to be done to protect teachers as violence against them has become “normalised”. The same report shows racism is linked to almost a quarter of bullying incidents in schools, more than any other issue.

BORN SLIPPY: 1990s rave stars Underworld will perform Born Slippy, the dance anthem famously featured in the first Trainspotting film, as part of their set in Princes Street Gardens at Hogmanay. They have been confirmed as headliners for the gig in the Gardens.

CHEAPER IN MANCHESTER: The Edinburgh TV Festival has confirmed it will relocate to Manchester, after 50 years in the Scottish capital, in a move which puts Edinburgh’s soaring accommodation costs back in the spotlight. Organisers cited “affordability for delegates” as one of the key reasons for its choice.

Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops

I am writing to you while soaking up my final few days of peace, quiet, food, drink, and Northumberland sunshine, writes Will Quinn. Very soon, I will have to return to a chaotic inbox and a frantic final month before Edinburgh Festival Fringe claims my life for the entirety of August (keep an eye out for my upcoming Fringe picks and first-week highlights!). But whilst I pack away the deckchairs and brace for the madness, the capital’s cultural scene seems lively as ever. This week’s chart serves up an eclectic final feast for June, featuring world-class contemporary choreography, blistering American blues, intoxicating Nordic fiddle traditions, and a healthy dose of 80s martial arts nostalgia.

Let’s count them down...

Honourable Mentions: Derren Brown, The Phoenix Choir & Candlelight Concerts. Just outside the main standings, the final days of the current run from Derren Brown (Edinburgh Playhouse, until Saturday) are wrapping up; no doubt he will still be going absolutely ‘mental’ till his final minutes in the city. Meanwhile, the Usher Hall (Saturday) plays host to a milestone as The Phoenix Choir celebrates a decade of performance. Expect oomph from this epic mustering of four fine local choirs. For those seeking a change of pace, the ongoing series of Candlelight Concerts (St Giles’ Cathedral) will continue to offer atmospheric, tuneful evenings under the historic gothic arches.

Staying at Number 5 is... The Karate Kid – The Musical (Festival Theatre, until Saturday). By this point in the run, a few of you might well be cursing my name for pointing you toward the box office for this one. Conversely, it is just as likely that this unashamed celebration of wax-on, wax-off showmanship has won you over, meaning you actually owe me your enduring gratitude. Either way, there is no denying that this barmy stage experiment has unadulterated nostalgia on its side. Hopefully, that makes it a fun night out, if all else (like the music and acting) fails.

New in at Number 4 is... Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (The Queen’s Hall, July 1st). Arriving at number four is a phenomenal American blues guitarist and songwriter. Still only 27, this formidable prodigy has spent the last few years gathering up industry awards at roughly the same rate the local birds hoover up mealworms from my garden feeders after a morning refill. If you are looking for authentic, powerhouse blues in the capital this week, your search ends here.

New in at Number 3 is... Soundhouse: Catriona MacDonald & Annbjørg Lien (The Queen’s Hall, June 30th). Taking the bronze is a super acoustic booking within Soundhouse’s summer programme, uniting two acclaimed masters of the Shetland and Nordic fiddle traditions, respectively. Anyone who thinks they know the limits of trad music will find this collaboration an eye-opener; expect ventures into rhythmic and melodic territories you won’t encounter at a standard parish hall ceilidh.

Moving to Number 2 is... The Burns Project (Royal Lyceum Theatre, until July 5th). Climbing up to take the silver is a fascinatingly close-quarters look at the life and legacy of Robert Burns. When one of my reviewing protégés Alena Shmakova caught an earlier incarnation of this staging back in the winter, she was captivated. The big question now is how the production team has conserved or translated the original’s intimate, focused power within the grander Lyceum confines. I suspect the result will be something special.

New in at Number 1 is... This is Rambert (Festival Theatre, July 2nd – 4th). Claiming the gold this week is a milestone centenary triple-bill from a contemporary dance company that belongs firmly in the global premier league. Rambert routinely sets the standard for modern choreography, and this visit features exceptional new work from the likes of (LA)HORDE and Emma Evelein. They bowled me over on their last visit to Edinburgh, and there is every reason to expect this landmark touring programme to continue that unbroken streak of excellence.

And that’s your Top 5! I will leave you to explore the box office while I squeeze the last drops of relaxation out of this holiday. Grab your tickets, support the arts, and I’ll catch up with your verdicts—good, bad, or indifferent—when I finally return to my desk! Now, where did I put my Caipirinha?

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The battle to save Marionville Fire Station is far from over

“You can’t address something simply by closing, because there is an increase of response times and all kinds of other ramifications that come from the closure of a fire station,” says Davey Strachan, the Fire Brigade Union representative at Marionville Fire Station. “If you’ve got a sore leg, you don’t cut it off.”

There was, if not celebrations, then certainly a collective sigh of relief, when the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) on Monday officially dropped Marionville from a list of eight station it planned to close, writes Cliff Heberden.

That decision has lifted the immediate threat of closure. It has not saved the station. In fact the fear is this is just a stay of execution.

The reason the idea of closing Marionville has created so much anxiety is largely down to its location.

Sitting among the bungalows of Marionville, at the bottom of Smokey Brae, it is tucked in behind one of the most significant urban development sites in Scotland. Work is set to start on building more than 700 homes at Meadowbank with accommodation for nearly 200 students planned for neighbouring land at Jock’s Lodge.

Not only is the population the station serves about to expand rapidly, the communities it already serves are among the most heavily tenemented in the city, where when fire breaks out it can spread particularly rapidly.

It is also the first responder station for the wild fires which have broken out with increasing frequency on Arthur’s Seat. As a result, crews from Marionville have been responsible for putting out the vast majority (63.5%) of wildfires in Edinburgh over the last decade.

That, along with the increased risk of flooding, was one of the concerns raised by Katherine Sangster, the new Edinburgh and Lothians East MSP, when the issue was raised in the Scottish Parliament.

“We’ve got another heat wave this week, haven’t we? So we’re seeing that the weather is changing in Scotland and things that the Fire Brigade have to respond to are changing,” Sangster said.

”They’ve made the point that housefires are decreasing and needing to then…redeploy services, which I totally get, but there are other concerns, like wildfires that we really need to think about.”

A financial mountain to climb

The financial challenges facing the fire service mean the odds may still be stacked against Marionville.

Part of the argument to close the station revolved around the aging facility and structural risks presented by Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), a material threatening the complex with collapse.

In 2022, the Scottish Parliament released a study that estimated a renovation of the station would cost upwards of £5.5 million, a number that will almost certainly have increased given the impact of inflation on the construction industry.

It was a project deemed financially unfeasible for the SFRS.

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Andy Buchan is one of only three full time gamekeepers in the Pentlands. Throughout the seasons his work is hugely varied, but centres around habitat management to protect a population of grouse, wild partridges and pheasants. This can involve grazing management, disease control, trapping predators and muirburn - the controlled burning of mature heather shrubs to promote growth of young heather.

May is a very busy time for gamekeepers in the Pentlands - but long days out on the land are rewarded by seeing grouse chicks beginning to hatch. At the same time the other birds who thrive on the grouse moorland; including lapwings, curlews and oyster catchers; are hatching too.

This made it all the more heart-breaking for Buchan to see 17 acres of hillside go up in flames. It may feel like a damp summer so far, but the dry spell over the May bank holiday showed all the ugliness that dry weather can. Not only did Arthur’s Seat go up in flames again, but on 25 May an aggressive fire was spotted on the hillside by the Green Cleugh, a popular walking path from Threipmuir to Loganlea reservoir. Buchan, who manages land on the other side of the Pentlands, received a call at 16:30 and immediately dropped everything, packed his fire management tools and set off to help his fellow gamekeeper.

Damage on a new scale for the Pentlands

There have been small fires around Torduff reservoir and other parts of the Pentlands in recent years, but this fire was on a different scale. The blaze consumed around 17 acres in the end - the equivalent of more than ten football pitches. It took the six fire engines with crew, and dozens of gamekeepers, farmers and landowners until 11pm to put out the fire. Buchan says the damage would have been far greater if the wind hadn’t been coming from an unusual northerly direction - the prevailing westerly wind would have swept the fire quickly across the entire hillside.

Despite this enormous team spending hours digging over and soaking the smouldering peaty soil to prevent it relighting, the hot peat relit itself on Thursday night at 10pm, calling Buchan and others back to the site again. This time he didn’t leave until dawn. For the following days there was someone constantly watching the fire until the next big rain on Saturday night.

Moving through the burnt-out grouse moor Buchan saw first-hand the devastating impact of this fire on the local wildlife. “Hen grouse had still been on their nests, they’d sat it out because hen grouse are amazing mothers, and they got absolutely cremated… the three nests we found had ten eggs and the hens were cremated. They just sat there, they just sat it out,” he says.

The financial impact of the fire is also significant- not only for landowners at Eastside Farm, but also for the 6 or 7 farms and estates who sent out multiple staff, tools and machinery over several days to tackle the blaze.

The unique expertise of land managers

Buchan is no stranger to hill fires. Firstly, controlled muirburn is part of his job - over autumn and winter every year Buchan burns patches of mature heather moorland without letting flames get out of control.

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