Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer.
Today we return to one of the capital’s most enduring debates: the future of Princes Street.
As far as we can tell, people have been wringing their hands and crying out that Princes Street is going to the dogs since at least the beginning of the 19th century, when it started to turn from its original purpose as a residential street into one of the city’s main commercial locations.
Now, more changes are afoot, after city councillors agreed a new “ambitious pragmatic” plan for its future, designed to open up the Gardens and the south side of the street.
If you were hoping for a ‘big bang’ change, like cycle lanes on Princes Street or a concert arena in the Gardens, then you’re going to be disappointed.
But Euan McGrory has been looking at the plans for us - and he is getting quite excited.
More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
‘BEAUTIFUL SOUL’: The family of 58-year-old Linda Patterson (pictured above in a photo released by Police Scotladn) who was killed in an alleged hit-and-run near Edinburgh Airport have described her as “a beautiful soul”. A 32-year-old man and two women, aged 19 and 23, have been charged in connection with the incident which took place on Glasgow Road near Newbridge shortly after rush-hour on Monday morning.
T-DAY FOR NEW LINE: Today’s meeting of the city council’s transport and environment committee will vote on the business case for building a new tram line from Granton to Little France via the city centre. They are widely expected to shelve the northern section of the proposed line in the face of the local campaign against the Roseburn Path route. A number of organisations and individuals – including the chamber of commerce, Granton and District Community Council, Transform Scotland and Capital Retail Action Group as well as five former city council leaders (Ewan Aitken has been in touch since we published on Tuesday to add his name to the list) - have now urged councillors not to completely abandon the option, stressing the huge benefits it could bring vital to local populations and businesses in north Edinburgh.
TRAM LESSONS: Sarah Boyd, chief executive of the Lothian Group, which runs Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses, has backed the idea of potentially opening a tram facility at Newhaven to make services in the north and east of the city more resilient. The Princes Street fire left Leith and Newhaven cut off without tram services for nearly two months. “Those are absolutely the things that we would look at,” she told The Herald. “If you think about Hogmanay, we stable trams at Newhaven. That works for the short term, because we know that that’s planned, we know when it will reopen and when trams can return to the depot.”
SACKING TRIBUNAL: An employment tribunal begins in Glasgow today to determine whether Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games unlawfully sacked 31 workers from its Edinburgh base or not. The Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) union will argue that the firm blacklisted and targeted the staff members for union activities, while the company is maintaining they were dismissed for breaching confidentiality agreements. The new instalment of the franchise is due to be released later this year.
NEW NAME PARTY: Tomorrow sees the start of a ten-day mini-festival put together by Scottish designer Charles Jeffrey for the launch of the St James Quarter under its new moniker, Westfield St James Quarter by owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW). Entitled “Westfield Days: The Sound of Style” the programme will be a celebration of fashion, music and culture and runs till 20 September. The Capital venue is the third branded Westfield alongside Westfield and Westfield Stratford City.
TO SCOTT: We can all raise a glass to this. Watsonians has launched a new beer to honour the club’s popular Scottish international rugby legend Scott Hastings, who passed away in May. Watsonian FC has partnered with Harviestoun Brewery to introduce Hastings 13 Lager into its Myreside Pavilion.
Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops
Greetings, Pop Pickers!
The August madness may be behind us, even if the arguments about it continue to rage — and if you missed them, my own thoughts on the fallout can be found in last weekend’s Edinburgh Inquirer long read. Meanwhile, a quick word to the wise: if you’ve spent the past month treating any of the city’s temporarily unused tram track as an open-air pedestrian plaza, pay sharp attention when crossing the sets lest you be flattened by a two-hundred-tonne carriage gliding towards Newhaven!
The capital’s cultural calendar is already firing on all cylinders, though. This week’s chart takes us on a proper journey: from scandalous French aristocratic mind games on the big screen and moving solo wartime drama, to monumental symphonic blockbusters, golden-age Broadway sparkle, and an improbably wonderful classical gathering across East Lothian.
Let’s count them down...
Honourable Mentions: Six - The Musical, NYCOS Gala, Jacob Collier & City Art Centre
Just bubbling under the main chart, there is plenty of quality to be found across town. On Nicolson Street, the global Tudor pop-concert phenomenon Six -The Musical arrives at the Festival Theatre (September 15th – 26th), remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute pop showdown. Dropping into the honourables from last week’s chart thanks to the unsleeping ambition of Edinburgh’s stages and halls of culture, Sunday sees the Usher Hall host the roof-raising NYCOS 30th Anniversary Gala Concert, with a massed choir tackling Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Later in the month, multi-talented musical prodigy Jacob Collier lands at The Queen’s Hall on September 20th. Finally, visual art lovers should head to Market Street for Gifted: New Acquisitions at the City Art Centre (from Saturday), a fresh showcase of recently acquired Scottish works from the city’s collection. Don’t miss ‘em!
New in at Number 5 is... NT Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Cameo, from September 17th)
Taking the fifth spot is a masterclass in cruel aristocratic gamesmanship and weaponised seduction. Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’s scandalous 18th-century novel pits Lesley Manville’s calculating Marquise de Merteuil against Aidan Turner’s magnetic Vicomte de Valmont in an escalating war of sexual deceit. While nothing quite replaces the electric charge of sitting in a packed London auditorium, catching this filmed production from the plush velvet comfort of The Cameo - with a box of popcorn in hand and change left over from a train fare to Euston - is the next best thing to being in the West End.
New in at Number 4 is... Private Peaceful (Royal Lyceum Theatre, September 17th – 19th)
Landing in fourth is a moving slice of solo stagecraft. Michael Morpurgo was my favourite author growing up, and it’s a joy to see this master storyteller’s work on stage outside of the commercial behemoth that is War Horse. Adapted by Simon Reade, this one-person production charts young Private Tommo Peaceful’s final night on the Western Front as he reflects on his rural Devon youth, first love, and the unbreakable bond with his brother Charlie. My colleagues in critical circles have labelled this an intimate, beautifully focused piece of theatre that confronts the tragic, real-life wartime injustices faced by young soldiers executed for cowardice.
New in at Number 3 is... RSNO Season Opener: Mahler Six (Usher Hall, September 18th).
Grabbing the bronze medal is a monumental orchestral blockbuster under the dome! The Royal Scottish National Orchestra kicks off its season under Music Director Thomas Søndergård with Gustav Mahler’s colossal Sixth Symphony - the “Tragic” - famous for its terrifying, fateful wooden hammer blows that literally shake the hall. Just as enticing is guest soloist Alexander Malofeev tackling Rachmaninov’s Fourth Piano Concerto. A former child prodigy who shot to international fame at just 13, Malofeev is also a remarkably courageous artist who publicly condemned the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine at considerable personal and professional risk. Hearing a pianist of such fiery brilliance paired with Søndergård’s symphonic forces will blow the cobwebs clean off the Usher Hall. The cleaners can throw rocks…now.
New in at Number 2 is... Annie (Edinburgh Playhouse, September 15th – 20th)
Securing the silver spot is pure, unstoppable musical sunshine. Nearly fifty years since it first debuted at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House in 1976 before conquering Broadway, Annie continues to put bums on seats like almost nothing else in musical theatre history. That kind of enduring staying power is no fluke: Charles Strouse’s infectious melody-writing, Martin Charnin’s witty lyrics, and Thomas Meehan’s airtight book create an irresistible piece of entertainment. Following the indomitable red-headed orphan through Depression-era New York as she outwits the gin-soaked Miss Hannigan, you can expect Nikolai Foster’s lavish West End production to deliver timeless standards like “It’s the Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow” with enormous heart and infectious energy.
Straight in at Number 1 is... Lammermuir Festival (Across East Lothian, until September 20th)
And taking the top spot of the pops this week! There is something improbably wonderful about the Lammermuir Festival. What began as a pure, determined passion project has blossomed year after year into a genuinely world-class cultural gathering conjured out of the East Lothian landscape. This year’s programme is stellar, bringing the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Scotland’s own Dunedin Consort, and the virtuoso lutenist Thomas Dunford and Ensemble Jupiter into some of the country’s most atmospheric heritage spaces - including St Mary’s in Haddington, the 14th-century mediaeval stones of St Mary’s in Whitekirk, and Dunbar Parish Church. Experiencing music of this pedigree in such intimate, acoustically sublime rural settings is nothing short of transcendent. Chuck a warm jumper in the boot, take the short run (or bus) down the coast, and immerse yourself in something truly special. Brilliant stuff!
And that’s your Top 5!
Put the kettle on, crack open that digital calendar, and ready those box-office finger-taps - autumn in and around the capital is off to a stormer. Grab your tickets, support our fantastic venues, and let me know in the comments what’s got your name on it this week. I’ll let you know if I missed it, or if you and I simply have very different tastes!
Until next week: Stay bright!
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A beautiful Spring evening in Princes Street Gardens? Count me in
Later opening hours included in plans to open up the Gardens
by Euan McGrory
The sight of the Princes Street Gardens gates being locked shortly after 5pm on a beautiful Spring, or autumn, evening has been one of the city’s great mood-killers for years.
The curfew is 6pm from the end of September until the end of May, compared to 10pm in the summer, but the gates are always shut much earlier to start clearing any late afternoon stragglers.
Many of the world’s great parks - Berlin’s Tiergarten, most of London’s finest and our own Holyrood Park and the Meadows - are open either 24 hours a day or late into the evening in all but the darkest winter months. Not so Princes Street Gardens, which spends most of the year ushering visitors out before most people have even finished work.
That is about to change as part of a plan to open the Gardens up to more people. A largely overlooked part of the plans agreed by city councillors yesterday, will see the closing time outside of the summer months pushed back by three hours to 9pm. It’s a small detail within a larger plan, but the possibilities it opens up are, well, slightly magical.
