At-risk 'heritage icons' overlooked in city's £100m Visitor Levy plans
Last-minute plea to save Tron Kirk, Leith Custom House and Portobello pottery kilns
Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer. There’s lots to read as usual including your regular news round-up and pick of the Capital’s cultural highlights for the week ahead.
We also have a report on the council’s plans for spending an estimated £100m which the city’s Visitor Levy is expected to raise over the next three years. It has surprisingly left some of Edinburgh’s best-loved buildings out in the cold. More on that below.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
MITHRAS BE PRAISED: Two ancient stone altars found in East Lothian are to go on public display for the first time at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). The altars discovered at Inveresk were used by Roman soldiers to worship the god Mithras in around 140AD. They will form part of the exhibition Roman Scotland: Life on the Edge of Empire which opens in November, NMS has announced. (Don’t miss Saturday’s Inquirer for our guide to undiscovered ancient Edinburgh)
£10 PINTS: The £10 pint is likely to become a “fixture” in pubs, the founder of Edinburgh brewery Innis & Gunn has said. Dougal Sharp, whose company runs the popular Tap Room in Lothian Road, said he had never known a tougher time for the industry. He has called for tax cuts with industry analysis suggesting around a third of the cost of a pint in a pub is accounted for by taxes.
HOTEL NOT HOMES: Plans to build 50 homes on the site of two office blocks on Dundas Street have been abandoned in favour of proposals for a new Dakota Hotel. The hotel chain intends to bring forward plans for the former Centrum and Bupa offices site, opposite the old RBS offices. The move comes as developers’ appetite for housebuilding remains sluggish in the Capital.
£30M ON HOMES: The city council has snapped up a major housing development in Leith for £30m. The CCG Homes development at Western Harbour will create 118 homes which were intended for private housing. The council deal means instead they will be made available for social and mid-market rent.
NO COUNCIL HOUSES: No applications for council houses will be accepted in the Capital until at least March 2027. Councillors agreed to extend the freeze on allocations after hearing 646 homeless people and households couldn’t be housed in December.
‘USEFUL IDIOT’: A man who set fire to a garage near Portobello and a beauty salon in Leith as part of the city’s gangland feud has been jailed for more than seven years. Logan Carlin, 24, was described by his own lawyer as a “useful idiot” after launching bottles filled with accelerant into the two properties in March 2025.
Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops
Greetings, Pop Pickers!
Welcome back to the hit parade. The needle is in the groove, the volume is up, and we are broadcasting live from the heart of a very cultural capital, writes Will Quinn.
Mid-February is upon us. The shops are full of Valentine’s cards (for those who celebrate), and the weather is doing that specific Edinburgh thing where the weather is perpetually out to surprise you. But fear not! We have a chart this week that is guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart. We have world premieres, emotional folk tributes, and a double-bill of student brilliance that defies the laws of modern economics.
But first, a little housekeeping. Sadly, even the greatest bangers have to leave the charts eventually. Dropping out of the Top 5 this week - but remaining an Honourable Mention - is the RSA 200th Anniversary Season. I’m keeping them in your ear because, quite frankly, if you haven’t gone yet, you are actively missing out. The Royal Scottish Academy is currently hosting a bicentennial bonanza that is reinvigorating the institution spectacularly. With multiple exhibitions running concurrently, the quality and diversity of the work on display is staggering. This is world-class art, rooted in Edinburgh and freely available to anyone with the time to walk in the door.
Now, on with the countdown…
Sliding to Number 5 (but still tied!) are... The Student “Bobby Dazzlers” (Kiss Me, Kate & The Seagull). It’s a dead heat for the title of “Best Value Ticket in Town,” but be warned—chances to catch these are running out fast.
First up, Edinburgh University Footlights are currently tearing up the Church Hill Theatre with Kiss Me, Kate (Until Feb 14th). I last caught this lot in their 2025 production of 9 to 5, and honestly? I doubt a professional company with ten times the budget would have done it better. With tickets starting at £15, I guarantee they are delivering a sparkling, high-kicking version of this Broadway classic that is worth every single penny.
Matching them for value is the irrepressible EUTC with The Seagull at Bedlam Theatre (Until Feb 15th). The EUTC are a fecund lot who single-handedly magnify the city’s theatrical diversity. Whilst with their abundance comes a little more variability in quality, this company has an enduring passion that often delivers gold. For a tenner, I’d happily bet that this young cadre of modern theatre makers is conjuring something fascinating—and likely quite biting—from Chekhov’s dark study of art, class, and cross-generational ego.
New in at Number 4 is... SCO 25/26: Baroque Inspirations (Queen’s Hall, Feb 19th). Prepare for some high-octane musical invention. Next Thursday, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra takes over the Queen’s Hall for a night that bridges the gap between the ancient and the avant-garde. Reviewer Sass MacDonald was absolutely blown away by the SCO at their last showing, so we have high hopes for this one.
With the dynamic Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev back at the keys of his beloved harpsichord, you can expect him to dazzle. The programme mixes the splendours of Bach and Handel with the wilder edges of Schnittke and a brand-new premiere from Jay Capperauld. If you think classical music is just for
polite nodding, Maxim’s energy will prove you wrong.
New in at Number 3 is... Eliza Carthy & Special Guests: The Songs of Martin Carthy (Assembly Roxy, Sunday). This Sunday, the Assembly Roxy hosts a night of profound musical significance. Following the unexpected recent retirement of folk legend Martin Carthy, his daughter—the powerhouse that is Eliza Carthy—has gathered a “rolling cast” of admirers and friends to honour his immense legacy.
I was lucky enough to catch Martin and Eliza on what turned out to be his final visit to an Edinburgh stage at the Traverse in 2022, and it was magic. I’ve been a huge fan of Eliza ever since The Guardian’s ‘1000 Albums’ list pointed me toward Rough Music and one of my all-time favourite folk bangers, “Turpin Hero.” Expect this to be an emotional night, full to the brim with talent and not one to miss.
Moving to Number 2 as it enters its final few days is... Manipulate Festival 2026 (Ends Sunday). A jewel in Edinburgh’s festival city crown, Manipulate is currently lighting up the city for its 19th edition. If you think visual theatre is too “niche” or “artsy” for your tastes, I encourage you to think again. This is performance art at the frontier of “showing not telling.”
Whether it’s puppetry, cinema, or physical theatre, the chances of seeing something new and wonderfully memorable are high. Some of my most memorable nights in the stalls have come courtesy of past editions of this superb festival—from Ruxy Cantir’s delightful existential cabaret in a pickle jar (Pickled Republic) to Paper Doll Militia’s circus-skill enhanced exploration of the human condition (Arthropoda). This year’s line-up is a cracker, but time is short. Instead of me picking out a single show, I urge you to dive into the programme and see what tickles your fancy. Be brave.
And finally, crashing in at Number 1 is... The Great Wave (Festival Theatre, Feb 19th – 21st). Taking the top spot is a true arts heavyweight. Scottish Opera, a company born and bred here but with a truly international outlook, is bringing a massive World Premiere to the Festival Theatre next week.
But why does this matter? Because The Great Wave is more than just a new opera; it is a cross-continental cultural summit. It is a co-production with Kajimoto - the legendary Japanese arts agency and power brokers behind massive festivals like La Folle Journée - and is directed by the visionary Satoshi Miyagi.
Miyagi is the General Artistic Director of SPAC (Shizuoka Performing Arts Center), a true powerhouse that revolutionised Japanese theatre as the country’s first publicly funded organisation with its own resident company. Known for his unique ability to blend traditional Japanese aesthetics with avant-garde storytelling, Miyagi promises to be the perfect match for this story of the iconic artist Hokusai and his daughter Ōi. With music by Dai Fujikura and the unique addition of the shakuhachi flute to the orchestra, I expect a mesmerising blend of opera and art history on a grand scale. When a Scottish-based endeavour of this standing swings for the fences with a new work of this magnitude, you simply have to be there.
And that’s the chart for this week! Whether you’re heading to the opera or squeezing into a student theatre, make sure you get out there and support the scene. The weather might be drab, but the stages are technicolour.
Stay bright.
City’s at-risk heritage treasures ignored in £100m Visitor Levy plans
Last-minute plea for lifeline funding to save Tron Kirk, Leith Custom House and Portobello kilns from risk of irreversible damage
“We are seeing an increase in plant growth, windows are threatening to fall in, the roof is difficult to keep dry.”
Sam Gallagher, director of Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, is listing the structural problems that are starting to take their toll on Leith’s historic Custom House.
“What we will see is rather than a beacon of hope in terms of regeneration, we will see the building start to decline and that will bring down the entire area of The Shore.”
There is an exciting plan in place to save the 200-year-old landmark in the heart of Leith and turn it into an innovative centre of digital creativity. However, it needs a relatively modest £300,000 investment from the building’s owners, the city council, to keep it on track.
It is, you might think, exactly the kind of project which the city’s Visitor Levy has been designed to support. One which creates a unique visitor attraction on the Leith Shore and at the same time offering opportunities for local artists and residents.
It has been fully priced, with a comprehensive plan developed at the council’s request, which will be financially self-sustaining once it is up and running, and will leverage significant extra funds from philanthropists to get it established.
The problem is that it hasn’t been included in the options being presented to city councillors who will have the ultimate say on how the estimated £100 million the levy is expected to raise in its first three years is spent.
Only a storm away from disaster
The story is similar at the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile. Home to a bustling community of artists and crafts people, it supports 80 jobs through the Scottish Design Exchange. That too is at-risk.
“On the side of the Tron Kirk, the stained glass windows in particular are incredibly vulnerable, and they’re at risk and any strong storm coming in the next couple of years may well cause increased damage to them.
“From a technical point of view these buildings really are at-risk.”
Gallagher pulls no punches in laying out the facts to councillors on the local authority’s culture and communities committee.
Their recent history has been one of slow, at times seemingly terminal decline, to be followed in recent years by hope after finding useful purpose again. All that though hangs in the balance.
“For the Tron, since the 1960s, it has been package after package of emergency repairs. That can’t be sustained for much longer.
“In the case of Leith Custom House it has been waiting over 30 years for substantial investment in the building. We are now at the point where the cost is going to spiral for both buildings.
“Without the funding what we will see is immediate degradation of both buildings. Leith Custom House is suffering from quite serious exterior degradation already.”
