From ‘traffic sewer’ to Capital's car-free music street: Cowgate’s pedestrian summer
Plus: Million pound home sales rise; why the International Festival is shrinking; and Doddie's son's wonder try
Car-free nights to be trialled on city’s music street during Festivals
The city’s music street, Cowgate, is to go car-free from 3pm onwards this summer in an expansion of the Capital’s Summertime Streets programme.
Summer has become the time when Edinburgh embraces pedestrian streets as Festival crowds take over large parts of the city centre.
This year Cowgate, which runs through the bowels of the Old Town and is home to many of the Capital’s most successful independent music venues, will be added to the growing list of traffic closures. Cowgate is home to more than 25 venues hosting live music including ones which helped launch the careers of stars including Lewis Capaldi and Young Fathers.
The move has been welcomed as a way of creating a safer and more relaxed atmosphere for the vast number of Festival-goers who descend on the Old Town. The closure will act as a trial for the city’s longer term ambitions of closing Cowgate, which has been described by critics as a ‘traffic sewer’, to through traffic. However, the street’s music venues are warning care needs to be taken to ensure that restrictions don’t make it impossible for them to operate.
When will Cowgate be car-free? Cowgate will be closed to vehicles from 3pm to 5am every day, between Candlemaker Row and Blackfriars Street, from Monday, 28 July, to Tuesday, 26 August. Essential local access is maintained during the closure time, in and out via Guthrie Street
Where else will be closed to cars? In similar arrangements to last year, there will be restrictions during the Festivals on the top stretch of the Royal Mile, above the Bridges; Cockburn Street; Johnston Terrace; and George Street between Frederick Street and Hanover Street. The measures will apply on various dates between 24 July and 7 September.
View from the venues: Nick Stewart, managing director of the widely-acclaimed Sneaky Pete’s, said it was vital venues were consulted on steps such as traffic calming measures. “There will be crowds entering and exiting venues through the evening and night. It's safer for music fans to not encounter traffic. But music venues also need vehicle access for performers and their equipment to drop off and pick up, and stock supplies need to reach venues too. The last few years have been particularly hard for grassroots music venues, and there is next to zero support from national or local level for us. We don't need the council to make things even harder.”
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
FESTIVAL SHRINKS: The struggle to attract corporate sponsorship following the climate protests against Baillie Gifford’s support of the Book Festival is being blamed for this year’s Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) shrinking. There will be a fifth fewer performances compared to last year, despite the EIF securing £11.75m over three years from the Scottish Government, taking public funding back to 2008 levels. Francesca Hegyi, EIF’s chief executive, told The Financial Times festivals were facing the “wholesale collapse of arts sponsorship”, adding EIF’s budget remained a “country mile” behind international peers, such as Salzburg and Avignon. She called for a more “sophisticated conversation” about the UK’s backing of the soft power which Edinburgh’s Festivals deliver every year.
GOLDEN BOY: Hamish Weir, eldest son of the beloved former Scotland and British Lions star Doddie, has scored what has been described as a “try of the season” for his Dad’s old club, Melrose. Hamish’s blistering pace has made him one of the stars of Melrose Storm, the club’s reserve side. Lock forward Doddie was no slouch, of course, once described by legendary commentator Bill McLaren as “a runaway giraffe.”
ROCK FALL FEARS: Duddingston Low Road through Holyrood Park is expected to partially reopen later this month. The road has been closed to walkers, cyclists and cars since March after a safety inspection raised fears of a rock fall from Samson’s Ribs above. However, the complexity and scale of the work required for a complete reopening is likely to take up to 18 months.
SOMETHING STINKS: Swimmers have been warned against going into the sea after a suspected sewage pollution incident at Dunbar in East Lothian. While two sites at Cramond have been identified as hot spots for potential sewage dumping during the ongoing dry weather, following research by the Scottish Lib Dems.
AIRPORT DING-DONG: Francesca Osowska, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), was so unimpressed by her recent experiences at Edinburgh Airport she vented her frustrations on X, formerly Twitter: “Arrivals hall is filthy, toilets dirty and despite the Porto flight arriving before the Dubai flight, guess which bags were delivered first? Another one hour + wait for bags.” An airport spokesman told The Times that while it didn’t always get things right, it surveys more than 50,000 passengers every month and receives overwhelmingly positive feedback. “The complex nature and range of partners involved in airport operations are often misunderstood,” they added. “While it’s easy to share personal frustrations in 240 characters, it’s not as easy to explain those intricacies.”
INSIDE THE BRIDGE: Visitors will get a chance to see inside the Queensferry Crossing as part of this year’s Doors Open Day on September 27. Special tours will go to normally off-limits locations including inside the central reservation where the bridge’s cable stays are anchored. There will be a public ballot for 180 spaces available opening later this month.
DOUBLE FIREWORK BANS: Twice as many communities have applied for firework bans in their areas around Bonfire Night this year. Corstorphine, Longstone, Sighthill/Broomhouse, Gracemount and Moredun want to join Niddrie, Balerno, Seafield and Calton Hill who had control zones last year. The city council is consulting on its plans for this year following violence in Niddrie and other parts of the city last November.
IN TUNE: Professor Calum Semple, a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, has been appointed chief scientific advisor to the Scottish Government. Semple is a former Loretto pipe major having attended the fee-paying school in Musselburgh as a scholarship pupil in the 1980s.
OUT OF TUNE: You can keep your Bob Dylan! One creative protestor has raised the bar when it comes to objecting to East Lothian Council’s plans for new parking restrictions. You can check out their musical musings on the proposals to introduce parking charges in Dunbar here. (The local authority has been warned it needs to take action over a £46m funding gap.) We look forward to hearing Bins are Back in (The New) Town and Free Greyfriars Bobby (From Tourists Rubbing His Nose) in due course.
Pic of the week
THE BUSINESS
Top Capital home sales raise at least £20 million in property tax
Sales of the most expensive homes in Scotland have increased in the past year – driven by growth in the market in Edinburgh.
Figures from property consultants Rettie show that following a tumultuous 18 months across 2022 and 2023, the past year has been “gently improving” with a 2% uptick.
In Edinburgh, the increase has been 6%, with 255 £1million+ sales. The market also saw the New Town and West End overtake the area around Morningside as the postcode with the greatest number of high value sales.
Barnton, Cramond and Cammo saw a big 50% rise, up to 49 sales of £1million+.
Dr John Boyle, Director of Research and Strategy at Rettie, pointed out: “This sector of the market accounts for a tiny amount of sales in Scotland (around 0.5%) but is very important in terms of property tax. Every property sale at £1million generates a minimum of £78,000 in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, and £158,000 for a second home.”
This means that the past year of million-pound sales in Edinburgh postcodes accounts for at least £20m in LBTT, but the exact figure is likely to be considerably higher. The Capital is the top contributor to LBTT – Rettie has estimated that the city has generated more than a quarter of all Scotland’s LBTT.
AWARD WIN: Edinburgh-based liver health clinic LiverScan has been recognised with two national awards at the 2025 SME UK Enterprise Awards, including Best Liver Screening Clinic – Scotland and the Preventative Healthcare Excellence Award.
VISITOR LEVY: Twelve individuals – bringing experience from academia, business, local communities and the hospitality sector – have been appointed to form Edinburgh’s first Visitor Levy Advisory Forum. The appointments were made by the new Chair Julie Ashworth. The Forum will meet at least twice a year to advise city councillors on how the Levy proceeds should be used.
OFFICE OPTIMISM: Recent months have seen greater optimism in Edinburgh’s prime office market, according to property consultants JLL. Some 265,000 sq ft of space was transacted in the first six months of the year. Royal London’s plan for a new 75,000 sq ft headquarters in the city centre demonstrates how businesses are “responding strategically” to a limited Grade A office supply, and both Addleshaw Goddard and Wood Mackenzie have committed to significant space.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
ALL THAT JAZZ: From bebop to boogie-woogie, trad to techno, there’s something for pretty much all tastes at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, which runs in venues across the city from Friday until Sunday 20 July. Highlights this year include US singer Curtis Stigers, blues icon Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Scottish trumpet star Colin Steele and, of course, the ever-popular, free Festival Carnival, on this coming Sunday afternoon (13 July), in West Princes Street Gardens.
ROCK (STACKING) STARS: Dunbar is once again hosting the European Land Art Festival & Stone Stacking Championships next week. The free Art of Balance in Nature exhibition at the town’s John Muir’s Birthplace Museum is already underway, with a full programme of events including live music and the stone stacking championships on 15-20 July.
SUMMER MELTDOWN: Campervan Brewery is holding its family-friendly Summer Meltdown at its brewery taproom in Leith on Saturday, with live music, DJs, street food, ice cream, and, of course, great beer.
QUICK BITES
CREAM OF THE CROP: The Good Food guide has named Alandas Gelato in Forrest Road as amongst the “best ice cream parlours in the UK.” The business was praised for its variety of flavours and its hot chocolate.
COMING SALOON: US-style saloon Coyote Ugly is planning to open its first Scottish venue in the former Shandwicks pub on South Charlotte Street. Proposals have been submitted to the council by the chain, which already has saloons in several cities down south. Prepare for live music, burgers, and staff dancing on the bar.