Seriously? A cycle route down Rose Street
Plus: City artists celebrate funding boost; and historic Goth pub shuts down
Charity says council’s Rose Street cycle route idea is ‘insane’
The city council is considering using Rose Street as a key cycle route under plans which have astonished the country’s leading charity for pedestrians.
With George Street set to be closed for up to three years for a £40 million transformation into a walking and cycling avenue, the local authority is drawing up plans to keep people moving through the city centre during the major works.
With limited options in the busy New Town, the council is consulting on plans to use Rose St as a two-way cycle route. Cycling is currently allowed westbound, although the right is not widely known and is little used.
While Rose St does not attract quite the same level of boozing tourists as, say, Dublin’s Temple Bar, its pubs, hotels and outdoor drinking and dining areas do regularly attract large crowds. It is also one of the city’s most popular pedestrianised shopping streets.
‘Insane’: Living Streets Edinburgh, the charity which campaigns for safe walking and ‘wheeling’, is hardly known for its extreme views. It is urging the public to object to the proposal, saying: “Designating Rose St as the main ‘temporary’ cycle route through the city centre would be insane.”
Conflict alert: Lib Dem councillor Sannie Dijkstra-Downie told the local authority’s transport and environment committee last Thursday she had tried a test ride on Rose Street and found “a lot of conflict with pedestrians quite immediately”. The SNP’s Danny Aston pointed to issues on Portobello Prom where similar arrangements are already in place.
Least worst? The city’s transport convener Councillor Stephen Jenkinson has suggested it might be the best solution available. “Of the options that are in front of us, my personal opinion is that Rose St is more feasible and ticks more boxes,” he told the Evening News ahead of the meeting. Council officials have highlighted it is a quick and cheap option, while acknowledging it would need “careful management”.
Other options? The council is also looking at allowing two-way cycling along the even narrower Young, Hill and Thistle Streets, which would make for a bumpy ride due to their traditional setts, which are poorly maintained in parts. The New Town and Broughton Community Council also fear that would be a safety risk to pedestrians on the narrow lanes.
Queen Street? A segregated cycle lane along the length of motor traffic-choked Queen Street is seen as a feasible, but the council says it wouldn’t be ready before the George St works are complete. However, cycling group Spokes is questioning that (see below).
But wait… Green councillor Chas Booth has suggested asking the George St contractors to maintain two-way access for cycling throughout the work. Hmm, could this be a common-sense solution? Watch this space. The council has agreed to look into it.
Spokes’ view: Spokes Edinburgh, the cycling campaign group, says: “We support two-way cycling on Rose St to help people reach local shops and destinations… However, it is clearly not a suitable diversionary route for George St or as a main cycle route.” The group says the council should be focusing on providing safe cycling on Queen St, including examining temporary or experimental traffic orders to speed up potential work there.
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
FIRST FOR FOODIES: The Good Food Guide is positively salivating over what Edinburgh has to offer for eating out, naming the city as the UK’s “most exciting food destination”. It has been impressed by several new openings and the high quality on offer at every level from gastropub to fine dining. Seafood restaurant Lyla on Royal Terrace has been shortlisted for the UK’s best restaurant; The Palmerston in Palmerston Place for the Best Value Set Menu; with the Old Town’s Timberyard and sister venue Montrose in Abbeyhill, nominated for Drinks List of the Year.
GOTH SHUTS: The historic Prestoungrange Gothenburg pub in Prestonpans has closed. The Goth, as it is affectionately known, was established before the First World War to encourage less heavy drinking among local miners and other manual workers. The building’s owner Dr Gordon Prestoungrange told the East Lothian Courier that operation of the pub has become "ever more challenging" in recent years.
ARTS CASH WINNERS: Creative Scotland has doubled the number of arts organisations receiving longer term (three-year) grants after the Scottish Government released a record-breaking £250m funding round. For many it means an uplift in cash and secure funding for the first time, following years of cuts and uncertainty. Among nearly 80 guaranteed three-year funding in Edinburgh are the main August festivals; the Hidden Door festival; the arts charity behind productions at Summerhall; the soon-to-reopen Edinburgh Filmhouse; the Push the Boat Out poetry festival; Edinburgh Deaf Festival; Dancebase; live performance poets I Am Loud; North Edinburgh Arts; the Pianodrome; and the Tinderbox Collective.
Hoping to join them: The Traverse Theatre and Scottish Poetry Library, which previously received regular funding, have been handed a grant for just one year, with a view to securing more funding for the following two years.
NEW FRINGE CHIEF: The former head of one of South Africa’s massive National Arts Festival is to take over as the new chief executive of the Fringe in April. Tony Lankester said: “The arts environment is hugely challenging at the moment and the world a difficult and noisy place. Now, more than ever, there is a need for what the Fringe is and for what it can be – for artists, audiences, producers, venues, and the people of Edinburgh.”
AIRBNB RULES RELAXED: It will be easier and cheaper to let out spare rooms and entire flats during the Festivals after councillors agreed to relax the rules on short-term lets during August. The city council has agreed to streamline the process in response to concerns about soaring Fringe accommodation costs.
GREEN TECH FIRST: A £3m hydro scheme in East Lothian has introduced the first green technology of its kind in Europe. The pumping station at Whiteadder Reservoir will offset a third of its energy use with a siphon which draws water from the reservoir to power a turbine, before allowing it to drain back into the natural environment.
ROCK CHECKS: If you’re wondering what all the activity is in Holyrood Park above Duddingston Low Road, catch fences are in place while annual rock face checks are carried out. This will involve road and footpath closures until 12 February, some affecting all park visitors, including pedestrians and cyclists.
WAR POET: The archive of a young Edinburgh war poet, Hamish Mann, is to be auctioned at Lyon & Turnbull on Wednesday. Lt Mann, an aspiring writer and actor, was killed in France in 1917, just after he turned 21.
CALM SPACE: Scottish Rugby has opened a new sensory space at Murrayfield Stadium. The room is a quieter area for rugby fans and concert goers who may feel over-whelmed by the noise and spectacle at Scotland’s biggest stadium. Developed in partnership with the Wooden Spoon charity, it was first used by an MND sufferer and his friends and is available to neurodiverse fans.
PAVEMENT FINES: More than 8,000 drivers have been fined in the first year of Edinburgh’s pavement parking ban, including more than 1,600 for double parking.
THE BUSINESS
Capitals partner to help grow investment in Scotland
Closer links between the City of London and Edinburgh’s financial and business community is aimed at creating a more confident, investment-friendly environment for Scotland’s potential high-growth scale up businesses.
Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce convened a round-table discussion with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alastair King, for a range of its member businesses with high growth potential, from sectors as diverse as bio-tech, renewables and technology.
Part of the remit was an opportunity to explore how the Lord Mayor, in his role as an international business ambassador for the UK, can support our ambitions for growth as a key UK City.
A Chamber spokesperson said: “Access to funding and investment remains a significant scale-up barrier, and emerging technology businesses in particular can find accessing investment difficult. However much can be done through partnership working to improve the situation. For example, the City of London is working with UK Government to encourage greater investment of UK pension funds in UK businesses, whilst a clear and well-communicated package of our investible opportunities would strengthen the ability of the Lord Mayor and others to promote Edinburgh and Scotland to potential investors.”
One important measure of progress to have already come from the partnership is Edinburgh’s business-led Call to Action, convened by the Chamber, and which aims to create a common vision for good economic growth for Scotland’s Capital. This was inspired by the City of London Corporation’s Roadmap to Prosperity initiative.
BUILDING TRUST: A new Scottish Centre of Excellent for Digital Trust is being formed by experts in both technology and finance – with the aim of making the digital world more resilient and safer for a range of industries. Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) will host the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Digital Trust and Distributed Ledger Technology, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow and capital-based Fintech Scotland, and thanks to initial funding from Scottish Enterprise.
RATE CUT PREDICTED: The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates on Thursday, with a predicted drop from 4.75% to 4.5%. In addition, financial pundits expect more cuts to follow throughout the year.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
CHICAGO IN EDINBURGH: Strictly Come Dancing’s Kevin Clifton takes on the role of Billy Flynn and former Coronation Street actor Faye Brookes is Roxie Hart in Chicago at the Playhouse from tomorrow until Saturday.
SHAKESPEAREAN ROM-COM: Much Ado About Nothing, Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company’s main production of 2025, is at the Pleasance from tomorrow until Saturday.
WAITANGI DAY: Join Moonwake Brewery team as they celebrate all things Kiwi at their Moonwake Taproom on The Shore in Leith over three days from Thursday until Saturday. Waitangi Day is New Zealand’s national day of New Zealand, marking the signing of the nation’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840.
Moonwake co-founder and head brewer Vinny Rosario is a Kiwi. Expect live music, a pub quiz, food and beer made with New Zealand hops.
QUICK BITES
PUB-LICIOUS: Tom Kitchin’s gastropub, The Scran and Scallie in Stockbridge, is the only Scottish venue to make the annual Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub Awards, chosen by more than 100 professionals in the industry.
DOGGONE IT: Frederick Street’s popular Chihuahua Café is to close in the summer. The owners have decided it’s time for the café’s popular pups to retire. Dog lovers who enjoy the café’s coffee and cake have until August.