The best of the Edinburgh Inquirer 2025
Looking back at a year in the capital and our most memorable moments
It’s been a big year at The Inquirer as we aimed to fulfil our promise to bring back high-quality, local journalism to the capital. Did we deliver? As always, you will be the ultimate judge.
We have enjoyed looking back at our work from the last year and picking out some of the pieces that resonated most with you. We hope you’ll enjoy taking a look back too - and maybe finding one or two gems you missed along the way.
Our in-depth investigations
Some of our most impactful journalism came from our investigations, many led to Jolene Campbell, in which we sometimes spent weeks - and even months - digging into some of the issues which we knew concerned you most.
Working alongside the citizen scientists who are measuring the true impact of sewage dumping on our beautiful waterways was an eye-opening experience. The dirty truth about e-coli in the bathing water at Portobello
Our investigation into the care services for vulnerable young people in the Capital revealed new failings, the suspension of a string of care workers and the fact some complaints had been deemed so serious the police had been drafted in. Police investigating alleged sexual exploitation within the city’s care services
Following a series of high-profile stabbings around the Capital, we took an in-depth look into the data and talked to youth workers and serving police officers to discover a disturbing picture of rising knife crime and services for young people being stripped back. Revealed: How knife crime is soaring in the Capital as youth services are cut back
What is really going on in the city?
You always appreciated when we got under the skin of life in the capital, asking some of the questions you posed to us about what was really going on.
Most of us love a cup of joe, but the spread of high street chains such as the Black Sheep coffee shop on to local high streets has given pause for thought. Chiara Fabian looked into the impact it might have on the independent businesses which give the city’s neighbourhoods so much of their character. The Black Sheep of Bruntsfield?
What the heck has been going on behind all that scaffolding on George IV Bridge for so long? You kept asking, so David Forsyth went in search of answers and found a major city institution acting as a questionable neighbour to all the local businesses who have been so badly disrupted. The “secrets” behind the seemingly endless scaffolding on George IV Bridge
We’ve all heard of the Gold Brothers who run so many of the tartan-packed gift shops in the Capital, but Euan McGrory was surprised when he looked into who is actually running the businesses which line the Royal Mile. The under-the-radar retail king of the Royal Mile
Arts and culture
Not surprisingly in a city like Edinburgh, arts and culture has been at the heart of a lot of our writing.
One of our most popular pieces was Sarah McArthur’s look at a unique exhibition celebrating creativity among the over-50s and some of the artists behind it. We’re not vanilla: Starting a new creative life after 50
We were just as delighted as many of you when Edinburgh Filmhouse reopened after a three-year hiatus and Will Quinn caught the spirit perfectly in his celebration of the campaign and campaigners that enabled it to reopen its doors. Opening the doors of Edinburgh Filmouse
One of our best-read pieces on the festivals was Will’s in-depth examination of the Fringe’s little-talked-about partnership with a generative AI specialist and the concerns of many artists about the deal. Artists protest as the Fringe partners with generative AI specialist
Keeping watch on the decision-makers
We acted as your eyes and ears in the corridors of power, helping ensure those whose decisions shape so much of our lives in the capital were held up to proper scrutiny.
From the bad behaviour of some city councillors - Councillors told to tackle ‘out of control’ drinking culture - to the performance of our newly-elected MPs - First year report cards on your city MPs - we were watching and asking the difficult questions.
After one of the city’s leading housing developers bought the former Dick Vet building, home to the Summerhall arts complex, we looked into their failure to deliver on promises to deliver community facilities elsewhere in the capital. Summerhall and a promise undelivered after 20 years
The big social challenges
We ignored the ‘Punch and Judy’ political debates and looked in-depth at some of the biggest social challenges facing the city, delving into the data and focusing where we could on potential solutions.
The dominance of the car, promoting active travel and how to shape the city transport of the future were recurring themes. We’re one of the most congested cities in the UK: Here’s how to tackle that and Mapping the radical changes in the way we use the city’s roads
From the unfolding impact of draconian cuts to social care in the city - See you in court community: Community charity launches legal challenge to city’s social care cuts - to the erosion of legal aid - Domestic abuse victims calling up to 50 firms just to find a divorce lawyer - we helped ensure some of the biggest social challenges facing the city did not take place in the dark.
Behind the headlines
From the University of Edinburgh’s £140 million cuts - University staff braced for earthquake as financial troubleshooter drafted in - to sell-out Oasis concerts at the height of the Fringe - Roll with it? What hosting Oasis in the middle of the Fringe will do to Edinburgh - and the policing of Edinburgh’s holiday lets crackdown - 10,000 door knocks, prosecutions and an untamed holiday let black market - we looked behind the sensational headlines to ask your questions about the true impact on life in the city.
Incredible stories
We loved to surprise you and ourselves with incredible stories about life in the city.
Some of your favourites included Jonny Muir’s moving account of the people who head to the hills after dark - The night runners of the Pentlands - and Jennevieve Collins’ uncovering of the story of a forgotten hero of the city’s past - Colonel Anne: The forgotten Jacobite heroine lying in an unmarked grave in Leith
David Forsyth loved discovering the story of the Charity detectives finding “buried treasure” to fund good works while Euan McGrory took consolation in discovering that every mistake we make can lead us to greater things. Inside the Library of Mistakes.
We hope you enjoyed taking a look back at life in Edinburgh over the last year through the lens of our reporting.
The kind of high-quality, local journalism we practice - with no clickbait and no annoying pop-up ads - is only possible thanks to the support of our paying members. Thank you to all of you who make our work possible.
We hope to continue shining a light on life in the capital throughout 2026, and for many years to come, but we need more help to make that possible.
Our team of professional journalists bring skills and experience to their work which makes it stand out from much of the reporting on city life you can find elsewhere. Our investigations and in-depth journalism in particular takes a great deal of time and care.
If you can, please consider supporting our work as a paying member and helping keep The Inquirer on the road. It costs as little as £1.54 a week - far less than a single edition of most broadsheet newspapers - and the backing of every paying supporter takes a step closer to securing our future.
Thanks for reading and we look forward to writing for you next year.
