The businesses aiming to reverse the decline of the Royal Mile and Old Town
‘The place has looked less cared for and less safe’
Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer.
The decline of the Royal Mile will be a familiar story to many of you. Whether that comes from walking up and down the famous street or reading our reports in The Inquirer, the conclusion is likely to be the same. We told in ‘The ‘filthy gold mine’ that could be Edinburgh’s crown jewel’ of the frustrations of many of those who work and live there.
For today’s long read, David Forsyth has been speaking to a group of Old Town traders who have a vision for reviving its fortunes.
They hope to repeat the success of businesses who have joined forces in the New Town to form a Business Improvement District, all contributing to a central fund to help pay for much-needed safety and environmental improvements.
You can read all about that below as a paying member, but before that here is your midweek news roundup and our cultural tips for the week ahead.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
CAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT: A memorial to a cat which became a local celebrity after years of lounging outside the Co-op supermarket has been unveiled in Newtongrange. Residents raised money for the statue after Mo died last year.
RETURN OF THE MAC: Lesley Macinness returns to one of the most prominent roles in city politics after being chosen by the council’s SNP group as their leader. The former city transport convener, who previously worked in a senior management role at an international NGO, will lead the largest single party at the City Chambers. With the party political balance on the council so tight, she will be aiming to topple the minority Labour administration in next May’s local elections and take over as council leader.
Her predecessor Simita Kumar has been appointed Minister for Equalities and International Development in John Swinney’s government.
SLAVERY MEMORIAL: Talks are continuing in an effort to deliver a £750,000 public art work to mark Edinburgh’s historic connections with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The memorial is planned for Makars’ Court, off the Royal Mile, as part of the recommendations of the city’s slavery and colonialism legacy review led by the late Sir Geoff Palmer. The project has been thrown into doubt after Edinburgh University said it would not be able to make an expected £300,000 contribution amid its ongoing cuts crisis.
UNHOLY ROW: St Giles Cathedral has been criticised after laying off all the staff and volunteers who work in its shop. Minister Rev Dr Scott Rennie said it was acting on the advice of consultants who had recommended merging its shop and tour guide operations.
HIGHER THAN HEATHROW: The increased drop-off charge at Edinburgh Airport makes it one of the most expensive in the UK, according to a prices comparison compiled by Sky News. Edinburgh’s £7.50 fee is more than Heathrow’s £7 charge, and lower only than Stansted and Gatwick (both £10) and Bristol (£8). The airport has blamed the increase on a 142% increase in its business rates, amounting to around £8million.
FRINGE BENEFITS: The Fringe has commissioned a major study into its economic impact on Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland, to be led by Professor Murray Pittock, pro-vice-principal of Glasgow University. Previous studies have suggested the Fringe is worth as much as £1bn to the Scottish economy.
GOAL-DEN OLDIE: There’s hope for everyone who refuses to listen to warnings they are too old for sporting glory. Hearts’ extraordinary keeper Craig Gordon is off to the World Cup aged 43. He’ll have to play his way onto the plane for the next World Cup in 2030 if he wants to beat Essam El Hadary’s record as the oldest man to play in the finals. El Hadary kept goal for Egypt at the grand old age of 45 years and 161 days
Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops
Greetings, Pop Pickers!
Those first swallows of summer are looking rather suspect in the light of fresh squalls, bracing winds, and a touch of thunder. Yet, while the barometer may be fluctuating, the capital’s cultural temperature remains feverish. The sheer volume of theatrical heavyweights, sporting dramas, and musical mastery currently descending on our stages provides the perfect refuge from the mercurial May skies, writes Will Quinn.
Let’s count them down...
Honourable Mentions: The Bodyguard & Richard Thompson
It is a ferociously competitive field for our near-misses this week. First up, The Bodyguard (Edinburgh Playhouse, until Saturday) arrives to shake the foundations of Edinburgh’s Broadway. A serious pop-spectacle of the highest order, it is a production built on soaring vocals and Whitney Houston’s peerless back catalogue. Elsewhere, the pioneering force of British folk-rock, Richard Thompson (Usher Hall, May 28th), makes a hotly anticipated return. This gig would undoubtedly have charted higher were it not virtually sold out; however, those fleet of foot might still secure a reasonably-priced pew. As a formidable bonus, he is joined by Edinburgh’s own Hamish Hawk, the commanding post-punk baritone whose recent output has rendered him a perennial fixture on the Scottish Album of the Year shortlist.
Dropping to Number 5 is... RSA 200th Anniversary Exhibition (Royal Scottish Academy, Open Now). It is a testament to the sheer calibre of this week’s new arrivals that the Academy’s monumental bicentennial showcase has ceded ground. Nevertheless, this sprawling, floor-to-ceiling celebration of Scottish artistic endeavour remains an essential undertaking. Sidestepping curatorial conservatism, the Princes Street galleries are currently bursting with an eclectic, egalitarian mix of the profound and the playful. With upwards of five hundred distinct works - ranging from imposing oils to delightfully idiosyncratic sculptures - it is an exhibition that demands to be savoured over multiple, unhurried visits. And did I mention it’s free?
Moving up to Number 4 is... Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil (Royal Lyceum Theatre, May 8th – 23rd). Ascending from last week’s Honourable Mentions, Gary McNair’s Cowdenbeath FC saga has categorically justified its main-stage transfer. TheQR.co.uk’s Sass MacDonald returned from the Lyceum with a glowing verdict. Praising Dawn Steele’s “perfect comic timing,” she hailed the production as a work of “genius writing, acting and directing.” While the turbulent fortunes of lower-league football provide the framework, she insightfully noted that the true heart of this piece is “about families, home and belonging.” This turns out to be a masterclass in transitioning a narrative from the airwaves to the footlights.
New in at Number 3 is... 2:22 A Ghost Story (Edinburgh Playhouse, May 25th – 30th). Securing the bronze this week is Danny Robins’s sensational, nerve-shredding thriller. The mastermind behind the hit Uncanny podcast first unleashed this modern supernatural puzzle back in 2021, and it has been expertly terrifying audiences ever since. When the show last spooked the capital in 2023, I boldly declared it the new Mousetrap - a testament to its gripping, twist-laden narrative that keeps audiences entirely off-balance until the final blackout. Armed with a fresh cast ready to jump at every bump in the night, this gloriously eerie celebration of the supernatural is destined to be an edge-of-your-seat triumph.
New in at Number 2 is... The Edinburgh International Children’s Festival (Various Venues, May 30th – June 7th). Narrowly missing the summit is a festival that consistently introduces me to some of the most remarkable, boundary-pushing theatre staged in this city. I urge you to ignore anyone who dismissively categorises this as “just for kids.” The artists who dedicate themselves to young audiences are the bravest in the industry, facing crowds who offer zero filter and brutally immediate feedback. Imaginate has once again curated a world-class, uncompromising lineup of fearless creatives from Scotland and beyond, proving that the very best theatre transcends generational divides.
New in at Number 1 is... The Marriage of Figaro (Festival Theatre, May 29th – June 6th). Scottish Opera returns in triumph, bringing Mozart’s beloved and beautiful comic masterpiece to the Festival Theatre. Sir Thomas Allen revives his much-lauded production, and reflecting the profound insight of a seasoned performer, his Figaro is steeped in humour, subtlety, and razor-sharp wit. Simon Higlett’s sumptuous designs will provide the opulent backdrop for a comedy of social revolution and subversion that remains as sharply relevant today as it ever was - rendered a little more accessible by being sung in English.
All wedding days are fraught, but few can rival Figaro’s. Upon discovering that his employer, the Count, is plotting to seduce his bride, our hero and his Susanna must deploy every ounce of their wit to outsmart the aristocracy and finally make it down the aisle. Mozart’s bubbling, effervescent score - doubtlessly well-marshalled by conductors Dane Lam and Susannah Wapshott - will showcase Amadeus’s genius for striking the emotional, melodic core of every character. Lavish, hilarious, and gloriously harmonic, I couldn’t pick any other Number 1.
And that’s your Top 5! Button up your overcoats, brave the bizarre May weather, and secure those tickets while you still can—making sure to casually mention whose impeccable taste directed you to the box office. Drop your thoughts in the comments below; I remain eager to revel in your agreement, or cheerfully dismantle your entirely misguided dissent!
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Businesses BID to reverse decline of Royal Mile and the Old Town
Old Town traders look to success across the city centre to drive a cleaner, safer environment
by David Forsyth
Kat Brogan knows pretty much every close, every business, every paving stone in Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile and the Old Town. She knows its history, its tragedies and triumphs. And now she wants to help secure its future.
Through four decades she and her father before her have brought the Royal Mile to life for innumerable visitors and locals alike, through their multi-award-winning business Mercat Tours. And over much of that period she’s witnessed a decline in the world-famous street that she’s desperate to reverse.
“As the the street has become untidier and dirtier, the public realm has become less attractive and appealing, the place has looked less cared for and less safe, until eventually it doesn’t always feel safe for people. Then we see increased anti-social behaviour and increases in things like shoplifting and thefts.”
It is a vicious circle she believes can be reversed, and she is one of the businesses who have organised a poll urging fellow Old Town traders to consider creating a Business Improvement District, a business-led partnership to improve their environment. They hope it may eventually lead to a ballot of local firms, with a BID up and running in 2027.
She and her group are being assisted by Essential Edinburgh, which runs the existing city centre BID in the New Town, and which has been around for approaching 20 years having been successfully re-elected three times by its member businesses.
Yesterday, Essential Edinburgh confirmed it is bringing forward its own renewal ballot by one year and will begin its own consultation to create a new five-year plan, given the “rapidly changing commercial environment” of the past few years. This would, in turn, also bring it into alignment with any potential new BID.
The creation of the Visitor Levy as a source of potential funding, along with a growing need to tackle rising retail crime, anti-social behaviour and to improve the cleanliness of the Old Town, are understood to be the key drivers in businesses being more open to the creation of a BID.
Kat and several other well-known Old Town businesses, believe the creation of a BID could see big improvements to the way the Old Town and its famous centrepiece street will look, feel, and function in the years ahead – something that would be welcomed by local residents and visitors alike.
Given that it means businesses voluntarily paying a contribution on their business rates and given that a similar move was unsuccessful just a handful of years ago, it seems a bold move.
From vicious circle to virtuous cycle
Kat said: “So much has changed over the past six or seven years. We’ve seen the Old Town become more untidy and littered, we see an increase in crimes like anti-social behaviour and retail crime, and we’ve seen the advent of the Visitor Levy.
“And when we look across to Princes Street Gardens to the city centre where Essential Edinburgh runs their BID we see clean teams at work, successful anti-crime initiatives, improved public realm, better signposting, new events. We see the businesses there voting to renew their BID every few years, by a large margin.
“It makes sense, and more businesses here are now more positive about the possibilities a BID could bring, especially around security, cleaning, and the Visitor Levy opportunities.”
