The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Wednesday 25 September 2024
Trams 'lose £55m', tourist tax consultation begins, Porty beach repair, tributes to Rise Kagona, new North Bridge chippy + knitters' climate protest outside Holyrood today
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. Here’s Wednesday’s Edinburgh Minute.
🎬 The Filmhouse cinema has regained its bar licence as its new operators hope to re-open the doors in six month's time. They must wait until next week for a decision on a proposed LED screen on the front of the building. - Donald Turvill, Local Democracy Reporter, STV News.
🚊 ‘Edinburgh Tram losses soar to £55m despite carrying 9.18m passengers in a year’. - Breaking news from Rachel Amery in The Scotsman this morning.
💰 The Edinburgh tourist tax consultation is now open. - The council published more information here.
⮑ Residents, businesses and visitors are being invited to have their say on the final plans to raise over £100 million by 2030 from tourism. Options are open on how exactly that money should be spent to support the city.
⮑ Have your say here.
“This is a once in a lifetime chance for our city to harness its global visitor appeal. Funds raised could go towards supporting vital services such as keeping the city clean and green, preserving some of our incredible heritage sites as well as supporting businesses in the visitor economy industry. We already know from the huge amount of engagement we’ve previously carried out that the introduction of a levy has overwhelming support here in Edinburgh. All this engagement work has helped us to shape the scheme we have in front of us today and I’m grateful to the thousands of people who have been involved to date. Please make sure you engage with us and take this chance to have your final say.” - Council leader Cammy Day.
🌊 As you may have seen on the front page of the Portobello Reporter earlier this week, £500,000 of work repairing the beach’s timber groyne structures has been completed. Leftover timber was donated to a local garden and artists. - The council published more details here.
🗞️ Volunteer-led community news magazine C&B News will publish its 500th monthly edition this Friday. Since 1976 the publication has covered Currie, Balerno, Juniper Green, Baberton Mains, and Colinton. - Its chair Gail Rankin talks to Phyllis Stephen in The Edinburgh Reporter: “We don’t have a pool of paid journalists who write articles for the magazine, but benefit from the opinions and knowledge of local people to inform the wider community each month in the articles they submit.”
🗞️ This school year’s first edition of Edinburgh’s historic The Student newspaper is out today. - Read it here.
🎸 Edinburgh-based musician Rise Kagona has passed away aged 62. - The South African Times looks back on his career.
⮑ Kagona was described as one of ‘Zimbabwe’s greatest musicians’. His band The Bhundu Boys supported Madonna in 1987 at Wembley.
⮑ Kagona’s Jit Jive Duo bandmate Andy Cooke said: “He touched so many people while staying here with us in Scotland through his songs, but it was always his wish to return home. Let's help Rise finally get home to be buried, so that his children can say goodbye to their wonderful dad.”
⮑ Now Kagona’s family is fundraising in a bid to repatriate him. A donation of £1,200 from Elvis Costello is among the pledges. - Thanks to subscriber Patrick for sharing this.
⮑ Here’s a clip from one of Kagona’s recent performances with Andy at the Saughton Park pavilion earlier this summer:
🍟 Landy's, a new fish & chip restaurant from Vittoria Group is slated to open in the former Byron unit next to the cash machines at the North Bridge / Royal Mile junction. - SSC Edinburgh.
⮑ The planning application is here.
☎️ Local heritage body The Cockburn Association has gained permission via the Adopt-a-Kiosk programme to turn a Royal Mile telephone box into ‘an informal information and heritage hub’. - More info in their planning application.
📝 Crime writer Sir Ian Rankin has given a wide-ranging interview about his childhood, his thoughts on AI being used to write books (‘it’s just stealing from other people’) and dropped some hints about his latest novel. - Angie Brown, BBC Scotland News.
🏨 Conde Nast Traveler has published its annual list of ‘The Best Hotels in Edinburgh.’
🐶 Someone on Reddit noticed that the rarely-open Main St Beanery cafe in Fountainbridge saw some life earlier this week.
🌈 Plans for the Pride Bridge in Newhaven have reached another milestone, as planning permission was submitted to the council. The team behind the plan warned their social media followers to watch out of ‘sloppy journalism at its finest’, as old plans and inaccurate locations were published elsewhere. - See the full plans here and a gallery of images here.
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📌 TODAY: “The ‘North Sea Knitters’ will sit outside the Scottish Parliament on Wed 25 Sep to knit a ‘red line’, representing the critical limit of 1.5℃ of global warming. The group of concerned citizens are demanding political action to cut climate pollution and transition away from fossil fuels. They are hand-knitting red scarves for MSPs to remind them of this crucial responsibility.” - Thanks to the North Sea Knitters for sharing this.
📌 “Empathy Café Edinburgh takes place this Sunday 29th of September. It is a Nonviolent Communication workshop at the Salisbury Centre. 11am-2pm, contribution £25. Sign up on Eventbrite.” - Thanks to Cathy Sommer, NVC facilitator, for sharing this.
📌 “Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory will be opening its doors to the public on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September. The Royal Observatory is home to the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Astronomy and the Higgs Centre for Innovation, making it a hub of cutting-edge research and development. Throughout the weekend visitors can meet astronomers and engineers, enjoy science talks, watch 3D printing demonstrations, take guided tours of the Victorian Observatory, get creative with astronomy crafts and more.” - More details via the observatory here.
📌 TONIGHT:: “Love Music Hate Racism Edinburgh Launch Gig at Sneaky Pete's. Doors open 1900 on Wednesday 25th September 2024. Tickets available at Eventbrite. Hip-hop, psychedelic rock and acoustic folk to be enjoyed from Culture Clan, Felix and the Sunsets and Lorna McKinnon respectively. See you there!” - Thanks to Adam Wrigley, LMHR Volunteer, for sharing this.
📌 “Live Music Showcase featuring Thundermoon, Edinburgh-based synth-pop trio with 80’s synth and 90’s dance the DIY queer scene, and Liv Dawn, a folk-pop singer-songwriter from Loch Lomond.” - Tickets here. Thanks to Liv Dawn and Thundermoon for sharing this.
📮 Is that it? What have I missed? Please share your local news and events here.
📈 The most-visited links from the last newsletter:
🚔 Man charged after video shows attack on Edinburgh cyclist.
🪑 Seven of Edinburgh’s best antique and vintage furniture stores.
🍕 Gaby Soutar: Glasgow versus Edinburgh. Which city has the best pizza restaurants?
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