The Edinburgh Minute ⏰: Weekend edition 22-24 March 2024
Morningside crime breakthrough, bin hubs noise plan, train booze ban debate, Pride Bridge event + a bumper weekend guide
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. This newsletter topped Substack’s UK chart yesterday. Sometimes I wonder if anyone’s really reading this and whether the numbers are real. Well, you all left me in no doubt yesterday! Thanks for showing up with all the comments. Edinburgh is well and truly on the map, thanks to you. Here’s Friday’s Edinburgh Minute, followed by the weekend guide for paying subscribers.
🗑️ A ‘noise-dampening system’ for Edinburgh’s controversial bin hubs is to be considered by the council. Despite an 85% drop in the number of overflowing bin reports since the roll-out began two years ago, the council has been swamped with noise complaints. - Local Democracy Reporter Donald Turvill in The Edinburgh Reporter.
🚔 Police say anti-social behaviour in Morningside has worsened this week, with further incidents including a child being hit by an egg. But they say they have identified up to 20 young people responsible and hope to charge people soon. - Ian Swanson, Evening News.
💨 Princes Street Gardens will be closed today due to forecasted high winds.
🚔 A 38-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of 65-year-old Nashir Ahmed at a bus stop on Ferry Road on 10 March. - BBC Scotland News.
🍺 The Bonnington pub has closed just weeks after reopening. - Katie Williams, Edinburgh Live.
🎻 This year’s most expensive Edinburgh International Festival ticket is £149, reports classic music news sit Slipped Disc. Kate Calder of Edinburgh Music Review says: “After the publicity about multi-buy offers – “the best discounted deals the Festival has ever had” – it seems petty to exclude the higher-priced tickets, and strange, to say the least, to fail to provide this information in the printed programme.”
⮑ All ticket deals and this year’s programme can be found here.
🍻 Should the ScotRail booze ban remain in place? - The Herald’s Rebecca McQuillan reports that rail bosses told a Holyrood committee this week that commuters were split roughly 50/50 on whether to continue the ban. It was ‘temporarily’ introduced three years ago during the pandemic in a bid to curtail spread of the virus. Have your say:
🏥 The NHS Lothian health board has been fined £220,000 after two vulnerable patients died at the Western General Hospital. - Holly Lennon, STV News.
⛴️ Survivors who suffered ‘catastrophic’ injuries when the RV Petrel ship toppled over in Leith’s Imperial Dry Dock say they are still waiting for answers a year on. - BBC Scotland News.
💇♀️ Leith Walk hairdresser Alan Scott is retiring after 47 years in the business. The 67-year-old has decided to hand the shop keys over to another hairdresser in April. He told Edinburgh Live’s Kris Gourlay:
"I know what the community needs and it's certainly not another cafe. I was trying to keep everyone happy and I think I have done that.” - Alan Scott.
🏳️🌈 Staff at the Scottish Parliament building at Holrood will no longer be able to wear rainbow lanyards or badges, officials have said. - Matthew Fulton, STV News.
🌈 The next public consultation event for a proposed new Pride Bridge in Newhaven is on Saturday between 11am-1pm at the Heart of Newhaven Community Centre.
🎭 Another stellar line-up is planned for writer Michael Pedersen’s next event. Portobello Town Hall will host the paperback launch of The Cat Prince on 5 June. Michael will be joined by Hollie McNish for a reading, then a conversation with former First Minister / soon to be author Nicola Sturgeon. Closing the show will be music by singer Rachel Sermanni. Also expect a pop-up bookshop with author signings run by The Portobello Bookshop and a Bellfield Brewery bar featuring a special Cat Prince beer. - Early bird tickets are live here. Thanks to Michael for sharing this first with the Edinburgh Minute.
🏠 An award-winning Comely Bank flat in a former commercial unit is on sale for offers over £645,000. - Malcolm Jack, The Times.
⮑ If you want to skip the story and the paywall and go straight to the pictures in the Knight Frank property listing.
🏗️ ‘Why is Edinburgh considering building housing on land that may be underwater before their mortgages are paid off?’ - Craig Dalzell in Common Weal.
🍪 Chulo's cookie shop in Stockbridge is closed this weekend after the ceiling collapsed. - Cara Blackhall, Edinburgh Live.
📌 Edinburgh Minute Community Noticeboard
⮑ Get in touch using this form.
📌 “New exciting cafe open in Marchmont called Mara’s Picklery, creating dishes by pickling, curing , preserving ingredients by using Organic, seasonal ingredients in partnership with sustainable and fair trade suppliers. Ethos of no food wasting. Open from Wednesday to Sunday.” - Thanks to Eilish and Pragnesh for getting in touch.
📌 “SILVERLEA ARCHAEOLOGICAL OPEN DAY: Step back in time and discover the history and origins of Muirhouse house and Mains Farm in Edinburgh on Saturday 23 March (10am to 3pm). Explore an excavation site with guided tours led by archaeologists, view artefacts on display and chat with experts about the discoveries.” - More details here.
📌 “Edinburgh Cine & Video Society fundraising screening of ‘The Nettle Dress’ on Wednesday 27th March at 7.30pm.” - Ticket and details.
📌 “On Saturday 20th April, a fund raising ball will be held at Prestonfield to support the Scottish and overseas work of the Order of Malta, one of the world's oldest and largest humanitarian charities. Guests can enjoy an evening of fine dining and reeling to the Infamous Grouse Band. Their donations will support a project for severely disabled children in western Ukraine; Dial a Journey's ‘door-to-door’ transport service for people with mobility problems in central Scotland; and voluntary work with the homeless and disadvantaged here in Edinburgh.” - Thanks to Andrew for sharing these details.
📮 Something missing? Share your local events here.
📆 Things to do this weekend:
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