The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Weekend edition 2 - 4 August 2024
Council says 'take your rubbish home', Stockbridge Civerino’s opens, new Gorgie City Farm plans, Merchiston history project, Coburg House Open Studios + Fringe begins
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. Here’s Friday’s Edinburgh Minute, followed by the weekend guide for paid-subscribers.
♻️ Council leader Cammy Day has urged people to take their rubbish home with them if bin worker strikes go ahead during this month’s festival. He told BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland radio show:
"We've found that a lot of the waste build-up was particularly from coffee cups and takeaway boxes. So we're encouraging businesses to ask customers to take the waste home to their own properties or their hotels. A lot of the people in the city are tourists as well who stay in accommodation that has private waste collectors."
⮑ More background on the strike in Katy Scott’s BBC Scotland News report.
⮑ Yesterday unions notified the council of their intention to strike from 5am on 14 August until 4.59am on 22 August.
🎭 More than 600 new shows have been added to the Fringe line-up since the official programme was printed. And ‘strong ticket sales’ are being reports, writes Brian Ferguson in The Scotsman this morning.
🚈 ScotRail has updated its train timetables for the start of the festivals in Edinburgh and North Berwick. - STV News.
☕️ Plans for a gazebo-covered cafe in Makars’ Court just off the Royal Mile have been scrapped after a backlash from neighbours. - Jamie Saunderson, Evening News.
🛝 The council is helping local parents find new placements for their children after the ‘sudden closure’ of a nursery in Newbridge. - Edinburgh Live.
🐷 New plans for Gorgie City Farm have been unveiled, but won’t include animals on the site for up to five years. - Local Democracy Reporter Donald Turvill, STV News.
🏗️ Construction work on new housing, a nursery, offices and studios at Powderhall Stables has been delayed. - The Spurtle asked what the hold up was and got plenty of detailed answers.
🏡 The first tenants have started to move into a new £80m development at West Craigs near Edinburgh Airport. - Robyn Bell, Edinburgh Live.
🎭 More than 110 businesses and individuals based at Summerhall have launched a campaign to preserve their artistic and entrepreneurial community. Members of the new Made in Summerhall campaign welcomed this week’s news of a recent three-year lease extension for key performance areas. But they fear things aren’t so certain for the numerous small businesses occupying an estimated 60% of the site. - Sian Bradley, The Times.
⮑ The campaign has a website and Instagram page, while Peter Dibdin took the photos below to highlight some of the businesses involved.
⮑ One business owner contacted the Minute saying: “Not all of Summerhall’s future is secure, says its business, creative and technology tenants. New group #MadeinSummerhall sets up a campaign to retain their city centre home for artists and businesses. Current and previous tenants include tech unicorn SkyScanner, BAFTA Award-winning filmmakers and 3D printers of PPE during Covid.”
🍕 The new Sopranos-inspired Civerino’s pizzeria opens in Stockbridge this weekend. Owner Michele said:
“We’re not following the trend for American pizzas; we started it. Our story began long before the East Coast pizza style was hyped on Instagram and TikTok. It’s become a craze because people crave something beyond the typical Neapolitan experience—something crafted with expertise yet unpretentious and fun. That’s what we’ve always aimed to provide.”
🗣️ The 900 Voices sound installation opens at St Giles’ Cathedral today and will run throughout the International Festival. - You can participate here.
⛪️ Leith St Andrews Church has an open day on Saturday afternoon. There’s live music from Capital Concert Band, Fidra and Arbor Green. - More details here. Thanks to subscriber Julia for sharing this.
🌱 The titan arum plant at the Botanics burst into bloom on Wednesday night. Also known as the ‘corpse flower’, the rare plant is notorious for its smell. - STV News.
⮑ As of 6am this morning there were still some tickets left to see/smell the flower today.
⮑ “The same plant flowering five times is a rare thing, and is likely a result of us holding what was potentially the world’s largest ever corm,” Sadie Barber, Research Collections Manager, told Scottish Field.
📌 Edinburgh Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “Showing next week in North Berwick, The Forecast is a site specific immersive installation. Conceived as part of a series created by Edinburgh-based art collective AND IF NOT NOW, using a camera obscura to project the sea into the basement of a beachside gallery, this is a response to the climate emergency and is a follow up piece to their debut installation for COP26 at the National Museum of Scotland in 2021.” - Philip Pinsky, Sound Designer.
📌 Northfield and Willowbrae Community Centre invites locals to help shape the Local Place Plan on Saturday between 10am and noon. Thanks to subscriber Joe for sharing this.
📌 “Local history project - share your stories! Do you live in Merchiston, Fountainbridge, Bruntsfield, Polwarth, Shandon or Viewforth? The Merchiston Community Council is compiling a local history project. Please share stories about life in these neighbourhoods, past and present. To submit your story, please use the form at the link here or email merchistoncc@gmail.com.”
📌 “Yoga for Runners: Sunday 4th August. Up & Running Edinburgh is hosting Good Time Yoga for this month’s session of yoga, a short run/trot/shuffle, treats and coffee. Absolute beginners absolutely welcome.” - More details here.
📆 Things to do this weekend:
🪩 To mark the start of the festivals, you can get 20% off a subscription here.
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