The Edinburgh Minute ⏰: Weekend edition 29-31 March 2024
Lothian Buses windfall, drone warning, milestone for King’s Theatre revamp, city's most popular baby names + Science Festival begins this weekend
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. Here’s your weekend Edinburgh Minute, followed by the weekend guide for paying subscribers.
🚌 Lothian Buses has shared a dividend of £3.2 million for the city council and the other Lothian local authorities. It’s the first time it has returned any money for the councils since before Covid. - Ian Swanson, Evening News.
⮑ Lothian Buses shared this press release.
🚨 A CCTV image has been released of a man wanted by police in connection with a robbery at St Cuthbert’s graveyard near King Stables Road. - Police Scotland.
🚁 Midlothian council has warned people not to fly drones near the Hillend snowsports venue at the Pentlands, after a YouTuber filmed the construction site of a new ‘Alpine Coaster’ earlier this week. - Alexander Smail, Daily Record.
🍝 Staff at the Toni Macaroni restaurant in Barnton have been left without four weeks’ pay after the restaurant closed. - Kevin Quinn, Evening News.
🏗️ Redevelopment work at the King’s Theatre has reached the halfway stage. The venue released this update video showing how the project is progressing. - You can read more here.
🐦 Bird lovers have accused the council of trapping pigeons in a metal mesh under a bridge near Murrayfield Stadium. - George Mair, The Edinburgh Reporter.
🔥 The PDSA charity shop on South Bridge which was left devastated after a fire in the building above last year is calling for locals to visit, after struggling to regain support since reopening. - North Edinburgh News.
👶 Edinburgh’s most popular baby names in 2023 have been published by the National Records of Scotland.
⮑ Isla, Olivia and Freya top the girls’ table, while Luca overtook Noah to become Scotland’s top baby boy name. The national press release is here and Edinburgh’s top-20 breakdown is in the Evening News here.
⮑ You can check the popularity of any name in Scotland at this interactive site.
🇪🇸 Owners of family-run Spanish restaurant Tapas3 in Newington fear closure as a result of a new ‘smelly’ bin hub beside its outdoor seating. - Donald Turvill, Local Democracy Reporter, STV.
🏪 Scotmid in Marchmont has closed and will reopen ‘soon’ as a Nisa store. It was reported earlier this week that the same thing is happening to stores in Roseburn and Polwarth. Thanks to subscriber Claire for sharing the photo. - There’s a discussion about this on Reddit.
🍩 Local chain Kilted Donut is opening a new shop in Morningside. - Kris Gourlay, Edinburgh Live.
👷♂️ Thistle Street fashion shop owner Sam Ingram has spoken about how he swapped his old job as a Leith docks welder for the fashion shows of London and Paris. - Jacob Farr, Edinburgh Live.
🛍️ Phase Eight opens a new shop at 85 George Street today. - Drapers.
🎭 Assembly has added more than 100 shows to its Fringe schedule, including a rock musical about Mary, Queen of Scots. - Margaret Hall, Playbill.
🐶 The Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home has launched its Easter appeal, focusing on five dogs in particular who are looking for a new home. - Jenness Mitchell, Sky News.
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🎬 The New Town’s Edinburgh Cine & Video Society is hosting a coffee morning on Sunday with home baking, cartoons for the kids, mini railway, and old school animation workshop for kids. Thanks to Gordon Guthrie for sharing this.
📌 “Easter fun this Sunday in Spylaw park, Colinton. Spring Fling in the Park from 2pm to 5pm. From egg-rolling to egg painting, easter crafts, plus our Pit Stop Café with home baking, and live music! (Plus lots of chocolate eggs courtesy of Co-op too!)”
📌 “Friends of Campbell Park, Colinton, are organising an Easter Picnic and Mural Reveal between noon and 3pm on Easter Monday, 1 April. Bring a hamper for yourselves and to share Community Soup served from the Pavilion kitchen. Includes Easter Egg painting Competition, Egg Hunt and the Big Reveal of the new Container Mural.”
📌 “New April 2024 issue of volunteer-led FREE community magazine C&B News, serving communities in south-west Edinburgh, is now available: digitally and in print from this weekend from selected retail outlets in Balerno, Currie, Juniper Green, Baberton Mains, and Colinton. (See website for list.) Contents include: recent fun activities for Currie PS's P7s, proposed new Curriehill path, and sports news. Also updates from local groups, politicians, community councils and our regular columnists.” Thanks to C&B News for sharing these three updates.
📌 “Celebrating a decade of environmental impact and community climate action, SHRUB Coop is excited to announce its upcoming Sustainable Fashion Show and Ceilidh Fundraiser for the United Nations Day of Zero Waste! The event will take place from 2pm to 8pm at Stockbridge Church on Saturday the 30th of March!” - More details here.
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📆 Things to do this weekend:
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