The Skinny Guide to Edinburgh 2021 by The Skinny

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Credits

Tallah Brash Music Editor

Sandy Park Commercial Director

Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief

Peter Simpson Digital Editor, Food & Drink Editor

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor

Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist

Rachael Hood Art Director, Production Manager

Phoebe Willison Designer

Tom McCarthy Creative Projects Manager

George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist

Laurie Presswood General Manager

Illustration

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Max Machen is an Illustrator and printmaker from Yorkshire who is now based in Edinburgh. He creates fun, colourful, visually witty images that bring smiles to pages, screens, walls and faces! His ideas are often born from a strong coffee. @maxymachen

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Welcome his new Edinburgh guide was created by the team behind The Skinny magazine to share a local insight into the best things to do in Scotland’s capital in 2021. We’ve split the city into ten different areas – each section has been written by someone who lives or has lived there, to provide the most knowledgeable and useful recommendations about places we all really love to go. As live events return and the world-renowned Edinburgh festivals come back after their first ever hiatus, we want to celebrate this city and the local businesses who of course need our support after a hellish year-and-ahalf. We’ve researched tirelessly to bring you the best places to eat, drink,

Welcome

shop (local) and engage with culture, as well as shining a light on some of the green space the city is rich in. On these pages you’ll find a rundown of the 2021 programmes of the Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival and Edinburgh International Festival. We also take a trip through the capital’s musical history, and cast an eye outwith the city limits to some of the treasures you can explore on a daytrip. After a year of back-to-back lockdowns and no foreign travel, we hope our guide will help you to have an incredible adventure right here in Edinburgh. Even if you already live here.

Key Facts! A collection of seemingly random pieces of information we think are essential local knowledge • The rules around COVID-19 may be different here than in the other parts of the UK so be sure to familiarise yourself with what you can and can’t do. At the time of writing, we are keeping our face masks, and bring on the social distancing. For up to date advice, go to gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19

• Drinking outdoors / on the street is legal. BUT, you can only buy alcohol from an off licence 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, 12.30-10pm Sun. Plan ahead.

• Umbrellas are useless here. Pack a raincoat, have it with you at all times. The seasons can – and will – change multiple times per day. You should also always carry a woollen jumper. And sunglasses. • If it’s over 14 degrees centigrade, men will start taking their tops off. This is called ‘taps aff’. Do not be afraid.

• If you’re in a chippy and asked if you’d like ‘salt’n’sauce,’ they’re referring to a brown, vinegary liquid • A cannon is fired from Edinburgh that Edinburghers drown their Castle every day at 1pm. This never chips in instead of actual vinegar. stops being surprising. Say yes, you won’t regret it.

Edinburgh City Guide

• Edinburgh is pretty small, so if you think you can walk it, you can probably walk it. If not, Lothian Buses run throughout the city. Download the Transport for Edinburgh app for periodically accurate bus times. Tickets cost £1.80 adult / 90p child for a

single, with day tickets costing £4.50 and £2.20 respectively. You can pay using cash (no change given), contactless card or pre-purchase via the TfE m-tickets app. We also have a tram – it doesn’t go far or fast, and it’s been under construction for 13 years.

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Contents

Contents 5 Welcome & Edinburgh Key Facts 10 Map

Area-by-area 13 Old Town by The Skinny Team

18 New Town by Rosamund West

25 Southside by Anahit Behrooz

29 West End by Tallah Brash

33 Tollcross, Bruntsfield & Marchmont by Anahit Behrooz

37 Gorgie, Dalry & Fountainbridge by Peter Simpson

42 Stockbridge & Canonmills by Rosamund West

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46 Abbeyhill by Tallah Brash

50 Leith by Jamie Dunn

54 Portobello by Peter Simpson

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Edinburgh City Guide 7

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Cultural guide

Contents

57 Daytrips! How to leave the city for a tiny adventure and where to go

Photo: Ilya Ilford

61 A guide to the city’s art galleries plus a walk through the Edinburgh Art Festival programme for 2021

V&A Dundee

64 A potted account of Edinburgh’s live musical history, as we eagerly await the return of gigs

Photo: Kate Johnston

66 We take a look at some of the Edinburgh International Film Festival programme highlights as it returns to its original August slot

70 The Fringe is back, but we don’t really know what it will look like in 2021. A highly speculative guide to venues that have confirmed they exist at time of writing Skinny Pelembe live at Sneaky Pete's

Photo: Chris Scott

72 After a year-and-a-half of empty stages, the Edinburgh International Festival returns with a bumper programme of music and performance

78 Index 82 Crossword

Edinburgh City Guide

Prince Achmed, Edinburgh Filmhouse

74 Edinburgh International Book Festival are moving to a new venue, the Edinburgh College of Art, where a typically stellar mix of Scottish and international authors will be celebrating the written word

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Map THE SKINNY 10

Original map courtesy of openstreetmap.org contributors

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Map Edinburgh City Guide

Find the exact location of every venue listed via the QR code.

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Old Town The Old Town is the dark heart of Edinburgh’s tourist industry, a medieval multi-level labyrinth which hosts the bulk of the city’s major attractions. It’s changed a lot since Muriel Spark described it as ‘a reeking network of slums’ – its winding alleyways are now mainly home to hi-octane tartan tat shops and Airbnbs, a fact demonstrated by the eerie silence that fell on its streets during lockdown. The area is built around the Royal Mile, which is one Scots mile in length – approximately 200m longer than one of your English miles. At the top lies Edinburgh Castle, which you may have heard of. At the bottom sits the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Park – home of the city’s aspiring mountain, Arthur’s Seat. The Old Town is also a focal point of the city’s late night scene, with the subterranean-feeling Cowgate providing a readymade pub crawl from Pleasance to stag party favourite the Grassmarket. Like any tourist hub, there are a lot of shit places to eat and drink. In amongst it, though, are some true hidden gems from dive bars to ice cream shops via casual fine dining and genuinely medieval hostelries.

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Old Town

Photo: Stuart Hay

Go outdoors

here’s not a lot of green space in the Old Town – it is, after all, a medieval settlement. Seek out the Castle Esplanade for views across the city, to Fife, the Pentlands and beyond, and a meandering walk down to Princes St Gardens. Greyfriars Kirk graveyard is a spooky place to explore, and has some sort of Harry Potter connection. Fun fact – everywhere in Edinburgh now has some sort of fictitious Harry Potter connection.

Princes St Gardens

Food

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Photo: Cera

hen it comes to the food on offer in Edinburgh’s Old Town there is a lot to choose from. For when you’re on the go and trying to pack in as many of its attractions as possible, a loaded jacket potato from The Baked Potato Shop (56 Cockburn St), or a cheeky wee scotch pie from Piemaker (38 South Bridge) are a must. If it’s a sweet treat you’re after, MOO Pie Gelato (26 St Mary’s St) specialise in outrageous ice cream cookie sandwiches, and joining that queue you see in The Grassmarket outside Mary’s Milk Bar should be a top priority. Mary trained in gelato at the Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, Italy, so she knows a thing or two about making delicious ice cream, and she’s Mary's Milk Bar inventive with the flavours too – almond and miso caramel or peaches and olive oil, anyone? Every Saturday The Grassmarket also plays host to the Grassmarket Market (10am-4pm), which as well as including an abundance of local crafts, design and makers stalls, offers a

great foodie snapshot of the city with different food stalls on offer each week. Also on Saturdays, just a five minute walk away you’ll find the Edinburgh Farmers’ Market (9am2pm) at the Castle Terrace Car Park, with local produce on offer as well as a hot food truck. And if you’d rather not be eating on-the-go, or outdoors for that matter, then our favourite Old Town restaurants cover myriad styles and world cuisines. For a little taste of America, head to Bubba Q (209 High St) for some top notch barbecue, fill yourself up on chicken wings at Wings (5 Old Fishmarket Cl) or hit The City Cafe (19 Blair St) for an American-style diner complete with jukebox, burgers, pancakes, milkshakes and Coke floats aplenty. Viva Mexico (41 Cockburn St) is where to head for tasty burritos, enchiladas, fish tacos and margaritas; Slurp at the Kirk (44 Candlemaker Row) have all your ramen needs under control; Hanam’s (3 Johnston Ter) is where to go for traditional Kurdish grill and Middle Eastern food; for an Indian ‘twist on tapas’, head to the inimitable Mother India (3 Infirmary St); the original Civerinos (5 Hunter Sq) have all your pizza needs covered, and for more classic fare, with a focus on local produce, The Outsider (15 George IV Br) is for you.

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Old Town

Drinks

Image: The Milkman

Edinburgh City Guide

The Milkman

and fans of boundary-pushing beer should head to Salt Horse (57 Blackfriars St) for schooners from the UK’s best craft and small breweries. For night owls, Sneaky Pete’s (73 Cowgate) is the place to be, whether in its current incarnation as a dive bar and pizza joint, or when its regular roster of gigs and club nights returns. Around the corner, The Banshee Sneaky Petes Labyrinth (29 Niddry St) is spooky, dingy, and loads of fun, and Bannermans (212 Cowgate) is a late-night haven with a gig room, decent drinks prices, and a mildly confusing two-sided bar. Away from beer, Room and Rumours (25 East Market St) pair great coffee with delicious, Instagramfriendly doughnuts. Can’t get a spot in The Milkman (7 & 52 Cockburn St)? Just go to the other Milkman at the other end of the road; excellent espresso awaits. Need some fruit and veg? Hula (103 West Bow) have smoothies and juices to help you through the earliest mornings. Want a rest? Procaffeination (4 St Mary’s St) is an oasis of calm right in the middle of it all.

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

he Old Town is hilly, alley-tastic, and many of its bars and cafes are very small. Bow Bar (80 West Bow) is one of the best – great pints in a lovely cosy environment, with the classic Edinburgh pub dimensions (the size and shape of a large-ish classroom). Deacon Brodies (435 Lawnmarket) and The Waverley Bar (3 St Mary’s St) are also great options if you’re after the textbook ‘pint in Edinburgh’ experience. Want to modernise a little? Go for cocktails at The Devil’s Advocate (9 Advocate’s Cl) or Dragonfly (52 West Port). The former has a great outdoor patio; the latter is right in the shadow of the Castle. Diverse menus and a bit more space to breathe can be found at OX184 (184 Cowgate) and Under the Stairs (3A Merchant St),

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Photo: Florencia Viadana

Old Town

Indie shops

Armchair Books

(31 Cockburn St) is your best bet, offering plants, home decor, and tchotchkes in a beautifully designed space. Finally, if all of this seems to be playing it a little too safe, don’t be afraid to push the metaphorical boat out at Sauce, a hole-in-the-wall on ancient Candlemaker Row selling – of all things – all manner of marinades and spice blends. And practically opposite is Black Moon Botanica (50 Candlemaker Row), an eclectic, thoughtfully curated boutique perfect for picking up tarot cards, crystals and – appropriately – handmade candles. Photo: Toa Heftiba

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Photo: Alison Johnston

ome sections of the Old Town are an obstacle course of tartan and Princess Diana boutiques, but once you learn to navigate your way through, there’s a real treasure trove to be found. For Scottish memorabilia, head to Red Door Gallery (42 Victoria St): they have a selection of gorgeous prints by local artists, from unique takes on Edinburgh’s iconic cityscape to more abstract designs. Looking for an even rarer find? Located on the other side of the Grassmarket is Armchair Books (72 West Port), a rickety antiquarian and second-hand bookshop, filled floor to ceiling with gems. There are plenty of old illustrated fairy tales (some incredibly reasonably priced), innumerable paperbacks crammed in corners, and Red Door Gallery an entire Scotland section including – if you’re very lucky – old Ordnance Survey maps of the city and surrounding landscape. For something a little edgier, dig into the Scottish and international music scene at indie record shop Underground Solu’shn (9 Cockburn St). If you’re looking for more practical wares, there are plenty of indie boutiques dotted around. For a quirkier vibe, head to iconic Edinburgh vintage emporium W. Armstrong & Son (81 Grassmarket) or sustainable boutique Godiva (9 West Port) for truly unique pieces. Visit Pieute (19 Candlemaker Row) and Pie in the Sky (47 Cockburn St) for graphic tees and printed dungarees, and if you’re feeling like something a little more refined, MYSA

Victoria Street

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Edinburgh Castle from Vennel Steps Photo: Chris Flexen Scottish Parliament

Photo: Tallah Brash St Giles’ Cathedral

Art Galleries Turn to page 61 for a full guide to Edinburgh’s art galleries and their summer 2021 programme. Fruitmarket, 45 Market St City Art Centre, 2 Market St Stills, 23 Cockburn St Dovecot, 10 Infirmary St Talbot Rice Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, South Bridge

Edinburgh City Guide

ith its Escheresque staircases, impossibly narrow alleyways and higgledy-piggledy street design, the Old Town is one giant, jaw-dropping visitor’s attraction in itself, but within it you’ll find lots to do. Most of the city’s attractions currently require pre-booking for specific timeslots; you’ll need to wear your mask and give your details for tracking and tracing as well. You can have your mind warped in the halls of optical illusions at Camera Obscura (Castlehill) or by learning about the beginning of the cosmos at Dynamic Earth (Holyrood Rd). Explore Auld Reekie’s macabre history by taking one of its many Ghost Tours, venturing into the hidden streets beneath the city via The Real Mary King’s Close (2 High St) or descending into The Edinburgh Dungeon (31 Market St), where the darkness is even more frightening than the actors dressed as Burke & Hare. Or if you’re more interested in modern atrocities, there’s always a visit to the Scottish Parliament building (Canongate), where the avant-garde architecture splits the city even more vehemently than a Hibs v Hearts derby. Also worth a visit are St Giles’ Cathedral on the High St (the Avengers fought there once), Holyroodhouse opposite the Parliament (one of Liz’s more humble palaces) and The Scotsman Steps, a gorgeous stairwell from artist Martin Creed made of myriad types of marble. The Old Town is home, too, to a pair of the city’s most darling kirkyards, Canongate Kirk and the aforementioned Greyfriars. Standing sentinel at the entrance to the latter is a statue of much-loved wee dug, Greyfriars Bobby. But for the love of God, don’t rub his nose for luck – COVID, remember! Oh, we almost forgot. There’s the Castle too, but it’s hard to miss.

Old Town

Photo: Connor Mollison

Things to Do

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The New Town Completed around 1850, Edinburgh’s New Town is not as new as its name might suggest. Designed as an escape (for the rich) from the medieval streets on the other side of the Nor Loch (now Princes St Gardens, then a pestilent swamp formerly used for witch trials), its Georgian grid plan is both an architectural gem and a physical demonstration of political propaganda. Street names were chosen to solidify the Act of Union, with the central grid of Princes St, George St (after then-monarch George III) and Queen St interspersed with Rose and Thistle Streets to symbolise the respective emblematic flowers of England and Scotland. They are intersected by Hanover St, after the new Hanoverian dynasty, and Frederick St, after Big George’s dad. Further down you will find Cumberland St, charmingly named in honour of the socalled Butcher of Cumberland, who did a great job massacring us Scots at the Battle of Culloden. Now, the New Town is home to most of Edinburgh’s chain stores and restaurants, with a few local favourites hidden among them.

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It is also home to a hilarious new shopping centre whose design is based on the poo emoji, a prominent statue of a man who delayed the abolition of slavery by 15 years, and some genuine national treasures in the neoclassical surrounds of the National Galleries of Scotland.

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The New Town

Photo: Julia Solonina Ross Fountain and Edinburgh Castle

Go outdoors

rinces St Gardens lie on either side of the National Galleries of Scotland, and offer a pleasant space to walk or sit in the shade of Edinburgh Castle. There’s a playpark, public toilets and cafe in the West gardens, plus the restored Ross Fountain looks great on the ‘gram. Beyond the centre, enjoy gazing upon the fences of the many and various private parklands which are only accessible to keyholders from very specific catchment areas.

Drinks

area’s unique sartorial style, from Barbour jackets to the ubiquitous red he Rose Street pub crawl is trousers of the off-duty men of means. legendary among stag dos – we Broughton St was recently don’t recommend you do that, as the recognised as a ‘Gayborhood’ by The pubs are largely homogenous, but rock Gayborhood Foundation, an organisabar The Black Rose Tavern (49 Rose tion dedicated to finding and empowSt) and ‘Edinburgh’s most outstanding- ering areas of exceptional gay ly preserved Edwardian pub’ The sanctuary around the world. On the Abbotsford (3 Rose St) are both worth corner, The Street (2b Picardy Pl) is a a visit. If it’s Victorian grandeur PLUS lively contemporary bar with a oysters you’re looking for, the tile and downstairs nightclub space, gilt-covered Cafe Royal (19 West while Pickles (60 Broughton St) does Register St) is the place for you. amazing cheese, meat and wine Fancy something more contem- platters. On a side road, The Outhouse porary? Some of the city’s finest (12a Broughton St Ln) has a relaxed cocktail bars are on Queen St. The atmosphere and good beer garden. subterranean Bramble (no. 16A) is The area is also well served for internationally renowned for its excellent coffee shops, if you can mixology and cosy vibe, with a rotating dodge the persistent chains. Fortitude menu of delicious cocktails also (3c York Pl), Wellington Coffee (33a available at its above-ground sister George St), Lowdown Coffee (40 Lucky Liquor Co (no. 39a). Panda & George St), Cairngorm Coffee (41a Sons (no. 79) really commits to the Frederick St) and Artisan Roast (57 speakeasy concept – access is via a Broughton St) are all local favourites. fake barbershop storefront – while the atmospheric Nightcap (3 York Pl) at the other end of the road has seats outside and in. Deeper into the New Town, a local Victorian pub experience can be had in the cosy and very red Kay’s Bar (39 Jamaica St). The Cumberland (1-3 Cumberland St) features possibly the city’s best beer garden; observe the Bramble Photo: Bramble

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Food s you’d expect from the city centre, there’s a wide variety of food on offer in the New Town. There are all the usual chain restaurants clustered around St Andrew Square – Dishoom, Wahaca, Franco Manca etc. You definitely want to try something more locally owned, though. For a sit down meal with a touch of class, Superico (83 Hanover St) serves Chilean-style small plates including excellent ceviche and (if you’re lucky) their mille-feuille chip along with delicious cocktails including the inimitable pisco sour. On Thistle St, Fishers in the City (no. 58) celebrates Scottish seafood in a stylish bistro environment – their mussels are some of the best in the city. Opposite, Noto (no. 47a) focus on sharing plates, small domaine wine producers and bespoke cocktails. Further along, El Cartel (no. 64) is a consistently hoaching Mexican restaurant, and contender for best tacos in the city. Tucked away on Rose St Lane, Hakataya (122 Rose St Ln) is a much-imitated sushi and ramen joint in a sleek minimal space.

For takeaway, the pizza at Dough (172 Rose St) is delicious with a good range of toppings and sides plus discounts at lunchtime. Chez Jules (109 Hanover St) is an Edinburgh institution, offering very affordable French bistro food, and they pivoted to takeaway during lockdown so you can now enjoy a steak frites in the park (weather permitting). Speaking of institutions, no night out is complete without a trip to Edinburgh’s premier disco chippy, Cafe Piccante (19 Broughton St). They will provide you with the deep fried Mars Bar Scottish people don’t actually eat, and also offer a pay it forward scheme where you can buy a meal for someone in need. Down the hill, Fhior (36 Broughton St) serve up a menu of delicious small plates centred around carefully sourced local produce in an airy, minimal environment. Harmonium (7-11 East London St) serve an all-vegan menu and an excellent range of drinks, with live music planned in their downstairs space once restrictions allow.

The New Town

Photo: El Cartel Edinburgh City Guide 21 El Cartel

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The New Town

Photo: Rachael Hood New Town

Indie shops

And while not technically an indie, Scottish record shop instituooking for booze? Bon Vivant’s tion FOPP (3-15 Rose St) can provide Companion (51 Thistle St) offers an all the local music and film you array of fine wines, beers and spirits, could possibly need. including an extensive selection of Scottish gins. On Broughton St, Things to Do Villeneuve Wines (49a Broughton St) and Vino (30 Broughton St) are both n the Mound sit the neoclassiindependent companies providing cal National Galleries of expertly chosen wine and beer. Scotland, home to such artistic Looking for meat? Crombie’s (97 treasures as Da Vinci’s Madonna of Broughton St) is a local institution – go the Yarnwinder, Gauguin’s Vision on Thursday for the full range of fancy after the Sermon, and Botticelli’s sausages. If it’s something more Madonna and Child. In front, on wholegrain or vegetarian you’re after, Princes St, sits the columned Royal Real Foods (37 Broughton St) is your Scottish Academy, home to a best bet. Head here for your organic year-round programme of contempoveg, packaging free detergent refills, rary Scottish art. On Queen St, you weird pulses and fresh turmeric. will find the Gothic spires of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Inside, a great hall features a processional frieze depicting great Art Galleries Scots from history, and an extensive Turn to page 61 for a full guide to collection of portraiture over three Edinburgh’s art galleries and their floors. Pre-booking is required for all summer 2021 programme. in these COVID times. Standing on Picardy Place, if Scottish National Portrait Gallery, you can tear your gaze away from the 1 Queen St magnificent golden turd atop the St National Galleries of Scotland, The Mound James Quarter, you may be able to Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound enjoy the monumental bronze Ingleby Gallery, 33 Barony St sculptures by Eduardo Paolozzi, The Arusha, 13a Dundas St Manuscript of Monte Cassino.

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The Southside Bounded in the north by the Old Town and in the east by the looming slopes of Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh’s Southside is right in the thick of the action; a buzzing, central neighbourhood that nevertheless feels local rather than touristed. Home to the main campus of Edinburgh University, this is where the students hang out, and while some of the buildings may be grand and stuffy, the vibe is anything but. There’s a wealth of diverse and notably cheap eateries dotted around the libraries and some excellent cafes perfect for bunking down with a good book or two from the various bookshops. The Southside is also the traditional home of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as the typically peaceful green expanses of The Meadows and George Square Gardens are transformed into a veritable carnival of performance tents and street food stalls.

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Photo: Tallah Brash

Southside

Getting there, and getting away

he Southside is a short walk away from, well, pretty much anywhere central, and almost every bus route passes along its main artery, the confusingly named North Bridge/South Bridge/Nicolson Street/South Clerk Street (it’s all one road, we’re just quirky that way). By the same logic, it’s also easy to leave, although if you’re looking for a more interesting exit, try grabbing a Just Eat Bike (the city’s by-the-hour hire bikes) and sailing down the Innocent Innocent Railway Tunnel Railway Tunnel, once home to Scotland’s first railway station. Not only does the Tunnel feature a rotating you to the beaches at Musselburgh or gallery of street art and Gaelic graffiti, Portobello (more on that from p54), or to but it also leads to a cycle path round Rosslyn Chapel of Da Vinci Code fame. the back of Arthur’s Seat that can take

Drinks

he drinking landscape in the Southside is – thanks to its high student density – pretty laid-back, but this is by no means code for boring. The area boasts some of the city’s artsiest, quirkiest, and honestly plain weirdest bars, revealing a side to Edinburgh that is far removed from the polish of the New Town or the charming cobbles of the Old. As the name suggests, Paradise Palms (41 Lothian St) has a tropical dive bar feel, with Hawaiian shirts and stuffed animals sagging from the

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Image: Civerinos Slice Civerinos Slice

ceiling and an excellent array of spirits crowding its neon bar. There are similar vibes at the chaotic Dog House (18 Clerk St), while The Royal Dick bar in the Summerhall arts complex (1 Summerhall Pl) marries eclectic decor inspired by Summerhall’s previous life as the university’s veterinary school with a cosy, welcoming pub atmosphere. Also of note is subversive pub Brass Monkey, with actual beds to lounge in (14 Drummond St), the ever-reliable Dagda (93 Buccleuch St) and The Auld Hoose (23 St Leonards St) for a solid pint. For a less boozy day, there’s many a cafe to while away a drizzly afternoon. Thomas J Walls (35 Forrest Rd) and Kilimanjaro (104 Nicolson St) both offer a great brunch menu and relaxed atmosphere, while coffee enthusiasts with a taste for the industrial should head to Union Brew Lab (6 S College St) and Cult Espresso (104 Buccleuch St).

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Food

Indie shops

Things to Do

he Southside is typically the heart of the Fringe, and some of its best venues are located here. Summerhall boasts one of the festival’s best programmes as well as regular exhibitions, while Assembly Roxy (2 Roxburgh Pl), Queen’s Hall (85 Clerk St), and the Festival Theatre (13 Nicolson St) are all within a short stroll of each other. The National Museum of Scotland (Chambers St), Dovecot Studios (10 Infirmary St), Talbot Rice Gallery (South Bridge), and Surgeons’ Hall (Nicolson St) span everything from avant-garde art to gruesome human remains (for more info, see our gallery guide on p61). Booking is currently essential for the Museum, in line with COVID guidelines. This is where you will find the city’s dinosaur bones and historical artefacts. And finally, in the age of outdoor socialising, the tree-lined expanse of The Meadows and the crags of Arthur’s Seat have been transformed into some of the city’s key hangout spots. Photo: Tallah Brash

he Sudanese Nile Valley Cafe (6 Chapel St) offers freshly-made falafel wraps piled high with grilled aubergine and special peanut sauce, while The Shawarma House (119 Nicolson St) does exactly what it says on the tin. Popular with students are Sister Bao (32 S Clerk St), with steamed buns for as little as a pound and change; The Original Mosque Kitchen (50 Potterrow), whose plates piled high with homemade curry come to a fiver; pizza slices at Civerinos Slice (49 Forrest Rd); and the modern take on Thai food at Ting Thai Caravan (8 Teviot Pl). For something a little more sit-down (but still very cheap), Syrian restaurant Erbil (55 W Nicholson St) offers an incredibly friendly atmosphere and some of the best Middle Eastern food in the city. Kim’s Mini Meals (5 Buccleuch St), meanwhile, is one of Edinburgh’s hidden gems, whose innocuous front hides a renowned family restaurant widely considered one of the best in the city. El Cartel (15 Teviot Pl) crafts its tacos like little works of art, with great attention paid to unique flavours and details. The newly opened Paolozzi Restaurant & Bar (59-61 Forrest Road) showcases Scottish-Italian food alongside freshly brewed beer from the team behind Edinburgh Beer Factory. The local brewery also offers tours of the their facilities out west, although they are currently on pause due to the pandemic.

Southside

often includes new releases. There are also two W. Armstrong & Son vintage shops filled with retro gems (14 Teviot Pl, 64 Clerk St), while the Great Grog Bottle Shop (2 Dalkeith Rd) and Jordan Valley (8 Nicolson St) are must-stops for foodies.

Edinburgh City Guide

There’s not a ton of shopping to be found in the Southside, but there are a few cute indie places worth poking your head in en route to the next cafe. Edinburgh’s radical, queer bookshop Lighthouse Books (43 W Nicolson St) is a veritable haven of excellent reads and community spirit. Five minutes away is Tills Bookshop (1 Hope Park Cres), with a great secondhand collection that

27 The Meadows

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West End Once you look beyond its big banks and hotels, dominating office blocks, seemingly constant building work, busy roads and commuter train station at Haymarket, the West End has an awful lot going for it. From its theatres, arthouse cinema and celebrated concert venues, to the National Gallery of Modern Art in the picturesque Dean Village, there’s also an abundance of excellent coffee shops, bakeries, bars and restaurants waiting to be explored. All this makes the West End perfect for a big day out in the capital.

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Photo: Sally Price

West End

Drinks

n the shadow of Edinburgh Castle you’ll find a proper boozer in the Blue Blazer (2 Spittal St) with rotating cask ales and an impressive rum selection. For country pub vibes, head to Teuchters (26 William St). Offering up traditional Scottish fare in mugs, their cask ales are only one-upped by their single malt whisky selection; play the Hoop of Destiny (booze hoopla!) to be in with a chance of winning a rare nip. Craft beer fans should avoid the chains and wannabe punks and head instead to The Hanging Bat (133 Lothian Rd), or the Innis & Gunn Brewery Taproom (81-83 Lothian Rd); gin lovers should go to The Jolly Botanist (256-260 Morrison St) or the tasting tour at the Edinburgh Gin Distillery (1A Rutland Pl), and for grown-up cocktails with an Italian twist try Hey Palu (49 Bread St). Edinburgh’s coffee culture is exemplary, and you’ll find some of the best cups in the West End. A few minutes from Princes Street, Cairngorm (1 Melville Pl) is a must for a batch brew (aka filter coffee), while near the Edinburgh College of Art, you’ll get a wicked on-the-go coffee from Brew’d (4 Spittal St). The sweet-toothed will want to try Tasty Buns (67 Bread St) for their cake within a cake within a cake creations

THE SKINNY

Photo: Lovecrumbs Lovecrumbs

Nice Times Bakery

(imagine a turducken, but with baked goods!). And the OG coffee and cake hangout in the area Lovecrumbs (155 West Port) is a charming space decked out in mismatched furniture and gorgeous cake-filled armoires. Just down the road you’ll find their sister cafe, the stylish Nice Times Bakery (147 Morrison St), while near Haymarket be sure to visit new kid on the block, Little Collingwood (10 Haymarket Ter). Run by the team behind Abbeyhill’s Little Fitzroy, flat whites and vegan bakes are all served out of a teeny tiny hatch in the excellent Stag Barber hairdressers.

Food

ome of our favourite eateries can be found in the West End too. Specialising in Syrian and Levantine cuisine, the shawerma and mana’eesh (Palestinan flatbread) at Taza in Town (69 Bread St) are unreal, as is their veggie meal for two. You’ll find American-style burgers at Bread Meats Bread (92 Lothian Rd), Thai street food at Ting Thai Caravan (55-57 Lothian Rd), fragrant bowls of pho at Vietnam House (1-3 Grove St), Greek gyros at Ola Kala (202 Morrison St), Punjabi cuisine at Omar Khayyam (1 Grosvenor St), and authentic Mexican food at Taco Libre (3 Shandwick Pl).

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Photo: Micheile

West End Edinburgh City Guide 31 Dean Village

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West End

For a slightly more high-end dining experience try the five-course tasting menu at Timberyard (10 Lady Lawson St), and for the best takeaway breakfast in the city grab a morning roll with homemade tattie scones from Preacher’s (24-26 Lady Lawson St). For artisan bread, head to the weekend market at award-winning wholesale bakery Company Bakery (5 Devon Pl).

Indie shops

ne of the best record shops in the city can be found in the West End. With an excellent section devoted to Scottish artists and passionate knowledgeable staff, make sure you leave town with a musical souvenir from Assai Records (1 Grindlay St). Book lovers should visit Edinburgh Books (145 West Port) with its shelves stacked high with rare and second-hand books, while cute stationers and gift shop Paper Tiger have two shops in the area (6a Stafford St; 53 Lothian Road).

Things to do

een art lovers will want to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art (73 Belford Rd); set aside plenty of time to explore its surrounding sculpture park which features works by Henry Moore and Scottish-Italian Eduardo Paolozzi, as well as Charles Jencks’ breathtaking landform. While you’re in the area be sure to have a Photo: Assai Edinburgh

THE SKINNY

Timberyard

proper wander around Dean Village, a former grain milling village on the Water of Leith. Cinephiles will want to take in a movie at the Filmhouse (88 Lothian Rd) while in town, and if you’re here from 18-25 August check out the Edinburgh International Film Festival programme (more on p66). Across the road from the Filmhouse is the grand Usher Hall which over the years has hosted everyone from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to The Flaming Lips. It’s been running as a COVID-19 test centre for most of the past year, but from the end of August gigs are back, with Teenage Fanclub (14 Sep), Belle & Sebastian (1 Feb 2022) and Lorde (26 May 2022) set to play in the coming months. Flanked by a theatre on either side – Traverse Theatre (10 Cambridge St) and The Lyceum (30b Grindlay St) – it’s a great part of town to soak up some culture.

Leave the city

f the excitement of the West End is all too much for you, or you just fancy getting out of Edinburgh for the day, then jump on a train from Haymarket to Glasgow’s Buchanan Street station and you’ll be there in approximately 40 minutes. Yes, it’s that close. Alternatively, take the train to North Queensferry, walk over the original Forth Road Bridge and have lunch in Port Edgar; spend the rest of your afternoon in South Queensferry (a town famous for ‘The Loony Dook’ where people (see: lunatics) throw themselves in the Firth of Forth on New Year’s Day) before heading back to the city. To visit Edinburgh’s sculpture park, Jupiter Artland, board the X27 bus from the West End exchange.

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Tollcross, Bruntsfield & Marchmont

Edinburgh City Guide

One of Edinburgh’s most charming and confusing characteristics is the smallness of its neighbourhoods – if you’re a couple of streets wide and you’ve got character, you get your own name. Hence this Bruntsfield/ Tollcross/Marchmont hybrid: it’s the size of a regular city’s neighbourhood, but each area has its own distinct vibe and community. Tollcross’ vibrant intersection is filled with independent cafes and excellent charity shops, but climb a few minutes up the hill to Bruntsfield and the tenements immediately get fancier, the brunch spots more refined. Marchmont, meanwhile, is the perfect marriage between the two: a deceptively quiet area filled with young students and unexpectedly quirky boutiques. What the three share, however, is an intensely local feel: this is where people live and work and hang out, and there’s very little better for getting a sense of everyday Edinburgh life.

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Tollcross, Bruntsfield & Marchmont

Photo: The Blackbird The Blackbird

Food and drink rougham Street is the food hub of Tollcross: you can pick up literal mounds of noodles from Thailander (no. 25) for less than a tenner, or for a tiny bit more at Ong Gie (no. 22a), grab homemade pizza in the eclectic living room vibes of Peanut Press (no. 24), or get stuck into some of the realest Greek food in Edinburgh at charming taverna Taxidi (no. 6). For Asian food made practically in front of you, head to Dumplings of China (60 Home St), Korean BBQ (3 Tarvit St) or sushi at Yamato (11 Lochrin Ter). Walk up to Bruntsfield for a fancier vibe: there’s fine dining and wine at Decanter (183 Bruntsfield Pl) and well-crafted Japanese cuisine at the laidback Harajuku Kitchen (10 Gillespie Pl). And for an inescapably neighbourhood vibe, Three Birds (3 Viewforth) is tucked at the bottom of a tenement building and offers a rotating seasonal menu of creative Scottish dishes. Tollcross isn’t exactly nightlife central (except for ATIK which... beware, all who enter), but there are a few chill drinking holes. Cloisters Bar (26 Brougham St) is just like your regular pub, except it’s located in the cobbled former cloister of the church next door, while The Ventoux (2 Brougham St) is the perfect place to duck into after a meal at one of Brougham Street’s many eateries.

Indie shops

ollcross/Bruntsfield/Marchmont is one of the best areas in Edinburgh for off-beat boutiques and local, independent designers. Lupe Pintos (24 Leven St) keeps the local area wellstocked with hard to find Mexican and North and Central American ingredients, from incredibly specific hot sauces to a large bin filled with corn tortillas and tacos. There’s more foodie Image: Don't Tell Mama

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Located almost opposite each other, Bennets (8 Leven St) has a dark wood, dark academia vibe, while The Blackbird (37 Leven St) offers a creative cocktail menu inspired by the odd book or two. And for the daytime hours, you’re spoilt for choice for cafes: the tiny KONJ Cafe (67 Home St) serves utterly authentic, home-cooked Persian food including aromatic Persian tea and handmade treats; Don’t Tell Mama (64 Home St) has a great coffee selection and a long bar perfect for checking emails or staring out at Tollcross, and Seven Neighbourhood Cafe (7 Home St) does quite possibly the best all-day breakfast going, catering for vegans and carnivores alike. And finally, for the coffee snobs (sorry, connoisseurs), there’s nowhere better in the city than Machina Espresso (2 Brougham Pl) and Artisan Roast (138 Bruntsfield Pl), both of whom roast and blend their own coffee.

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Bruntsfield is an eclectic gallery filled with prints and unique tchotchkes made by local artists, while Curiouser & Curiouser (106 Bruntsfield Pl) has an ever-rotating collection of prints, cards, candles, and carefully curated coffee table books. Finally, if you’re on the hunt for something a little more practical, Snapdragon (146 Bruntsfield Pl) is a dinky plant shop filled with fresh and dried bouquets and hardy little potted plants perfect as gifts or for squirrelling away in your own home. Indie bookshop Edinburgh Books (219 Bruntsfield Pl) has a great selection that belies its size, including an array of children’s and picture books, while for the music fiends, Greenhouse Records (10 Barclay Ter) and Ilium (100 Marchmont Cres) are both a great stopping point: the latter opened over the pandemic and stocks cool clothing, locally roasted coffee, and both classic and contemporary vinyl.

Tollcross, Bruntsfield & Marchmont

treats up the road in Morningside at I.J. Mellis (330 Morningside Rd), just one of several of the local cheesemonger’s branches dotted around Edinburgh, plus thoughtful gift ideas at chocolatier Edwin and Irwyn (416 Morningside Rd) and wine specialists Drinkmonger (11 Bruntsfield Pl). For the artistically inclined, Edinburgh Art Shop (129 Lauriston Pl) has everything you could possibly need for capturing the beauty of the cityscape around you, from charcoal sticks and luxurious sketchbooks for a quick doodle, to clay and screenprinting materials if you’re feeling extra inspired. More on the experience side of things is Doodles (27 Marchmont Cres), a paint-your-own ceramics workshop with a delightful primary school studio vibe: you do the painting, they’ll do the firing and finishing. Prefer looking at art to making it? The delightfully named Flamingosaurus Rex (22 Bruntsfield Pl) up towards

Image: Rachael Hood Arthur's Seat from Blackford Hill

Things to do

Edinburgh City Guide

his really is a local’s area and, as such, there aren’t many tourist attractions. However, there are some unmissable local activities to feel part of the in-crowd. Blackford Hill and the surrounding Hermitage of Braid nature reserve offer some of the best views of Edinburgh (including of Arthur’s Seat). For damper days, try Cameo (38 Home St) and Dominion (18 Newbattle Ter)

cinemas: both are housed atmospherically in renovated theatres but the Dominion has the extra advantage of being independent and featuring squishy sofas instead of the usual seats. And finally, for something extra weird, check out Wild West (off Springvalley Gdns), a 1990s advertising gimmick which has left an entire side street in affluent Morningside looking like a Sergio Leone set.

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Gorgie, Dalry & Fountainbridge

Edinburgh City Guide

This part of town has seen big changes in the past ten or 15 years. Fountainbridge’s old industrial buildings have been replaced with new hotels and student housing, while Dalry and Gorgie are slowly feeling the pinch from leafy Bruntsfield and some big-money developments in the West End. Still, these are primarily working-class parts of town, serving diaspora communities from across Europe, Asia and Africa with shops, cafes, barbers, bars and restaurants. There’s great food and drink to be found, plenty of access to green spaces of a variety of shapes and sizes, and a surprising amount of wildlife on hand.

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Gorgie, Dalry & Fountainbridge

Go outdoors

Food & drink

ur Gorgie/Dalry/Fountainbridge zone is encircled by green spaces, nice walks and outdoor spots. The Union Canal starts at Fountainbridge and goes west through some leafy, bucolic scenery. It is also a major bike route, so watch out. Continue far enough and you can join the breathtaking Water of Leith path south to Colinton and Balerno, or north through the Dean Village, Stockbridge and on to Leith. In terms of parks, you’re spoiled for choice. Harrison Park is a wellkept neighbourhood park that stays sunny past 10pm in the summer nights; Saughton Park has a beautifully restored rose garden, an on-site restaurant, a vast playpark and a much-loved skate park; Colinton Dell is a bumpy, lumpy forest with Scotland’s largest mural in its historic railway tunnel. If you’ve got a bike or just really love walking, head onto the cycle path at Russell Road – you can get within touching distance of the Modern Art, Inverleith Park, Stockbridge and The Shore within 30 minutes. It’s an old railway line, so it’s well-paved, decently lit and relatively flat by Edinburgh standards. Alternatively, turn off at Craigleith and head for the waterfront at Cramond – time it right, and you might even be able to visit Cramond Island.

alry Road is home to the best pizza in the city. In fact, Pizzeria 1926 (85 Dalry Rd) might be one of the best pizza places in the country. It’s the full Neapolitan experience, from the pizzas (cooked to puffed-up, sloppy perfection in an enormous domed oven) to the ambience (bright dining room, friendly staff, innumerable references to Diego Maradona). Simple but brilliant, and highly recommended. While you’re here, check out its sister venues: Locanda de Gusti (102 Dalry Rd) brings the seafood side of Naples’ food culture, while Wine & Peach (91 Dalry Rd) offers Mediterranean small plates and cocktails. There’s also a diverse range of Asian cuisines to be found, from Japanese classics at Maki & Ramen (97 Fountainbridge) to northern Chinese specialities at Wing Sing Inn (147 Dundee St), traditional Cantonese dishes at B&D’s Kitchen (214 Dalry Rd) to the anything-goes hot pot of Xiangbala (63 Dalry Rd). For a drink, you can’t go wrong at the Athletic Arms (1 Angle Park Terrace). It’s a classic old-school pub with a regularly-rotating cask ale list, as well as an extensive whisky selection. Gastropub fans should head to The Caley Sample Room (42 Angle Park Terrace) and The Fountain (131 Dundee St), or if you’re feeling fancy, visit Rooftop 51 (2 Freer Gait) on top of the new Moxy hotel in

THE SKINNY

Photo: Tallah Brash

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North Merchiston Club, Harrison Park

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Image: Grow Urban Grow Urban

Gorgie, Dalry & Fountainbridge

Image: Maki & Ramen Maki & Ramen

Fountainbridge or hop on a bus to Corstorphine for exciting wines at Little Rascal (113D St John’s Rd). Hula (94A Fountainbridge) serves up great breakfast options and excellent coffee in a space best described as ‘tropical neon explosion chic’. Grow Urban (92 Grove St) is a fantastic independent plant shop that doubles as a takeaway coffee spot – come for a flat white, leave with a Ficus. The Beer Cave (43 Dalry Rd) is a well-stocked indie bottle shop with a broad range from local breweries and those from further afield.

reach Edinburgh Park, where the Edinburgh International Festival hosts its contemporary music programme this August in a purpose-built outdoor marquee. After 18 months without live music, the line-up is a humdinger: gigs from Anna Meredith, black midi, Caribou, Laura Mvula and Floating Points are just a fraction of what’s in store. Find out more on p68. You’re on the right side of town for Edinburgh Zoo (134 Corstorphine Rd), with its exotic fauna, delightful landscaping, and penguins who literally strut around like they own the place. But for somewhere with a more laid back feel, we recommend Love Things to do Gorgie Farm (51 Gorgie Rd). dinburgh Printmakers (1 Dundee Run by a mix of staff and St) moved to this neck of the woods volunteers, there’s a real community in 2019, breathing new life into a atmosphere to Love Gorgie Farm, former rubber works. Away from the which has been around in one form or print studios of the title, you’ll find two another for decades and is home to a gallery spaces, a cafe whose outside surprising range of animals in its seating area is a proper suntrap, and a warren-like layout. Feed the goats, pretty nifty gift shop. At time of writing watch the alpacas ambling about, get it’s shut to the public, but keep an eye a close-up peek at some prehistoron their social media accounts for ic-looking turkeys; it’s a menagerie reopening details. that Dr Doolittle would be proud of. Keep heading west and you’ll hit Open daily, free entry, donations are the Edinburgh Corn Exchange (11 New welcome. The Farm is, of course, Market Rd), semi-regular host of live open-air; if the weather won’t play ball, gigs and some of the larger stand-up get into some animatronic wildlife at comedy shows at the Edinburgh the dinosaur-themed indoor mini-golf Fringe. Head even further and you’ll of Volcano Falls (Fountainbridge).

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If you head north downhill through the New Town, you will eventually come to Stockbridge and Canonmills, residential areas with a bit of a village vibe featuring a startling number of charity shops. Running between them is the Water of Leith, the scenic waterway that flows from its source in the Pentland Hills to the port of Leith via the eponymous bridge. From Stockbridge, follow it past neoclassical folly St Bernard’s Well, through Dean Village to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. From Canonmills, it will take you to Leith, past allotments and through parks, part of the north Edinburgh cycle network following the old train lines. To get to Stockbridge from town, take the 8 Lothian bus to Muirhouse or the 23 or 27 headed to Trinity; from Leith, take the 36 Lothian bus heading to the Gyle.

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Photo: Micheile

Stockbridge & Canonmills

Photo: Micheile

Stockbridge & Canonmills

Circus Lane

Go outdoors

Drinks

Photo: Micheile

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

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tockbridge is home to a few top-class traditional pubs. On St Stephen St, The Antiquary (72 St Stephen St), locally referred to as the Tic, is a basement pub of the real ale, Sunday roasts and board games variety. At the end of the street, The Bailie (2 St Stephen St) is an unreconstructed boozer which serves hearty pub food. At the other end, St Vincent (11 St Vincent St) offers a dark and cosy Scottish pub with an extensive menu of burgers, wings and delicious drinks. If it’s wine bars you’re after, you will find a couple of gems here. Good Brothers Wine Bar (4 Dean St) have a carefully curated list, served with a small plates menu centring local produce. Cheese and wine specialists Smith & Gertrude (26 Hamilton Pl) will provide you with wine flights and paired cheeses, for an exceptionally fancy time. Round the corner and over the bridge, Hector’s (47-49 Deanhaugh St) offer a contemporary pub environment with a menu of well-made classics. Over the road, The Stockbridge Tap (2-6 Raeburn Pl) similarly offers a refurbed traditional pub with an extensive selection of… taps. Back on St Stephen St, The Last Word Saloon (44 St Stephen St) serves a

Good Brothers

Edinburgh City Guide

tockbridge is home to Inverleith Park, a vast expanse with a playpark, pond (including a family of swans), tennis courts, rugby pitch, allotments and bowling club. Canonmills is also well served with outdoor space, and features some of Edinburgh’s best small parks. George V Park is self-contained, and has separate playparks for under 5s and older kids, as well as a basketball court and built-in table tennis table. St Mark’s Park features an Antony Gormley sculpture in the middle of the river, and a community woods commonly filled with dens left over from local forest school adventures. Follow the path down and you will reach a weir, home to some of the city’s most aggressive ducks. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Arboretum Pl) is another wonderful green space to explore. It’s a place for scientific study and conservation, but also a free-to-enter garden (although booking is essential during COVID times). There are exhibition spaces, a cafe and a restaurant; the Botanics are also home to some squirrels, and a more pleasant flock of ducks than the St Mark’s bunch.

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Stockbridge & Canonmills

The Last Word Saloon

sophisticated take on classic cocktails in a dark and cosy basement. Over in Canonmills, One Canonmills is a light and airy corner bar with a focus on craft beer served alongside a street food-inspired menu. Clark’s Bar (142 Dundas St) has a traditional interior with craft beer on tap and a small plates menu. If you’re looking for coffee, you’ve come to the right place. Body swerve the Caffe Nero and Costa, and head straight for Fortitude (66 Hamilton Pl), Cowan & Sons (33 Raeburn Pl) or Artisan Roast (100a Raeburn Pl). In Canonmills, The Bearded Baker (46 Rodney St) and Hata (5 Rodney St) will both sort you out with coffee and baked goods.

Food irst off, Stockbridge bloody loves a cake shop. The selection at The Pastry Section (86 Raeburn Pl) is incredible, from delicate lemon meringue pies to Persian love cakes, or check out La Barantine (27b Raeburn Pl) for French patisserie and Söderberg (3 Deanhaugh St) for Scandinavian-style pastry. Grams (68 Hamilton Pl) focus on vegan, gluten-free or high-protein bakes, and for a savoury snack check out family-run Italian joint Cafe Gallo (96 Raeburn Pl). For sit-in, The Pantry (1 NW Circus Pl) has excellent brunch and lunch options, while Nok’s Kitchen (8 Gloucester St) serves up some of the city’s best Thai food. St Stephen St is home to a series of small but perfectly-formed restaurants; Kenji (no. 42) provides fast, reasonably priced Japanese food, local institution Bell’s Diner (no. 7) serves burgers some claim to be the city’s finest, and Kim’s Bulgogi (no. 11) offer quick Korean classics.

Indie shops

or all the delicious cheese you could desire, check out I.J. Mellis (6 Bakers Pl) or George Mewes (3 Dean Park St). For drinks, visit Vino (26 NW Circus Pl) or newly opened Winekraft (6 Brandon Ter) in Canonmills. The Beerhive (24 Rodney St) is a much-loved beer and wine shop stocked with interesting local and international cans. An Independent Zebra (88 Raeburn Pl) sells work by local small design businesses, and Caoba (56 Raeburn Pl) is jam-packed with brightly coloured Mexican homewares. On St Stephen St, Golden Hare (no. 68) is a cosy bookshop with a perfectly selected range, while Ginger and Pickles (no. 51) focus on beautiful children’s books, and Voxbox (no. 21) sell a carefully curated selection of new and used vinyl. In Canonmills, Duncan & Reid Antiques (5 Tanfield) are a treasure trove of curios. The charity shops have a lot of good stuff, the local residents being relatively affluent. Specialist Oxfam Music and Books shops are particular stand outs, as are the Bethany and Shelter stores. Stockbridge Market (Saunders St) runs every Sunday, featuring a wide range of artisanal foodstuffs and wares.

I.J. Mellis

Photo: Cameron Gibson

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Novapizza (42 Howe St) in Canonmills serve up delicious vegan pizza, or if it’s meat you’re after The Smiddy BBQ (22 Dunedin St) will provide you with an array of Texas-style barbecue, slow cooked meats and sides.

44 Water of Leith

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Abbeyhill Taking its name from the nearby ruins of Holyrood Abbey, Abbeyhill is one of the oldest parts of the capital. A mostly residential area made up of classic Edinburgh tenement flats, you’ll also find the super quaint Abbeyhill colonies here. The colonies are perhaps now best known for the annual Colony of Artists festival where locals turn their homes into mini exhibition spaces, opening them up to the general public each September. Casting the net a little wider, our Abbeyhill section borders the New Town – where you’ll find the start of the city’s main LGBTQI+ thoroughfare – and the boundary of Leith, halfway down Leith Walk.

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Abbeyhill

Photo: Alex Azabache The Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat

Image: Collective

Radical Road. Plan your day wisely and you’ll have time for a pub lunch, a pint and a game of skittles at The Sheep Heid Inn (43 The Causeway). Excellent views can also be taken in from atop Calton Hill, one of the easier hills in the city to climb with both step and path access available. Modelled on the Parthenon in Athens, once you hit the summit be sure to laugh hard at the National Monument of Scotland, aka ‘Edinburgh’s Disgrace’. It will forever remain unfinished due to the money running out during its construction almost 200 years ago. In the former City Observatory you’ll find the gorgeous Collective, a key Edinburgh Art Festival venue since moving into the building several years back. Calton Hill is also home to two seasonal fire festivals – Beltane and Samhuinn. If you just want a quiet park where you can sit on a bench, read a book, eat a sandwich and enjoy a cold can, Regent Road Park is the best in the area, complete with a knockout view of the Salisbury Crags. Fun fact: Abbeyhill was the site of the first ever hot air balloon flight in the UK in 1784.

Food

s well as sharing its name with the home of Hibernian football club (aka Hibs or The Hibees), Easter Road is a great place to head for a coffee or quick bite. The fresh focaccia Collective sandwiches stuffed with melt-in-themouth mortadella, peppery salami or Go outdoors artichoke pesto from Polentoni (no. 38) are worth walking across town for. t’s not often you find an easily A few doors down you’ll find climbable extinct volcano (!) in the middle of a city (!!!), but, well, welcome Australian-inspired coffee locale Little Fitzroy (no. 46), with their expertto Edinburgh and its iconic Arthur’s ly-made coffees, sandwiches, and Seat. Set in the grounds of Holyrood well-stocked cake counter; there’s Park, you’ll want to set aside most of a day to properly explore the city’s biggest plenty of vegan options too. Go the other way and you’ll find the ‘bakery green space, and its highest peak. As and provisions’ outpost of Twelve well as the lion-like Seat, the park also Triangles (no. 22) where you can pick boasts the ruins of a 15th century up some local produce alongside your chapel, three lochs and the impressive long black and pastry. Salisbury Crags, accessed via the

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Abbeyhill

Drinks

meat, cheese and wine haven is Scotland’s oldest delicatessen and Italian wine merchant. Indie books and typewriter maintenance are the name of the game at the quaint Typewronger Books (4a Haddington Pl); second-hand record shop Vinyl Villains (5 Elm Row) will likely help plug some gaps in your record collection; if you’re around on the second or last Sunday of the month, head to INK Market at Ltd Ink Corporation (77 Brunswick St) to shop all things bric-a-brac, vintage clothing, antiques, food and drink. Photo: Tallah Brash

More sweet treats, like rich ricotta-filled cannoli, can be found at the family-run Sicilian Pastry Shop (14 Albert St). If you’re after something more substantial, you’ll find delicious tacos at Bodega (14 Albert Pl), and the best poutine in the city at Canadianstyle diner Down the Hatch (13 Antigua St). For a dining experience with a difference, try the seasonal set plates at The Gardener’s Cottage (1 London Rd). And if you can get in, Roberta Hall’s award-winning cuisine at The Little Chartroom (30 Albert Pl) is a must before it moves to Leith. When it does, this space will become eleanore – run by two chefs from the Chartroom’s Portobello beach spot.

Down the Hatch

Photo: Tallah Brash

f you fancy a proper pint as well as some great food, the beer garden and taproom at The Bellfield Brewery (46 Stanley Pl) is a no-brainer. The neighbouring Safari Lounge (21 Cadzow Pl), with its kitsch animal print decor, pull a great pint too; their tacos, French fries with jungle sauce and mussel popcorn are all *chef kiss*. The shabby chic Joseph Pearce and ‘proper pub’ vibe of The Windsor (23, 45 Elm Row) are popular with the locals too, as is The Tourmalet (25 Buchanan St), a loosely Tour de France-themed bar offering a vast selection of German beers. At the top of the Walk you’ll find the start of an area lovingly referred to as the ‘Pink Triangle’, devoted to LGBTQI+ bars, clubs and restaurants – head to CC Blooms (23 Greenside Pl) for their drag nights.

Indie shops e sure to plan ahead for after the bars close and pop into the well-stocked Cornelius (18 Easter Rd) for some local beers or SPRY Wines (1 Haddington Pl) for some natural wines. Valvona & Crolla (19 Elm Row) is also a must. Founded in 1934 this cured

Edinburgh City Guide

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Leith Something happens when you wander north from Edinburgh’s city centre towards the Firth of Forth. During that short walk down Leith Walk, you enter a sparkier part of town that feels a million miles away from the Old Town’s tartan shops and the New Town’s cocktail lounges. Leith is distinct from Edinburgh, but within the borough itself there are mini-districts with their own vibes and character. Leith Walk and Great Junction Street are bustling thoroughfares spilling over with specialist grocery shops and restaurants that reflect the diverse communities from every corner of the world who have made their home here. The old port, meanwhile, is home to new luxury apartments, the Ocean Terminal shopping complex and the Queen’s ‘floating residence’, The Royal Yacht Britannia.

THE SKINNY

Sandwiched between these two areas is The Shore, where you’ll find a plethora of fine pubs and restaurants overlooking the mouth of the Water of Leith. From there, it’s a short walk to Newhaven, which has its own distinct flavour. There’s plenty of lush green space too, a charming beach nearby and some of the prettiest walks in the city.

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Leith

Photo: Bayo Adegunloye The Shore

Go outdoors

eith Links and Pilrig Park provide leafy escapes from the busy thoroughfares, while South Leith Parish Kirk has a gorgeous 18th-century kirkyard teeming with a prodigious family of squirrels. If aquatic views are more your thing, Wardie Bay is home to a lovely little beach popular with wild swimmers, and the path along the Water of Leith allows for a serene perambulation through the northwest of the city. And if you’re feeling adventurous, jump on a bike and make your way to the lovely village of Cramond.

Food

Food on the go

ew to Leith is Bundits (48 Constitution St), a pop-up turned permanent fixture serving smooth, fluffy bao buns with incredible Asian-inspired fillings – the Korean fried chicken is knockout. Street food of a Venezuelan flavour is served up at

Edinburgh City Guide

eith boasts loads of great eateries where you can leave with change from a tenner and still be satisfied. Razzo (59 Great Jct St) should be your go-to for astonishing Napoletana-style pizza, although you’ll also find delicious, authentic pies at Origano and La Favorita (236, 325 Leith Walk). Sticking with Italian, Cafe Domenico’s (30 Sandport St) is a lovely, old-school macaroni and gravy joint with checkered tablecloths, an intimate atmosphere and a reassuringly small menu.

It also serves massive sandwiches, but even they don’t rival the hefty pieces from the heaven-sent Alby’s (8 Portland Ter). Our favourite Indian restaurant down this way is the grill-specialist Desi Pakwan (61 Leith Walk). Here you’ll find flavourful on-the-bone curries and tender tandoori served in a welcoming atmosphere which is especially mouthwatering thanks to the aromas coming from the open kitchen. You’ll find a similarly low-key vibe at STACK (42 Dalmeny St), a tiny spot serving up wildly tasty dim sum. Borough (50-54 Henderson St) is an unpretentious family-run restaurant serving up sophisticated contemporary Scottish set menus with a focus on local ingredients. They pivoted to pie delivery during lockdown, which must be applauded.

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Leith

Orinoco (281 Leith Walk), where the comforting arepas are huge and packed with flavour. Right next door you have an absolute Leith institution: Storries (279 Leith Walk), a no-nonsense bakery whose delicious (and ridiculously inexpensive) Scotch pies have kept Leithers well-fed for decades. Institution status is also apt for The Fishmarket (23A Pier Pl), the legendary chippy in Newhaven that’s so good the council are building a tram network to its door. And if you want to polish off any of the above with some gelato, head to Crolla’s (1 The Shore), a late-night gelateria serving traditional (and some not so traditional) Italian ice-creams and desserts.

Drinks

THE SKINNY

Photo: Graham Tait

ou’ll probably be looking to wash all that delicious food down with a few pints, and that’s where Leith really comes into its own. Whether it’s an old-school boozer, elegant wine bar or snazzy cocktail joint you seek, this part of town has you covered. The Port O’ Leith (58 Constitution St) is a local landmark and always lively, as is The Mousetrap (180 Leith Walk), which in normal times is one of the last pubs in the area to call last orders. The vibe is more relaxed at The Lioness of Leith (21 Duke St) and Leith Depot (138 Leith Walk). The latter is much-loved, not least for being the last hold-out on a block of real estate whose avaristic owners would like to tear it down to build money-making student accommodation. Teuchters Landing (1c Dock Pl), as well as having a great name, is a warren-like drinking den that’s wonderfully cosy in the winter while its terrace overlooking the docks is much-coveted on finer days. Straddling Leith and Newhaven is Dreadnought (72 N Fort St), another no-nonsense boozer with a great beer selection and plenty of space for drinking outside. There’s atmosphere aplenty too at the small but perfectly formed Carriers Quarters (42 Bernard St). A relatively new addition to the Leith bar scene is Abode (229 Leith Walk). Past the inviting white and millennial pink exterior you’ll find a chic bar with a sharply curated wine, beer and spirit menu and life-giving cheese boards. We’re also keen on the dreamy Smoke & Mirrors (159 Constitution St). Through its fairy-light arch entrance, there’s an intimate bar bursting with character and great Alby's

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Image: Borough

Network that runs from Newhaven to Balerno, it’s the perfect first stop for a day of gallery hopping or cycling. Leith

Indie shops and markets

Image: The Pitt The Pitt

Edinburgh City Guide

eets (49 Bernard St) is the neighbourhood’s essential stop off for wines, spirits and an impressive craft beer selection. Crate diggers, meanwhile, should find their pick in Elvis Shakespeare (347 Leith Walk) and Good Vibes Records and Books (Constitution St). And among the high street chains of Ocean Terminal you’ll find an indie spirit alive in the form of The Leith Collective, a retail space home to dozens of local artists all working together to promote their work and support the local community. Leith is also home to some of Pigeon and beets at Borough Edinburgh’s best food markets. The cocktails. Speaking of cocktails, you’d recently-opened Leith Arches (6 be hard-pressed to find a more exciting Manderston St) is already a firm selection than the menu at Nauticus favourite thanks to its mix of tasty street (142 Duke St), where every concoction food and craft beer. Still king of Leith’s has a link to Leith’s rich history as a street food scene, however, is The Pitt trading hub. (125 Pitt St), thanks to its rotating Of course, it may be an espresso network of Scotland’s best indie food hit you’re after. Leith is littered with vendors and the industrial chic of its great cafes to while the afternoon back alley location. Newer to the game away with a book or to caffeinate is The Biscuit Factory (4 Anderson Pl), ahead of a busy day. First point of call which recently opened its permanent should be The Hideout (40 Queen Lane Bar. And every Saturday, get Charlotte St) – inside you’ll find a cosy yourself down to Leith Market (Dock Pl) room dressed in vintage furniture with for some sizzling street food and scotch tasty coffee, scrumptious cakes and a eggs the size of your head. first-class breakfast game. More utilitarian in style is Williams and Johnson (Custom Lane, 1 Custom Wharf), all sleek concrete and streamline furnishing. There’s nothing simple about its coffee, though, which is rich and delicious – the space also houses a small gallery at the back. Similarly styled is the brilliant Milk (Hawthornvale). Adjoined to Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and situated at the foot of Edinburgh’s Old Railway Path

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Portobello

THE SKINNY

Three miles east of the city centre, Portobello is ideal if you want a break from the wet medieval stone of the Old Town. It all centres on the beach – a two-mile stretch that’s not always great for swimming, but perfect for lounging about with a book and a coffee. The beachfront promenade is a lively mix of food, drinks, amusement arcades, families, dogs and cyclists (so keep your head on a swivel). There’s also a healthy high street dotted with indie shops and eateries, and some very good pubs for when the rain inevitably comes on.

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Food and drink

fiction, and regularly hosts readings and events in-person and online. own on the beach you’ll find a If you’re feeling a bit peckish, pastel pink outpost of Civerinos Aemilia’s homemade fresh pasta was a Slice, serving up slices so big that the big hit of the 2020 lockdown; they wind might genuinely take them out of regularly sell out early at their new your hands. Just next door is The Little permanent home at the other end of Chartroom on the Prom, who bring the High Street, so get down early if flashes of restaurant flair to their you’re keen for some ravioli. Looking beachfront trailer. Incredible flavour for a memento of your trip that you can and texture combinations abound, drink on the train home? Beer Zoo is with an inventive and one of the city’s very best bottle exciting menu that shops, with incredibly knowledgeable changes every few staff and a wide selection that weeks but focuses on includes beers and spirits from a host seasonal veg and of local breweries and distilleries. And if you want a bit of a break meat, as well as a from the sand and the waves, look out healthy amount of seafood and what we’ll for the latest from Art Walk Porty, which has in recent years grown from call ‘lovely charred things’. One of the best an annual celebration of the area’s artists into a multi-faceted programme dining experiences of events and residencies. Their Art Bross Bagels anywhere in the city, Houses event (4-12 Sep) will offer local regardless of how artists the chance to open up their much sand you’ll get in your mouth. studios, homes and gardens, while Weekends bring the Little Green Van AWP’s ongoing Assemble programme to the beach, serving up takeaway espresso by Edinburgh roasteries, and continues until October 2021. The Porty The Espy is a great beachfront bar for Light Box is a decommissioned phone box on the corner of Bellfield Street a pint and a gaze out to the water. and the High Street that’s been taken Over on the High Street, The on as a gallery space for the local Skylark and the Portobello Tap serve community; it’s well worth swinging by up tasty drinks in relaxed settings, and seeing what’s in the windows. while recent newcomer Tanifiki is the place to relax with a coffee. There are branches of the oft-mentioned Twelve Triangles and Bross Bagels if you’re in the mood for pastry/holed bread, and, because it’s the seaside, we need to shout out one of the city’s best chip shops. St Andrews Takeaway, we salute you.

Portobello

Photo: Alice Meikle

Photo: Tallah Brash

Things to Do f after reading that first paragraph you’ve realised you don’t have any beach-friendly reading material with you, don’t panic! The Portobello Bookshop is here to help! The independent bookshop, which opened in 2019, has a bit of everything from local indie magazines to genre-busting

Takeaway pint from The Espy

Edinburgh City Guide

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Portobello

Photo: Rachael Hood Bass Rock, North Berwick

Getting There, and Going Further Afield

EastCoastBus from the city centre passes through Porty on its way to Gullane and North Berwick. The former ne of the best ways to get to is home to a beautiful, sprawling sandy Portobello from the city is by beach with some of the best water cycling. Just Eat Bikes are £1.50 for an quality around; the latter is a charming hour, with a drop-off point at the north seaside town with the sea to paddle in, end of the promenade. Pay through the shops to peruse, and a large hill app, pick up your bike from one of the (Berwick Law) to climb should the stations on The Meadows, head mood take you. It’s around 75 minutes towards the police station at Sciennes, from central Edinburgh to Gullane, then then it’s off-street cycle paths the rest another quarter-hour to North Berwick; of the way. Alternatively, use Lothian you can also get to North Berwick in 35 Buses to get there – the 21 goes from minutes via hourly Scotrail trains from Leith, the 26 from Princes St or the Waverley. The water at the nearby West End, the 42 from the New Town Yellowcraig Beach is great for wild or the 49 from the Southside. £1.80 swimming, while the best waves around each way, pay using contactless, wear can be found at Dunbar, a hub of a mask on board. activity for surfers, paddleboarders and If you *do* fancy a swim, the other wetsuited enthusiasts. It’s around beaches of East Lothian are closer than half an hour on the train with either you might think. In fact, the 124 Scotrail or CrossCountry.

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Once you’ve explored the centre, venture outside the city limits to find beaches, mountains and the cities and towns of Scotland within easy reach

Daytripping

Photo: Ilya Ilford

Words: Laurie Presswood

Edinburgh City Guide

V&A Dundee

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Daytripping

rom its location in the heart of the lowlands, Edinburgh is perfectly placed as a starting point for day trips across Scotland. For those seeking shorter journey times, the Lothians are the natural place to start. Musselburgh sits just to the east of the city, and is reachable on foot in 40 minutes from nearby Portobello, or in ten minutes on the train from Edinburgh Waverley. From there you can enjoy walks on the beach, ice-creams in hand – or lucky visitors in August can get tickets to see Grid Iron’s Doppler, an outdoor, site-specific adaptation of the best-selling Norwegian novel. The production is running for the duration of the Fringe in the woods of Newhailes House, and tickets are £15. To the west of Edinburgh City Council’s domain, you can find Cramond and South Queensferry. Cramond (visited by Maggie Smith for clandestine rendezvous in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) is the gateway to tidal Cramond Island, accessed by a causeway. Text CRAMOND to 81400

Photo: Emily Crawford

Rosslyn Chapel

for daily details of safe crossing times from the RNLI. The village itself is a half hour bus ride away from the city centre on the number 43 – stay on a while longer and you’ll reach South Queensferry, which houses the southern half of three enormous bridges. Stand underneath the Forth Bridge feeling small, and quake in your little boots every time a train rumbles along above you, or have dinner and drinks on the seashore. South Queensferry is also accessible via a 17-minute train to nearby Dalmeny, plus five minutes of walking – an adult’s day

THE SKINNY

Photo: Esteban

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South Queensferry

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Daytripping

Photo: Sean Paul Kinnear Pentlands

arrival time of your train and compare with the two coming after it – you might find that a later train will get you in sooner. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum boasts a selection of art and natural history exhibits, while the Riverside Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid, pays tribute to Glasgow’s shipbuilding past and is home to the transport museum. On the opposite bank of the Clyde, Glasgow Science Centre offers fun educational activities alongside a planetarium and IMAX cinema. If you want to learn more about Scotland’s history, and are keen to explore beyond the city boundaries, David Livingstone Birthplace in Blantyre attempts a balanced examination of the life of the Scottish explorer. Its exhibits present Livingstone against the backdrop of Victorian-era Scotland, and uses him as a vehicle through which to educate about Scotland’s industrial past as well as its role in colonialism. Moving further south still, New Lanark, one of

Kelvingrove Art Gallery

Edinburgh City Guide

Photo: Kelvingrove Art Gallery

return will set you back £4.90. South of the city, the Pentland Hills play host to a 100km network of marked paths for those who have brought their hillwalking boots. With such a variety of routes to choose from, there’s a walk for everyone, regardless of your fitness level. Alternatively, for a gentler walk, get the 37 bus direct from Princes Street to Roslin Glen Country Park – a large expanse of ancient woodland that is just over an hour away from the city centre. It’s also home to Rosslyn Chapel, made famous by The Da Vinci Code. In the centre of Scotland lies Stirling, the old capital. Stirling is just a 40-minute train journey from Edinburgh, and is built around what we will, perhaps controversially, name ‘Scotland’s Best Castle’. Take the tour, and be invited to sit on a reconstruction of the King’s throne, or stand on the battlements and look out over miles of historic battlefields as the wind whips through your hair. The bright lights of Glasgow are also within striking distance of the capital – go museum-tripping or shopping during the day, and drinking and dancing later on. The journey is only 50 minutes by train, and off-peak day return tickets are £13.70. Be careful if you’re in a rush, though – there are two possible routes to Glasgow, and one takes twice as long. These slower trains are usually headed for Glasgow Central – if speed is what you’re after, look for Glasgow Queen Street. Either way, always check the

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Daytripping

Photo: Zack Davidson

THE SKINNY

Dundee

Scotland’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is an 18th-century mill-village of striking proportions. It’s accessible via local coach from Lanark bus station, or direct from Glasgow’s Buchanan Street bus station – details for both services can be retrieved by calling Stuart’s Coaches on 01555 773533. Newcomers to Edinburgh might find themselves wondering what that expanse of land across the water is? That’s the Kingdom of Fife. With huge stretches of beautiful coastline, the charming fishing villages of Fife’s East Neuk are well worth a visit – but to do the trip justice a car is advisable. Further North, you can visit historic St Andrews via a train to Leuchars followed by a connecting bus – fear not, the journey might sound a tad complicated but it shouldn’t take you more than an hour and a half.

If you’re satisfied admiring Fife’s picturesque landscapes through the window of a motor vehicle, then a day trip to Dundee might be in order. Travel from St Andrew’s Square with Ember, the first all-electric intercity bus, or get the train in a little over an hour, to approach the city over the river and take in the full splendour of this jewel of the Tay as it was meant to be seen – from the water. The most striking feature of Dundee’s waterfront is undoubtedly the V&A – Scotland’s first design museum – and with the RRS Discovery and Jannettas ice cream on either side, you could spend an entire day out in Dundee without having to travel more than 500 metres from the train station. Alternatively, for a proper expedition into the city, grab some fish and chips and head for the top of the Dundee Law hill (fish and chips optional).

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Great Exhibitions Gallery Guide

Edinburgh is well served with art galleries yearround, and particularly in August when Edinburgh Art Festival arrives with a programme of exhibitions and special artist commissions, many of which have permanently contributed to the city’s topography Words: Rosamund West

efore you even get to the galleries, remnants of past Edinburgh Art Festival commissions can be found across the city centre. Martin Creed’s marble staircase links South Bridge and Market St, Graham Fagen’s vibrant neons illuminate the Calton Road underpass at the foot of Jacob’s Ladder, and the shifting colours of Calum Innes’s work light up the bridge behind Waverley. Image: Courtesy of the artist

Opposite, the multi-level City Art Centre (2 Market St) is hosting exhibitions of Ian Hamilton Finlay, Donald Smith and Charles H Mackie. Around the corner, Stills (23 Cockburn St) is the city’s centre for photography. They will present a series of work by Sekai Machache, The Divine Sky (until 18 Sep), which utilises allegory and performance to tell a complicated history.

Looking Glass number 16, 2021, Karla Black

Tapestry studio and craft hub Dovecot (10 Infirmary St) has a retrospective of one of the greatest unrecognised pop artists, Archie Brennan:

Tapestry Goes Pop! (until 30 Aug) as well as annual jewellery survey show Dazzle. In Edinburgh University’s Old College, Talbot Rice Gallery present group show, The Normal (until 29 Aug), a vivid reflection of life in the pandemic. Working with EAF, they have commissioned a new sound installation by Emeka Ogboh, Song of the Union (until 29 Aug) a response to the ongoing theatre surrounding our departure from the EU which will be presented in the Burns Monument (1759 Regent Road).

Edinburgh City Guide

The Divine Sky, 2020, Sekai Machache

In the Old Town, Fruitmarket (45 Market St) have recently reopened following an extensive refurbishment, extending their exhibitions and events space into the former nightclub next door. They launch the space with sculptures 2001-2021, a pastel-hued retrospective of Karla Black (7 Jul-24 Oct), whose playful experimentation and subversion of material tropes interacts perfectly with the airy gallery spaces.

Image: Courtesy Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne and Modern Art, London

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Gallery Guide THE SKINNY

Photo: Amelia Claudia, courtesy of Jupiter Artland

62 upside mimi ᴉɯᴉɯ uʍop, Rachel Maclean, 2021

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interacting with the nation’s history and works from the galleries’ collections. They will also host A Portrait Without Likeness (until 9 Jan 2022), a new series of paintings from Alison Watt made in response to the work of celebrated 18th century portrait artist Allan Ramsay.

The National Galleries of Scotland Modern One (75 Belford Rd) and Modern Two (73 Belford Rd) are set in grand former schools to the west of the city centre. In One, they present Isaac Julien’s major new ten-screen film work, Lessons of the Hour (until 31 Aug), a poetic meditation on the life of Frederick Douglass. Two is hosting Ray Harryhausen, Titan of Cinema (until 20 Feb 2022), a blockbuster show of the special effects master. On the outskirts of the city, Jupiter Artland (Bonnington House, Wilkieston) has evolved into a fantastical art park, as their regular commissions from internationally-renowned visual artists add new layers of discovery each year. This year they have added a new cartoon animation work by Rachel Maclean to the permanent collection. For EAF, they present RESET by Turner co-winner Alberta Whittle (until 31 Oct), a new film work created at the height of lockdown with an array of multidisciplinary accomplices.

Edinburgh City Guide

In the New Town, in the converted Glasite Meeting House, Ingleby (33 Barony St) are showing Music of the Spheres, the first exhibition devoted to Frank Walter’s small circular ‘spool’ paintings (until 25 Sep). Nearby Dundas St is home to a number of more traditional commercial In Fountainbridge, Edinburgh galleries. A highlight is The Printmakers (1 Dundee St) is a Scottish Gallery (16 Dundas workshop and exhibition St), which presents an space. For August, they extensive exhibition of the present work by celebrated work of Joan Eardley (until 28 Indian artist and researcher Aug), on the occasion of her Sonia Mehra Chawla following centenary. Beyond the New a series of intensive residenTown, in the centre of the cies in Scotland. Botanics, Inverleith House shows work tying together its Up Calton Hill, Collective scientific surroundings with resides in a former observatory contemporary art. For summer with unparalleled views across 2021, former Turner nominee the city. You can see a new Christine Borland presents a site-specific textile commismultidisciplinary collection sion by Christian Newby (until exploring the life cycle of flax, 29 Aug), plus a cross-media as part of the gallery’s Climate installation by Alison Scott House programme. (until 19 Sep), a graduate of their emergent artist-support- At the top of Leith Walk, Ltd ing Satellites programme, in Ink Corporation (77 Brunswick the Hillside space. St) is an independent arts organisation that facilitates On Queen St, the Scottish exhibitions and events in the National Portrait Gallery Old Ambulance Depot. They’ve presents Ruined (until 14 Nov), recently launched a bimonthly an exhibition of work develSunday market too. In oped by young Scots Newhaven, Edinburgh

Sculpture Workshop (21 Hawthornvale) is a working studio system with an extensive exhibitions and education programme. This August, they present a co-commission of Irish artist Sean Lynch, Tak Tent O’Time Ere Time Be Tint, which casts a spotlight on Edinburgh’s public artworks and monuments.

Gallery Guide

A core part of the EAF programme is Platform (until 29 Aug), which showcases the work of four early-career artists. This year you will find work by Jessica Higgins, Danny Pagarani, Kirsty Russell and Isabella Widger in the Institut Français Ecosse (W Parliament Sq). In a new initiative for the Art Festival, Glasgow-based Tako Taal has been invited to collaborate as an Associate Artist, creating and commissioning work responding to the themes – including representation, resistance, civil rights – of Isaac Julien’s new work Lessons of the Hour.

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Music

Photo: David James Swanson Usher Hall

A Potted Guide to Edinburgh’s Music History From Nirvana playing a pub open mic night to award-winning grassroots venues, we look at just some of Edinburgh’s live music highlights from the 1960s to now Words: Tallah Brash

THE SKINNY

n Edinburgh we’ve always been overshadowed by our friends in the west when it comes to our music scene; in 2008 Glasgow was even named a UNESCO City of Music. So while it’s hard to argue a case for Edinburgh over Glasgow, Edinburgh’s music scene is still worth celebrating. And despite the

MANY venue closures over the years, the memories live on; Edinburgh has a great deal of fight in her and there’s always something new on the horizon.

Kiwanuka, The 1975 and CHVRCHES – who played their first ever show there under the moniker Shark Week – cut their teeth. Before that, as Buster Browns, in 1983 The Fall played for only a £3 cover charge.

The recent expansion of the Fruitmarket (45 Market St) was once the site of live music venue Under its Cavendish Ballroom guise, ATIK (3 West Tollcross) Electric Circus, where artists – recently featured in T2 like Emeli Sandé, Michael

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Bowie also played the old Empire Theatre – now the Festival Theatre (13-29 Nicolson St) – in the 70s following a short stint actually living round the corner on Drummond Street. The 2,900 capacity Usher Hall (Lothian Rd) also welcomed Bowie in the late 60s, and over the last six decades has hosted everyone from The Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry to The xx and Jon Hopkins.

As restrictions start to ease, venues across the city are gearing up to welcome back bands, fans and promoters alike, from grassroots venues like Sneaky Pete’s, Henry’s Cellar Bar (16A Morrison St) and Leith Depot (138-140 Leith Walk), to midsized venues like Summerhall (1 Summerhall), The Mash House (37 Guthrie

There’s more to Edinburgh than The Proclaimers’ Sunshine on Leith, so check out our playlist of local bands, past and present on Spotify – search for ‘There's more to Edinburgh than The Proclaimers’ or scan the below code.

Skinny Pelembe live at Sneaky Pete's

Edinburgh City Guide

Best known for its theatre, since the mid-70s the Edinburgh Playhouse (18-22 Greenside Pl) has hosted everyone from Queen and Tina

St), La Belle Angele (11 Hastie’s Close), The Liquid Room (9C Victoria St), The Bongo Club (66 Cowgate), The Caves (8-10 Niddry St), The Voodoo Rooms (19a West Register St), and auditoriums like Usher Hall, The Queen’s Hall (85-89 Clerk St) and Leith Theatre (28-30 Ferry Rd). The past year and a half has been a gut punch to the music industry, but Edinburgh venues have worked tirelessly throughout to ensure they remain in a post-pandemic world. Visit them if you can. Who knows, you might even see the next big thing.

Photo: Kate Johnston

But it’s in the city’s more underground and grassroots scene where the stories come to life. The old Calton Studios venue (Studio 24 in its final years before demolition) hosted Nirvana in 1990 and 1991. However, the most famous Nirvana/Edinburgh story has to be when frontman Kurt Cobain and drummer Dave Grohl (whose band Foo Fighters have since headlined Murrayfield Stadium) played an open mic night in The Southern Bar (22-26 South Clerk St), still there today if you want to pop in for a pint.

Turner to St. Vincent. But in the 80s, deep within its walls you’d find Nite Club, with wild programming that included everyone from Orange Juice and the Eurythmics to Suicide, Simple Minds, Bauhaus and The Damned. Skip forward a few decades and in 2019 the 100 capacity Sneaky Pete’s (73 Cowgate) won the UK-wide award for best Grassroots Music Venue: Spirit of the Scene, the miniscule sweatbox having hosted everyone from Future Islands to Edinburgh’s own Young Fathers (before they won the Mercury Prize for their 2014 record Dead) over the years. See, we told you Edinburgh was good!

Music

Trainspotting – hosted bands such as Pink Floyd, The Clash, Patti Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees in the 60s and 70s. And when the nearby Odeon (118 Lothian Rd) was the ABC Cinema, it welcomed Beatlemania to the city when the Liverpool band played there in 1964, while two years later Davie Jones and the Manish Boys (aka David Bowie) and Bob Dylan graced its stage.

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Film

Photo: Chris Scott

Movie Magic Edinburgh International Film Festival returns to its original August slot with an eye-catching opening film starring Nicolas Cage, two much-anticipated musicals and plenty of classics Words: Jamie Dunn Prince Achmed screening with live music by SINK, at Edinburgh Filmhouse

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The 74th edition of EIFF promises to kick off in wild style with the Nicolas Cage drama Pig, which sees the game-for-anything actor play a reclusive former chef who lives deep in an Oregon forest with only his beloved truffle pig for company. When the hog is stolen, Cage goes on a rampage through Portland’s foodie underworld to retrieve her. So it’s basically John Wick meets Babe, and it sounds like a very fun way for the long-running festival to make its return.

We’re looking forward to the UK premiere of The Beta Test, Jim Cummings’ Hollywood satire following a talent agent who gets wrapped up in a sex and murder plot. More dark humour should be found in the outrageous Norwegian comedy Ninjababy, which centres on a fun-loving young woman who finds her hedonistic lifestyle in jeopardy when she discovers she’s six months pregnant. Mandibles, meanwhile, sounds bananas. It’s from the warped mind of Quentin Dupieux (Rubber, Deerskin) and concerns two bumbling ne’er-do-wells on a caper that involves them trying to domesticate a giant housefly. The documentary game at EIFF also looks strong this year. Rebel Dykes promises a rousing celebration of London’s rebel dyke subculture of the 1980s while Fathom takes us into the deep, examining the lives of humpback whales and their use of songs as a way of social communication. Animation fans are also catered for by epic anime fantasy The Deer King and British animation Absolute Denial, an imaginative sci-fi following a computer geek who tries to build the world’s smartest computer and quickly regrets it.

The Servant (1963) and Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954) on the big screen should be taken. We recommend you also snap up tickets for EIFF’s rare screenings of Renato Castellani’s Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952) and Leo Penn’s A Man Called Adam (1966). Away from the above screenings at EIFF’s HQ at Filmhouse, you’ll find plenty more older films on the menu at Film Fest in the City, EIFF’s annual outdoor screenings at St Andrew Square. The line-up includes showings of the original Star Wars trilogy, Hollywood classics like Singing in the Rain, E.T. and The Wizard of Oz, and cult movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Scottish comedy Restless Natives. The festival will come to a close with Billy Crystal’s buddy comedy Here Today. The legendary star of When Harry Met Sally… and City Slickers also takes the lead, playing a veteran comedy writer who forms an unlikely friendship with a New York singer, played by comic firecracker Tiffany Haddish. And let’s face it, after the year and a half we’ve had, we could all do with a laugh.

EIFF runs 18-25 Aug Film Fest in the City runs 19-25

As well as these laundry fresh films there are a handful of classics in the programme. Any For more info and tickets, head chance to see Joseph Losey’s to: edfilmfest.org.uk

Edinburgh City Guide

Similarly loopy should be Annette, a magnificently over-the-top rock opera combining the visual invention of genius French filmmaker Leos Carax (Holy Motors) with the experimental pop music of Sparks. If that’s not enough to recommend Annette, it stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Singing and dancing fans will also want to snap up tickets for the eagerly-awaited film adaptation of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the much-loved stage musical about a 16-year-old Sheffield lad who dreams of becoming a drag queen. We’re told that

Jamie Campbell, on whose life the musical is based, will present the screening alongside his mother, Margaret.

Film

he COVID-19 pandemic has been tragic and awful and a right pain in the arse. But there is one silver lining for Edinburgh film fans: the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has been forced to return to its traditional August slot and joins the city’s other festivals celebrating arts and culture with a week of film screenings and events, both indoors and outdoors.

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Advertising Feature

Clementine Bogg-Hargroves on Skank Actor, director and writer Clementine Bogg-Hargroves brings her debut play, Skank, to Edinburgh Fringe on a wave of rave reviews. She tells us about discovering her voice as an actor and writer, and describes her perfect day at The Fringe Interview: Jamie Dunn

THE SKINNY

hen Clementine BoggHargroves brings Skank, her debut one-woman play, to the Fringe, it’ll be something of a homecoming. The Leigh-based performer studied Arabic at the University of Edinburgh and lived in most corners of the city during her time here. It was only after uni, though, that Bogg-Hargroves fully embraced a career in theatre. But living back in her hometown of Skipton, Yorkshire, didn’t offer many opportunities. “I was doing a lot of am-dram,” she recalls, “a lot of very sexist, boring, four hour plays where you were like, ‘When is this gonna end?’” It was at this point she began to discover more contemporary voices in theatre and decided to put on her own shows. First, there was a performance of Clara Brennan’s blistering monologue Spine at Hettie’s, the tiny cafe in Skipton at which she was working. Then a more ambitious performance of Nick Payne’s Constellations at Skipton Town Hall. “I started to realise there was this whole bunch of stuff out there by people who were writing about now,” she says.

“That’s when I decided to apply to drama school.” Bogg-Hargroves finally wrote Skank after experiencing the worst year of her life. “Once I finished drama school I felt very lost and ended up in a pit of depression and anxiety. Then that got worse, because I had a smear test and well... let’s just say, the results of that made it into the show.” Once she recovered from this double-whammy of physical and mental trauma, she started to put pen to paper on a comedydrama that explores the life of Kate, a 20-something who – like Bogg-Hargroves – is attempting to make sense of the world around her while also trying to keep her inner anxieties under control. The results have garnered comparisons to Phoebe WallerBridge’s Fleabag. It certainly sounds similarly soul-searching: “I think Skank is basically just my existential crisis of ‘Why am I here?’ ‘What is the point?’” admits Bogg-Hargroves.

Clementine Bogg-Hargroves

Clementine Bogg-Hargroves’ perfect day at the Edinburgh Fringe: Yoga at Meadowlark (43 Argyle Pl) “Meadowlark kept me alive during uni. I’m not joking: they got me through the stress of fourth year.” Breakfast at The Treehouse Cafe (44 Leven St) “This is just a beautiful little spot. Their scrambled eggs are unreal.” A show at the Pleasance Courtyard (60 Pleasance) “Obviously it’s a great place to just hang out, but please consider seeing Skank while you’re there.” Dinner at Mosque Kitchen (50 Potterrow) “I always go for their saag aloo.“ Drinks at Brass Monkey (14 Drummond St) “I love their cinema room, where you can lounge like an emperor.”

Pleasance Courtyard, 17-29 Aug (not 23 Aug), 4.45pm

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gg-Hargroves

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Fringe

The Shows Must Go On Taking place in the capital each August, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world. This year's lack of rehearsal time means it's a much smaller programme than usual, but we're still excited to see it return Words: Tallah Brash

THE SKINNY

n pre-pandemic times the Fringe would welcome an obscene number of performers to the city each year, with the number of shows getting close to 4,000 in recent years. Consequently, combined with tourists, it’s been said that Edinburgh’s 500,000 population almost doubles in size each August, which obviously won’t be the case this year. As well as packing in people each August, the number of venues also increases at an alarming rate, with everywhere from university buildings and dingy basements to pop-up yurts in back alleys and upside-down inflatable purple cows being transformed into a multitude of performance spaces. Anything goes. And as an eternal resident of this fine city it’s exciting to watch it transform each year and a thrill when the first alien structures start appearing.

Last year was the first time since 1947 that the Edinburgh Fringe didn’t happen. The city looked sad and deflated, like a balloon with a slow puncture. We’ve therefore been counting down the days until its return, and while 2021 might not look or feel like the Fringe we’re used to, we’re so happy to have it back. Running from 6 to 30 August, this year’s Edinburgh Fringe is expectedly a stripped-back affair with a mere fraction of the shows we’re used to welcoming each year. While Pleasance venues are usually awash with famous faces, and comedians galore, this year’s programme is looking rather thin on the ground with a smattering of shows across theatre and comedy, including a run from

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Fringe

Fringe veteran Mark Watson at Pleasance Courtyard (60 Pleasance; Venue 33). You'll also find a handful of Pleasance shows at EICC (150 Morrison St; Venue 150), which has spent most of this year as a COVID vaccination centre. Another usual big hitter, Assembly have only a few shows split between their Assembly George Square Gardens (George Square; Venue 3) and Assembly Roxy (2 Roxburgh Pl; Venue 139) venues, with theatre, dance, burlesque and cabaret fans catered for.

Byrne. You’ll also find Byrne at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange (10-11 Newmarket Rd; Venue 249) this month, where other well-known Fringe regulars can be found.

Elsewhere, you’ll also find Fringe shows this year at Underbelly George Square Gardens and Bristo Square, TheSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall, Symposium Hall and Triplex, The Hive, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Institut Français Ecosse, Leith Arches, Theatre Big Top (Festival Square; Venue 189), and for free shows, head to Laughing Horse venues like Counting House, 32 Below, Free Sisters and the Hanover Tap. For more information about this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe head to: edfringe.com

Edinburgh City Guide

We’re delighted to see yearround live music venue and arts space Summerhall (1 Summerhall Pl; Venue 26) make its grand return this With Fringe shows of yesterAugust too with a blended year more often than not programme of online, ontaking place in poorly demand and in-person performventilated rooms, some of ances. While it won’t be the them actual caves (no, really!), usual bustling hangout we’re in 2021 outdoor spaces are used to, with performance key, with performances taking spaces in every direction, their place this year at venues like Secret Courtyard space (not Tynecastle Park (McLeod St; such a secret now you know Venue 547) and Traverse @ about it) will be populated by a Silverknowes Beach (Venue mix of theatre as well as some 286). Four of the regular big of Scotland’s most talented promoters – Gilded Balloon, musicians. The Stand Comedy Zoo Venues, Traverse Theatre Club (5 York Pl; Venue 12) is a and Dance base – have also Scottish institution, and come together to create lynchpin of the year-round open-air hub MultiStory comedy scene. Their Fringe (Castle Terrace; Venue 195) programme usually expands where the NCP car park on out of their basement Castle Terrace will be space to open up transformed this August. venues in the surrAlongside food and drink ounding area, presentstalls, expect to find local drag ing some of the most queen mainstays like Alice respected names on Rabbit as well as some big the comedy circuit. names in stand-up like Jason Meanwhile, Monkey

Barrel Comedy (9-11 Blair St; Venue 515) have pulled out all the stops with their 2021 programme, managing to book the kind of names we’re used to seeing in much bigger venues (see: Fern Brady, Josie Long, John-Luke Roberts, Ahir Shah, Olga Koch to name a few).

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EIF

Photo: Dan Medhurst

Sounds of the Summer

Moses Boyd

After over a year of empty stages, the Edinburgh International Festival is back with a bumper programme of music, theatre and performance Words: Jamie Dunn

THE SKINNY

Photo: Fraser Taylor

h, how we’ve missed the electricity and communal thrill of live performance. Of course, after more than a year off, the city’s culture fans have gone hell for leather at the Edinburgh International Festival tickets, with some events now sold out – but here are some excellent options that were still available at time of writing. First up, two recent Nadine Shah Scottish Album of the Year Award-winners and Skinny favourites: Anna Meredith (Fri 20 Aug) and Kathryn Joseph (Sun 8 Aug). Meredith helped open EIF back in 2018 with the stunning audiovisual piece Five

Telegrams, and the composer will be back again this year to perform music from her second album, FIBS. Meanwhile, Joseph will provide beautiful ballads from her debut Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled and its follow-up, From When I Wake the Want Is. Two more Scottish acts to look out for are ambient composer Erland Cooper (Sun 15 Aug) and Edinburgh multi-arts collective Neu! Reekie! (Thu 12 Aug).

and social activist Fatoumata Diawara (Fri 27 Aug) will be tackling ‘the pain of emigration, the struggles of African women and life under the rule of religious fundamentalists’ with her first EIF performance. Electronic producer Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points, will bring his euphoric live show (Sat 14 Aug) as will Canadian electronic artist Caribou (Sat 28 Aug), while modern UK jazz is well-

You’ll find more uber talented female voices on the bill with the soulful Laura Mvula (Sun 29 Aug), who’ll be bringing her brand of 80s new wave-inspired dance-pop, indie folk trio The Staves (Tue 10 Aug), and Nadine Shah (Wed 18 Aug), who’ll perform tracks from her fourth album, Kitchen Sink, in Scotland for the first time. Malian actress, musician

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Photo: Sequoia Ziff

EIF

Photo: Dan Medhurst

Photo: Gem Harris

Anna Meredith

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– presents Ravel, Prokofiev and two Japanese pieces inspired by the beauty of the natural world (Sat 28 Aug), with the Chineke! Orchestra (Tue 17 Aug), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Mon 9 Aug) and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Sun 15 Aug) also set to perform.

These orchestral performances take place at Edinburgh Academy Junior School, just down the road from the Botanic Gardens in Inverleith. Most of the orchestras are putting on two shows on their performance days – one at 6pm, and a second at 8.30pm. It’s an easy walk from the city centre (although not as easy on the way back, on account of being uphill all the way), or get the bus The Scottish Chamber (8, 14, 21, 23 Orchestra – under Kazushi Ono or 27).

Photo: Thomas Neukum

There are no support acts, the gigs are all Fatoumata Diawara seated, and you’ll be alongside members of represented with gigs from your household bubble. Kokoroko (Thu 26 Aug), Edinburgh Park is about half Moses Boyd (Tue 17 Aug) an hour west of the city and The Comet is Coming centre; get the 2, 22 or 36 (Wed 25 Aug). Lothian bus, hop on a tram heading towards the airport, or All of the above shows are at get a train from Waverley or Edinburgh International Haymarket to Edinburgh Park Festival’s new pop-up pavilion rail station. at Edinburgh Park, with most starting at 8.30pm and As ever, EIF will also be running for about 75 minutes. bringing some of the UK’s great orchestras to town. The opening night show will see the BBC Symphony Orchestra premiere Anna Clyne’s new work PIVOT (Sat 7 Aug), while the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performs Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Wed 11 Aug) and showcases Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta (Mon 16 Aug).

The Staves

Caribou

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Books

The Write Stuff Cosy up for some great readings and literary chats at the Book Festival's new venue, the Edinburgh College of Art, where a typically stellar mix of Scottish and international authors will be celebrating the written word Words: Peter Simpson

f the August festivals, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is usually the chilled-out one. Think old boys having naps in deckchairs, children running around with picture books, and intellectual conversations in hushed and surprisingly plush tents. For 2021, the Book Festival has moved to the campus of Edinburgh College of Art at Lauriston Place (just where the Old Town, Tollcross and

the Southside meet on our map), and it should offer a similar sense of calm. There’s a festival-run bookshop set for the ECA’s Old Fire Station building, an outdoor big screen in the quad which will screen selected talks, a cafe and bar, and plenty of room for relaxing between events. This year’s festival (14-30 Aug) is very much a hybrid of online and offline. There are 250 events lined up, with limited

THE SKINNY

Photo: Robin Farquhar-Thomson

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in-person tickets available for a chunk of the programme. Around half of this year’s authors will be appearing in person, with the rest beaming in online, and every event is available to stream with Pay-What-You-Can ticketing. The full programme is available now at edbookfest. co.uk; here are a few highlights to get you started. New Scottish Writers and Filmmakers One standout is the Reading Scotland series, pairing Scottish filmmakers and authors. Helen McClory discusses her stunning new gothic novel Bitterhall, alongside a debut screening of a short film to accompany the book by Scottish filmmaker and longtime friend of The Skinny, Bryan M Ferguson (Thu 19 Aug, 5.30pm). James Price – another great of Scottish short filmmaking – presents a new film to accompany The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong (Mon 23

Graeme Armstrong

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Photo: Robin Mair

Books

Aberdeen performance night Hysteria, curated by Mae Diansangu and Hanna Louise (Sat 28 Aug, 8.30pm). More highlights...

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Aug, 5.30pm), with shorts by Anthony Baxter, Niamh McKeown, Jamie Crewe and Alison Piper also commissioned by the festival.

LGBTQIA+ stories

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2021, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, 14-30 Aug edbookfest.co.uk Photo: Natasha Gornik / Women's Prize for Fiction

We’re delighted to be sponsoring Torrey Peters’ appearance at the Book Festival. She’ll be dialling in from home to Inspired by the Book Festival’s discuss her groundbreaking, Citizen community workshops, Womens’ Prize for Fictionthe aforementioned Armstrong nominated debut novel, joins Poor author Caleb Femi Detransition, Baby, which and Luckenbooth author Jenni explores the intertangled Fagan to discuss what home, personal lives and relationships environment and community of three women, trans and cis will mean in a post-pandemic (Sat 14 Aug, 5.30pm). Peters’ world in Take Your Place (Sat event is part of the Pride and 14 Aug, 1pm). Prejudice strand, highlighting LGBTQIA+ voices from across In a similar vein, One City: literature and the arts. A Just Capital? (Mon 23 Aug, 11.30am) revisits the One City Further highlights from the short story project – which strand include a discussion on aimed to help tackle poverty dialects between Harry and social exclusion in Josephine Giles and Duck Feet Edinburgh – ahead of a new author Ely Percy (Wed 18 Aug, updated volume next year. 4pm); theatremaker Travis Nadine Aisha Jassat, Sara Alabanza in conversation with Sheridan and Anne Hamilton Shon Faye, journalist and are joined by Irvine Welsh, author of The Transgender Ian Rankin and Alexander Issue, on the need to move McCall Smith to discuss the beyond toxic narratives and project, the divisions within transphobia (Sat 28 Aug, the capital, and ways to 5.15pm); and a ‘Postresolve them. Apocalyptic Cabaret’ by

Annihilation author Jeff VanderMeer discusses his new climate crisis thriller Hummingbird Salamander (Sat 21 Aug, 8.15pm); Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro talks through his latest, Klara and the Sun (Sun 29 Aug, 7pm); Alan Warner delves into Kitchenly 434, his English country house satire (Thu 19 Aug, 11.15am); and The Skinny contributor Eilidh Akilade leads a discussion on Afrofuturism presented by the Scottish BAME Writers Network (Sat 21 Aug, 1pm).

Torrey Peters

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Key: Abbeyhill

Index

Tollcross, Bruntsfield, Morningside TBM Gorgie, Dalry, Fountainbridge GDF Leith

New Town

Old Town

Portobello

Southside

Stockbridge, Canonmills

West End

Art Shops Doodles 27 Marchmont Cres TBM Edinburgh Art Shop 129 Lauriston Pl TBM Flamingosaurus Rex 22 Bruntsfield Pl TBM Greyfriars Art Shop 1 Greyfriars OT Red Door Gallery 42 Victoria St OT The Leith Collective Ocean Terminal L

THE SKINNY

Bars Abode L 229 Leith Walk Athletic Arms 1 Angle Park Ter GDF Bannermans 212 Cowgate OT Banshee Labyrinth 29-35 Niddry St OT Bellfield Brewery Taproom 46 Stanley Pl A Bennets 8 Leven St TBM Bow Bar 80 W Bow OT Bramble 16A Queen St NT Brass Monkey 14 Drummond St S Cafe Royal 19 West Register St NT Carriers Quarters

L 42 Bernard St CC Blooms 23 Greenside Pl A City Cafe 19 Blair St OT Clark’s Bar 142 Dundas St SC Cloisters 26 Brougham St TBM Dagda 93 Buccleuch St S Deacon Brodies 435 Lawnmarket OT Decanter 183 Bruntsfield Pl TBM Devil’s Advocate 9 Advocate’s Cl OT Dragonfly 52 West Port OT Dreadnought 72 N Fort St L Good Brothers Wine Bar 4-6 Dean St SC Hectors 47-49 Deanhaugh St SC Hey Palu 49 Bread St WE Innis and Gunn 81 Lothian Rd WE Jolly Botanist 256 Morrison St WE Joseph Pearce 23 Elm Row A Kay’s Bar 39 Jamaica St NT Leith Depot 138-140 Leith Walk L Little Rascal 113D St John’s Rd GDF Lucky Liquor Co 39a Queen St NT Nauticus 142 Duke St L Nightcap 3 York Pl NT One Canonmills 1 Canonmills SC OX184 184-186 Cowgate OT Panda & Sons 79 Queen St NT Paolozzi Restaurant & Bar 59-61 Forrest Rd S Paradise Palms 41 Lothian St S

Pickles NT 60 Broughton St Port O’ Leith 58 Constitution St L Portobello Tap 87 Portobello High St P Rooftop 51 2 Freer Gait GDF Safari Lounge 21 Cadzow Pl A Salt Horse 57-61 Blackfriars St OT Smith & Gertrude 26 Hamilton Pl SC Smoke & Mirrors 159 Constitution St L Sneaky Pete’s 73 Cowgate OT St Vincent 11 St Vincent St SC Stockbridge Tap 2-6 Raeburn Pl SC Teuchters 26 William St WE Teuchters Landing 1c Dock Pl L The Abbotsford 3-5 Rose St NT The Antiquary 72-78 St Stephen St SC The Auld Hoose 23 St Leonards St S The Bailie 2-4 St Stephen St SC The Biscuit Factory 4-6 Anderson Pl L The Black Rose Tavern 49 Rose St NT The Blackbird 37 Leven St TBM The Blue Blazer 2 Spittal St WE The Caley Sample Room 42 Angle Park Ter GDF The Cumberland 1-3 Cumberland St NT The Dog House 18 Clerk St S The Espy 62 Bath St P The Fountain 131 Dundee St GDF The Hanging Bat 133 Lothian Road WE The Last Word Saloon

SC 44 St Stephen St The Lioness of Leith 21 Duke St L The Mousetrap 180 Leith Walk L The Outhouse 12a Broughton St Lane NT The Royal Dick 1 Summerhall Pl S The Sheep Heid Inn 43 The Causeway A The Skylark 243 Portobello High St P The Street 2b Picardy Pl NT The Tourmalet 25 Buchanan St A The Ventoux 2 Brougham St TBM The Waverley Bar 3-5 St Mary’s St OT The Windsor 45 Elm Row A Under the Stairs 3A Merchant St OT

Bookshops Armchair Books 72-74 West Port OT Edinburgh Books 145 West Port WE Ginger and Pickles 51 St Stephen St SC Golden Hare 68 St Stephen St SC Lighthouse Books 43 W Nicolson St S Oxfam Books 25 Raeburn Pl SC The Edinburgh Bookshop 219 Bruntsfield Pl TBM The Portobello Bookshop 46 Portobello High St P Tills Bookshop 1 Hope Park Cres S Typewronger Books 4a Haddington Pl A

Cafes Artisan Roast 138 Bruntsfield Pl Artisan Roast 57 Broughton St Artisan Roast 100a Raeburn Pl

TBM NT SC

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Room and Rumours 25 East Market Street Arch OT Seven Neighbourhood Cafe 7 Home St TBM Söderberg 3 Deanhaugh St SC Tanifiki 44 Portobello High St P Tasty Buns 67 Bread St WE The Milkman 7, 52 Cockburn St OT The Pastry Section 86 Raeburn Pl SC Thomas J Walls 35 Forrest Rd S Union Brew Lab 6 S College St S Wellington Coffee 33a George St NT Williams and Johnson 1 Customs Wharf L

Cinemas Cameo Cinema 38 Home St TBM Dominion Cinema 18 Newbattle Ter TBM Filmhouse 88 Lothian Rd WE Grassmarket Community Picture House 86 Candlemaker Row OT

Clothes Shops Godiva 9 West Port OT W. Armstrong & Son 81-83 Grassmarket OT W. Armstrong & Son 14 Teviot Pl, 64 Clerk St S Pieute 19 Candlemaker Row OT

Food and Drink Shops P

Galleries L P L

Burns Monument 1759 Regent Rd City Art Centre 2 Market St Collective Calton Hill

OT OT A

Dovecot Studios S 10 Infirmary St Edinburgh Printmakers 1 Dundee St GDF Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop 21 Hawthornvale L Fruitmarket 45 Market St OT Ingleby Gallery 33 Barony St NT Institut Français Ecosse W Parliament Sq OT Inverleith House Arboretum Pl SC Jupiter Artland Bonnington House, Wilkieston n/a Ltd Ink Corporation 77 Brunswick St A National Galleries of Scotland The Mound NT National Galleries of Scotland Modern One & Two 73, 75 Belford Rd WE Royal Scottish Academy The Mound NT Scottish National Portrait Gallery 1 Queen St NT Stills 23 Cockburn St OT Surgeons’ Hall Nicolson St S Talbot Rice Gallery South Bridge S The Scottish Gallery 16 Dundas St NT

Gift Shops An Independent Zebra 88-92 Raeburn Pl SC Black Moon Botanica 50 Candlemaker Row OT Caoba 56 Raeburn Pl SC Curiouser and Curiouser 106 Bruntsfield Pl TBM MYSA 31 Cockburn St OT Paper Tiger 53 Lothian Rd, 6a Stafford St WE Pie in the Sky 47 Cockburn St OT

Edinburgh City Guide

Aemilia 186 Portobello High St Akdeniz Mediterranean Supermarket 82-90 Leith Walk Beer Zoo 219 Portobello High St Beets 49 Bernard St Bon Vivant’s Companion

51 Thistle St NT Cornelius 18 Easter Rd A Crombies 97 Broughton St NT Drinkmonger 11 Bruntsfield Pl TBM EasyEche Foods Limited 131 Great Jct St L Edwin and Irwyn 416 Morningside Rd TBM George Mewes 3 Dean Park St SC Great Grog Bottle Shop 2 Dalkeith Rd S I.J. Mellis 330 Morningside Rd TBM I.J. Mellis 6 Bakers Pl SC Jordan Valley 8 Nicolson St S Las Delicias 47 Great Jct St L Lupe Pintos 24 Leven St TBM PCY Oriental 199-201 Leith Walk L Real Foods 37 Broughton St NT NT Sauce 23 Candlemaker Row OT SPRY Wines 1 Haddington Pl A The Beer Cave 43 Dalry Rd GDF The Beerhive 24 Rodney St SC Valvona + Crolla 19 Elm Row A Villeneuve Wines 49a Broughton St NT Vino 30 Broughton St NT Vino 26 NW Circus Pl SC Winekraft 6 Brandon Terr SC

Index

Bearded Baker 46 Rodney St SC Brew’d 4 Spittal St WE Cafe Gallo 96 Raeburn Pl SC Cairngorm Coffee 1 Melville Pl WE Cairngorm Coffee 41a Frederick St NT Considerit 3 Sciennes S Cowan & Sons 33 Raeburn Pl SC Cult Espresso 104 Buccleuch St S Domenico’s 30 Sandport St L Don’t Tell Mama 64 Home St TBM Fortitude 3c York Pl NT Fortitude 66 Hamilton Pl SC Grams Hamilton Pl SC Hata 5 Rodney St SC Hideout Cafe 40-42 Queen Charlotte St L Hula 94A Fountainbridge GDF Hula Cafe and Juice Bar 103 West Bow OT Kilimanjaro Coffee 104 Nicolson St S KONJ Cafe 67 Home St TBM La Barantine 27b Raeburn Pl SC Little Fitzroy 46 Easter Rd A Lovecrumbs 155 West Port WE Lowdown Coffee 40 George St NT Machina Espresso 2 Brougham Pl TBM Milk @ Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop 21 Hawthornvale L Nice Times Bakery 147 Morrison St WE Procaffeination 4 St Mary’s St OT

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Index

Markets Company Bakery 5 Devon Pl WE Edinburgh Farmers’ Market NCP Car Park, Castle Ter OT Grassmarket Saturday Market Grassmarket OT INK Market 77 Brunswick St A Leith Arches 6 Manderston St L Leith Market Dock Pl L Stockbridge Market Saunders St SC The Pitt 137 Pitt St L

THE SKINNY

On-the-go Bross Bagels 177 Portobello High St P Cafe Piccante 19 Broughton St NT Civerinos Prom Slice 47 Figgate Ln P Crolla’s 1 The Shore L Dough 172 Rose St NT Greek Artisan Pastries 32 Portobello High St P Little Collingwood 10 Haymarket Ter WE Little Green Van Portobello Beach Promenade P Mary’s Milk Bar 19 Grassmarket OT MOO Pie Gelato 26 St Mary’s St OT Ola Kala 202 Morrison St WE Orinoco Latin Street Food 281 Leith Walk L Piemaker 38 South Bridge OT Polentoni 38 Easter Rd A Preachers Patisserie 24 Lady Lawson St WE Sicilian Pastry Shop 14 Albert St A St Andrews Takeaway 280 Portobello High St P

Storries L 279 Leith Walk The Baked Potato Shop 56 Cockburn St OT The Fishmarket 23A Pier Pl L Twelve Triangles 22 Easter Rd A Twelve Triangles 300 Portobello High St P

Plants and Homeware Duncan & Reid Antiques 5 Tanfield SC Grow Urban 92 Grove St GDF Shelter 104 Raeburn Pl SC Snapdragon 146 Bruntsfield Pl TBM The Bethany Shop 46 Hamilton Pl SC

Record Shops Assai Records 1 Grindlay St WE Elvis Shakespeare 347 Leith Walk L FOPP 3-15 Rose St NT Good Vibes Records and Books 151 Constitution St L Greenhouse Records 10 Barclay Ter TBM Ilium 100 Marchmont Cres TBM Oxfam Music 64 Raeburn Pl SC Underground Solu’shn 9 Cockburn St OT Vinyl Villains 5 Elm Row A Voxbox 21 St Stephen St SC

Restaurants Alby’s 8 Portland Ter B&D’s Kitchen 214 Dalry Rd Bell’s Diner 7 St Stephen St Bodega 14 Albert Pl

L GDF SC A

Bread Meats Bread 92 Lothian Rd WE Bubba Q 209-213 High St OT Bundits 48-52 Constitution St L Chez Jules 109 Hanover St NT Civerinos 5 Hunter Sq OT Civerinos Slice 49 Forrest Rd S Desi Pakwan 61 Leith Walk L Down the Hatch 13 Antigua St A Dumplings of China 60 Home St TBM El Cartel 15 Teviot Pl S El Cartel 64 Thistle St NT Erbil 55 W Nicolson St S Fhior 36 Broughton St NT Fishers in the City 58 Thistle St NT Hakataya 122 Rose St Lane NT Hanam’s 3 Johnston Terrace OT Harajuku Kitchen 10 Gillespie Pl TBM Harmonium 7-11 East London St NT Kenji 42 St Stephen St SC Kim’s Bulgogi 11 St Stephen St SC Kim’s Mini Meals 5 Buccleuch St S Korean BBQ 3 Tarvit St TBM Locanda de Gusti 102 Dalry Rd GDF Maki & Ramen 97 Fountainbridge GDF Mother India’s Cafe 3 Infirmary St OT Nile Valley Cafe 6 Chapel St S Nok’s Kitchen 8 Gloucester St SC Noto

NT 47a Thistle St Novapizza 42 Howe St SC Omar Khayyam 1 Grosvenor St WE On Bap 57 Clerk St S Ong Gie 22a Brougham St TBM Origano Pizza 236 Leith Walk L Peanut Press 24 Brougham St TBM Pizzeria 1926 85 Dalry Rd GDF Razzo Pizza Napoletana 59 Great Jct St L Sister Bao 32 S Clerk St S Slurp at the Kirk 44 Candlemaker Row OT STACK 42 Dalmeny St L Superico 83 Hanover St NT Taco Libre 3 Shandwick Pl WE Taxidi 6 Brougham St TBM Taza in Town 69 Bread St WE Thailander 25 Brougham St TBM The Gardener’s Cottage 1 London Rd A The Little Chartroom 30 Albert Pl A The Little Chartroom on the Prom 49 Figgate Ln P The Mosque Kitchen 50 Potterrow S The Outsider 15 George IV Bridge OT The Pantry 1 NW Circus Pl SC The Shawarma House 119 Nicolson St S The Smiddy BBQ 22 Dunedin St SC Three Birds 3 Viewforth TBM Timberyard 10 Lady Lawson St WE Ting Thai Caravan

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Venues: August Festivals

Venues: Comedy Clubs Monkey Barrel 9-11 Blair St OT The Stand Comedy Club 5 York Pl NT

Venues: Live Music & Nightclubs Bannermans 212 Cowgate OT Cabaret Voltaire 36-38 Blair St OT Edinburgh Corn Exchange 11 New Market Rd GDF Henry’s Cellar Bar 16A Morrison St WE La Belle Angele 11 Hastie’s Cl OT Leith Depot

138-140 Leith Walk Leith Theatre 28-30 Ferry Rd Liquid Room 9C Victoria St Queen’s Hall 85 Clerk St Sneaky Pete’s 73 Cowgate Stramash 207 Cowgate Subway 69 Cowgate Summerhall 1 Summerhall Pl The Caves 8-10 Niddry St S The Hive 15-17 Niddry St The Mash House 37 Guthrie St Usher Hall Lothian Rd Whistlebinkies 4-6 South Bridge

L L OT S OT OT OT S OT OT OT WE OT

Venues: Theatre & Dance Dance Base 14-16 Grassmarket Edinburgh Playhouse 18-22 Greenside Pl EICC 150 Morrison St Festival Theatre 13 Nicolson St King’s Theatre 2 Leven St The Lyceum 30b Grindlay St Traverse Theatre 10 Cambridge St

OT A WE S

31 Market St OT Edinburgh Gin Distillery 1a Rutland Pl WE Edinburgh Zoo 134 Corstorphine Rd GDF Greyfriars Kirk and Greyfriars Bobby Candlemaker Row OT Love Gorgie Farm 51 Gorgie Rd GDF Museum of Childhood 42 High St OT National Museum of Scotland Chambers St S Palace of Holyroodhouse Canongate OT Princes Street Gardens Princes St NT Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Arboretum Pl SC Royal Yacht Britannia Ocean Dr L Scotch Whisky Experience The Royal Mile OT Scottish Parliament Canongate OT Scottish Storytelling Centre 43-45 High St OT St Giles Cathedral High St OT The Real Mary King’s Close High St OT Volcano Falls 130 Dundee St GDF

TBM WE WE

Visitor Attractions Canongate Kirk 153 Canongate Castlehill Castlehill Dynamic Earth Holyrood Rd Edinburgh Castle Castlehill Edinburgh Dungeon

OT OT OT OT

Edinburgh City Guide

Assembly George Square Gardens George Sq S Assembly Roxy 2 Roxburgh Pl S Edinburgh Corn Exchange 11 New Market Rd GDF EIBF @ Edinburgh College of Art 74 Lauriston Pl TBM EIF @ Edinburgh Park Lochside Way GDF EIF @ Junior School, Edinburgh Academy 42 Henderson Row SC EIF @ Old College Quad, University of Edinburgh South Bridge S Festival Theatre 13 Nicolson St S Filmhouse 88 Lothian Rd WE Film Fest in the City St Andrew Sq NT Laughing Horse @ 32 Below 32b W Nicolson St S Laughing Horse @ Counting House 34 W Nicolson St S Laughing Horse @ Free Sisters The Three Sisters, 139 Cowgate OT Laughing Horse @ Hanover Tap 112 Hanover St NT

Monkey Barrel 9-11 Blair St OT MultiStory NCP Car Park, Castle Ter OT Pleasance Courtyard 60 Pleasance S Pleasance @ EICC 150 Morrison St WE Scottish Storytelling Centre 43-45 High St OT Summerhall 1 Summerhall Pl S Theatre Big Top Festival Sq WE TheSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall Nicolson St S TheSpace @ Symposium Hall Hill Sq S TheSpace Triplex 19 Hill Pl S The Hive 15-17 Niddry St OT The Stand Comedy Club 5 York Pl NT Traverse @ Silverknowes Silverknowes n/a Tynecastle Park McLeod St GDF Underbelly @ Bristo Square Bristo Pl S Underbelly @ George Square Gardens George Sq S

Index

8 Teviot Pl S Ting Thai Caravan 55 Lothian Rd WE Vietnam House 1 Grove St WE Viva Mexico 41 Cockburn St OT Wine & Peach 91 Dalry Rd GDF Wing Sing Inn 147 Dundee St GDF Wings 5-7 Old Fishmarket Cl OT Xiangbala Hotpot 63 Dalry Rd GDF Yamato 11 Lochrin Ter TBM

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12 13

20 22

23 25

Across 1. Irvine Welsh's most famous novel (13) 8. Escape – break (7) 9. Harajuku Kitchen is known for this cuisine (5) 10. Mistakes – a band from Glasgow on Mogwai's Rock Action Records (6) 12. Boundary (4) 15. Author (d.2006) of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (6,5) 19. Take (transport) (4) 20. Shape (6) 24. Major Scottish river joining the North Sea on the east coast (5) 25. Off work, often for holidays (2,5) 27. Landmark celebrating Sir Walter in Princes St Gardens (5,8)

THE SKINNY

Turn to page 4 for the solutions

Compiled by George Sully

Crossword

Down 1. Notified that your social media profile is linked in a photo (6) 2. Player (5) 3. ___ Town, the fancy northern part of Edinburgh (3) 4. Remunerates (4) 5. Scottish outdoor and camping gear shop (4) 6. Someone within a group (privy to secret information) (7) 7. Steers (6) 11. The most expected type of weather during the Edinburgh festivals (4) 13. ___ Town, the medieval part of Edinburgh's city centre (3) 14. Vast – grand (4) 16. Experience (7) 17. Small rented farms – allotments (6) 18. 44 Scotland ___, a novel by Alexander McCall Smith (6) 21. Rental agreement (5) 22. Sharpen (4) 23. Name of a chocolate company based out of Summerhall (4) 26. Folk band comprising Aidan O'Rourke, Kris Drever and Martin Green (3)

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The Skinny Guide to Edinburgh 2021

Articles inside

Portobello by Peter Simpson

Gorgie, Dalry & Fountainbridge by Peter Simpson

Abbeyhill by Tallah Brash

Tollcross, Bruntsfield & Marchmont by Anahit Behrooz

Leith by Jamie Dunn

West End by Tallah Brash

Stockbridge & Canonmills by Rosamund West

Southside by Anahit Behrooz

New Town by Rosamund West