The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Weekend edition 14 - 16 February 2025
Five new schools, another church closure, North Bridge update, King's Theatre revamp + Met Office mocks clickbait weather forecast as '700-mile blizzard' vanishes
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. Here’s Friday’s Edinburgh Minute, followed by the local weekend guide for paying subscribers.
🏫 Edinburgh could soon get five new schools if councillors approve budget plans next week.
⮑ To accommodate population growth, the council is planning new primary schools in Builyeon (in South Queensferry), Gilmerton Station, Granton Waterfront, Newcraighall, and St Catherine's, along with expansions of the existing Hillwood, Queensferry, and Frogston primaries, and Castlebrae and Craigmount high schools. - Local Democracy Reporter Joe Sullivan in The Edinburgh Reporter.
🅿️ The cost of parking a vehicle on some city centre streets could hit £9 an hour under a 15% rise planned in next week’s proposed council budget, writes Local Democracy Reporter Joe Sullivan on STV News..
⮑ The budget will be debated by councillors on Thursday, 20 February. - See the agenda and background reports here.
❄️ The temperature is forecast to drop to around 0C during the weekend. It’s unlikely to be as extreme as some media outlets predicted. The Scottish Daily Express warned: “Scandinavian breeze bringing heavy 500-mile wall of snow to Glasgow and Edinburgh”.
⮑ Of course, Edinburgh Live went further, warning a ‘700-mile blizzard will thrash most of the country’.
⮑ The Met Office responded on Threads, saying: “Notes on the current forecast for headline writers: Yes, it will get colder over the coming days. No, it’s not referred to as a ‘500 mile wall of snow’. 🙃” - Thanks to subscriber Rachel for sharing this.
⮑ Here is the reliable Met Office forecast, showing no snow.
🎉 Sick of clickbait? Love local news? To mark the Edinburgh Minute’s 2nd birthday this week: get 20% off a subscription.
⛪️ Willowbrae Parish Church will be closed and put up for sale later this year, the Church of Scotland has confirmed. - Exclusive by Donald Turvill in The Herald.
🚧 The North Bridge refurbishment won’t be complete until the end of the year, with the council admitting it is ‘taking longer to complete than we had initially anticipated’. It announced yesterday there will be a northbound closure for six weeks from Monday 17 February. - More details from the council here.
🚾 There’s been plenty of discussion since yesterday’s reports about the council considering spending £600,000 on public toilets in Portobello.
⮑ Subscriber Nathan Fulwood said: “As a Porty regular, I welcome better facilities. But the cost seemed high... Genuine question here: why do public sector contracts always seem to have much higher budgets? Can anyone with experience shed some light?” - There are some good responses to his LinkedIn post and more responses on Bluesky too.
🎨 Conservation work to protect and restore John Byrne’s dome mural (image above) has begun as part of the King’s Theatre redevelopment project. The late artist spent six weeks in 2013 with his daughter Celie working on the ‘All The World’s A Stage’ design. Now a team of painting conservators are on a platform 100-feet above the ground floor of the theatre and Byrne’s daughter returned this week for a look, saying:
"It was a privilege to be one of the small team of 'apprentices' to the 'master' that is John Byrne back in 2013. This was my first foray into large scale mural art and loved every moment on site, up high on what seemed like our own island out at sea. I will always treasure that special time with my daddy.” - Celie Byrne.
⮑ Find more King’s Theatre updates here.
🗞️ ‘Inside the murky world of bouncer violence in Edinburgh’ is the headline on the front of the latest edition of The Student. - Read more here.
🐾 The Pet & Things shop on Duke Street in Leith has gone on the market after closing in 2008, reports Gary Flockhart in the Evening News.
🍸 A new Herringbone bar is due to open on Whitehouse Road in Barnton in a former Sainsbury’s in May. - Scott Reid, The Scotsman.
🎸 Pop-rocker Sam Fender will play the Royal Highland Showgrounds at Ingliston on 22 August for the city's Summer Sessions. - Stereoboard.
📝 Two of the UK’s top poets are getting together for a free event next month. Simon Armitage (UK Poet Laureate, former Oxford Professor of Poetry, Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry winner and Ivor Novello-winning songwriter) will be in-conversation with Edinburgh Makar and university Writer in Residence Michael Pedersen on 27 March. - Tickets are free at this link.
📌 Edinburgh Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “Special Valentine’s weekend screening of Muriel’s Wedding and film inspired meal at the Drill Hall. For Valentine’s Freeze Frame are pleased to present the 1990’s iconic Australian comedy-drama Muriel’s Wedding. Come along to the Drill Hall for this comedy classic with a celluloid inspired pre-show meal in the Drill Hall Cafe, or just come for the film and freshly popped corn.” - Thanks to the Out of the Blue team for sharing this.
📌 “Regular Music seeks a dedicated, full-time Marketing Manager to join our Edinburgh office. Regular Music is one of Scotland's leading live music promoters, delivering hundreds of concerts each year by domestic and international artists.” - Thanks to Regular Music for sharing this. - More details are here.
📌 “Budminton Edinburgh is hosting its annual charity tournament in Leith Community Centre on March 1st. Raising money for two local charities - Edinburgh Dog & Cat Home and Soul Food. All players welcome (18+) - full info and sign up via website.” - Thanks to the organiser for sharing this.
📌 “Downstairs at Betty's, Edinburgh's newest sing-along piano bar, is hosting its next Sunday Showtunes this Sunday, Feb 16. That's right, the all-request venue will entertain only songs from Broadway and The West End's storied musical theatre history. Come for the cocktails, stay for the showtunes!” - Thanks to the venue for sharing this.
📌 “Edinbop's next block of Balboa dance classes starts on 17 February! Mondays with Beginner and Explorer classes to learn this elegant yet fast Swing dance. Each class is 45 minutes and we've got 30 minutes of practice time/social dancing. You can book tickets at edinbop.dancecloud.com.” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “Bonnington locals The Beerhive and 71 Steps are hosting a guided tasting and pairing to celebrate Ardnamurchan distillerys new maderia cask release! 26th of February 6:30pm-8pm(ish).” - Thanks to Tommy for sharing this.
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