The Edinburgh Minute ⏰: Weekend edition 26-28 January 2024

💨  Good morning Edinburgh. Here’s Friday’s Edinburgh Minute, followed by the weekend guide for paying subscribers.
⮑ A big ask: if you don’t want to miss out on the weekend guide but can’t afford it, share your unique link with three friends and you’ll get it for free when they sign up. Or, as a one-off because I’m feeling generous and want everyone to have a good weekend, reply to this email with ‘FREEBEE’ in the title (from the email address you subscribe with) and I’ll unlock the paywall for you this weekend with no questions asked. Paying subscribers keep this thing going, so big thanks to everyone backing the Minute. 

🎨  Graffiti ‘tolerance zones’ and murals like Colinton Tunnel and Marine Parade could be encouraged more widely across Edinburgh. The council held a ‘graffiti summit’ yesterday for representatives from Police Scotland, parliamentarians, business leaders, heritage organisations, residents’ groups and members of the street art community. - Here’s a summary from the council, as well as a video from the event here.

🗑️  Street cleaners in Gorgie and Dalry have been criticised for ‘just going past those areas that need it most’. - Jamie Saunderson, Evening News.

🚧  Newhaven residents who were evacuated from their homes due to structural concerns say ‘no one was offered more than one night’s accommodation.’ A dozen Anchorfield households were given an hour’s notice to leave on Tuesday. Council leader Cammy Day told The Scotsman on Wednesday: ‘We’ll make sure they have somewhere safe to stay until their insurance arranges this for them’. But last night one resident told the Minute: “We’re very much in limbo. Everyone has had to rely on friends and family. When Cammy Day made a statement to The Scotsman being supported; I’d had a letter from the council in December saying they were doing what was needed for us to look at a long term solution, I’d been evacuated with limited information and had two emails with letters attached written in a very aggressive manner. Not quite sure how he thought that was support.”

🏡  People who own a second home in Edinburgh will have to pay double council tax after councillors approved the idea yesterday. - Alys Mumford.

🇵🇸  There was a pro-Palestine demonstration outside Baillie Gifford's HQ yesterday morning. - Ross Hunter, The National.
  ⮑  Details of Saturday’s 1pm protest at the Mound are here and nationwide events are published here by The National. 

🕯️  Holocaust Memorial Day is on Saturday. The council held an event with some poignant and personal speeches at the City Chambers yesterday. - A recording of the event can be viewed here. 

😷  Concerns that a Nike conference in Edinburgh led to some of Scotland’s earliest Covid cases were aired yesterday. - Helen McArdle is following the Covid inquiry for The Herald.

🧙  The council has said JK Rowling followed procedure after hedge-trimming at her Cramond house caused traffic tailbacks. Officials said ‘the appropriate permits were applied for and approved’, reports STV News.
  ⮑  Update: A statement on behalf of the writer adds: ‘The intention is always to carry out the work with least disruption.’

🥦  Gorgie Road surplus-food charity Tummies Not Trash is looking for a new base. - The group shared what it’s looking for in this Facebook post.

⚽️  Edinburgh City FC have been deducted six points after failing to pay players on time in November (as reported in this newsletter at the time). The punishment was confirmed by league bosses at the SPFL yesterday. The Meadowbank side - bottom of the league and now on just four points - had faced a winding up order after failing to pay due taxes to HMRC. - BBC Sport.

🏃‍♂️  There was a police chase along the Union Canal path yesterday. - Jacob Farr, Edinburgh Live.

🍺  Granton’s Anchor Inn has been in the news all month since Marc Webley’s murder on Hogmanay. “It’s a very important pub,” writes local historian Andy Arthur in this history of Edinburgh roadhouses, which includes some beautiful Art Deco architecture. - Andy Arthur, Threadinburgh.
  ⮑  With the Foot of the Walk pub now up for sale, Andy has also written about its history. Its name dates back at least 287 years. - Read the thread here.

🏠  Small properties are becoming more popular in Edinburgh and the Lothians, resulting in the average house price falling by 6% to £272,187 year-on-year. One-bedroom flats in Gorgie were Edinburgh’s cheapest property type in the last three months, selling for an average of £145,707. - The full stats are in the latest ESPC House Price Report.
  ⮑  The latest local rental data from CityLets is here.
  ⮑  One more housing link to share, as these tend to get a lot of interest in the newsletter: There’s a free buy-to-let information event at ESPC on George Street on Thursday 8 February. If you can’t make that, there’s a live-stream on 31 January.

🔺  ‘Serial entrepreneur’, experienced tech sector leader and chair of Women’s Enterprise Scotland Lynne Cadenhead has become Edinburgh Napier University’s newest Entrepreneur in Residence.

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📌  “The Edinburgh Samba School is running a six week Beginners Street Drumming Course from 10 February at Greenside Church. No experience necessary, pay £10 for the first taster session and £50 (£35 concs) to continue on for weeks 2-6.” - Thanks to The Edinburgh Samba School for sending this in.

📌  Drylaw and north Edinburgh community stalwart Ian Moore passed away last week. Dave Pickering pays tribute here in North Edinburgh News.

📆  Things to do this weekend: