The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Tuesday 4 November 2025
Bus hits phone mast, airport laser probe, Lost Shore launches Surf Bus, new cafe coming to the Shore + Leith Walk finally getting a Christmas tree
🌤️ Good morning Edinburgh. Today's weather looks sunny and breezy. Tomorrow (Bonfire Night) looks like it'll be dominated by heavy rain, according to the Met Office forecast. Here’s Tuesday's Edinburgh Minute.
🚎 Three people were taken to hospital after a bus hit a phone mast on Calder Road in Sighthill yesterday morning. - BBC Scotland News.
🚨 Police are investigating two reports that a laser was shone at planes and the Edinburgh Airport control tower. - Keiran Fleming, STV News.
📝 Tributes have been paid to David Gow, journalist, linguist and European business editor of the Guardian who has died aged 80. He was born in Edinburgh and began his career at The Scotsman in 1969. - Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian.
☕️ Leith is getting another new coffee place. Haze, run by the team behind Timberyard + Montrose, also promises cocktails along with: 'proper wine, tinned fish & cheese — simple pleasures, done well'. - The cafe is on Instagram here.
⮑ Its address is listed as 4-6 The Shore: the currently vacated George Brown & Sons Engineers building. A range of businesses are moving in. More details in the Minute soon...
- ⮑ Find more local hospitality news in the new edition of The Edinburgh Edit by Chloe Archibald-Ansari.
🌟 Also arriving in Leith soon: a Christmas tree. Local MSP Ben Macpherson wrote to the council to make the case. He said:
"The lack of festive decorations in recent years has been noticed and felt, and many constituents have told me that it makes Leith feel overlooked, especially when other parts of the city continue to benefit from seasonal displays. At a time when community spirit, hope and local pride feel particularly important, restoring a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations to Leith would be meaningful to many - on the Walk and at the Shore."
In response, citing tram-related delays in recent years, council leader Jane Meagher said a tree would be put up at the Foot of the Walk:
"Looking specifically at Leith I can confirm the following installations are in place for 2025 - an 8m cut Christmas tree at Taylor Gardens, lighting column motifs along Great Junction Street and lights on the bridge at The Shore. I can also confirm that we are working with council colleagues and local businesses to try and deliver some festive lighting to The Shore area that has been disrupted by recent works, and we are confident this will be possible for 2025."
🚊 More than 100 people attended a meeting last month about a campaign to introduce tram-trains to Edinburgh. - Phyllis Stephen, The Edinburgh Reporter.
🔊 The Prodigy have announced a headline concert next summer at the Royal Highland Showgrounds at Ingliston on August 29, as part of the Edinburgh Summer Sessions. Support will come from Carl Cox and tickets go on sale on Friday. - Laura Johnson, Stereoboard.
⮑ Other acts confirmed for Edinburgh Summer Sessions include The Cure and Florence + The Machine.
- ⮑ Deacon Blue have announced a concert at Edinburgh Castle on 17 July next summer. It's part of a series of summer concerts at the castle which will also see Callum Beattie and Snow Patrol perform. - David Hepburn, The Scotsman.
🏄♀️ The Lost Shore inland surfing centre in Ratho will launch its own electric bus service tomorrow. The private partnership with travel firm Ember comes after the surf resort tried to lobby Lothian Buses to launch a public bus route. - More details from Alejandro Padró of Lost Shore on LinkedIn. - You can see the Surf Bus timetable and book tickets here.
🔥 There are more photos from the weekend's Samhuinn Fire Festival at Calton Hill from local photographer Tom Duffin here:
Tom Duffin
🎈 Remember, you can get money off the Minute just now at this link. The discount will only run for a couple more days! Your support means the newsletter can continue. Unlike many 'local' news titles, it's not owned by some mega-corp of shareholders and is 100% independent. Local news by and for local people, supporting local publishers. If that sounds good, please take up this offer to help keep the Minute ad-free. Thanks.
Michael MacLeod
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📌 “Tuesday 4 November 7pm - Drink Wine & Speak Spanish at Mellis Cheese Lounge in Morningside. A relaxed evening of wine, cheese, and Spanish conversation.” - Thanks to Eugenia, Daniel and Marcus for sharing this.
📌 “Join us for a night of beautiful Scandi jazz tonight at The Traverse Theatre. The Erik Palmberg Quartet, purveyors of refined, melodic and deeply emotive jazz from Sweden are making their Soundhouse debut.” - Thanks to Jane-Ann, The Soundhouse Organisation, for sharing this.
📌 “Wednesday 5 November. Join Professor Jim Mills at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for Scotland's Opium Secrets, a lecture exploring the consumption of opium-based substances in Scotland in the early modern period.” - Thanks to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for sharing this.
📌 “Wed 5th Nov: Typewronger books is 8. Come and join us at Leith walk polisbox where this crazy indy bookseller and typewriter repair service popped up 8 years ago. All welcome 11-4 drop in for cake and book related banter.” - Thanks to Monty from Leith walk polisbox for sharing this.
📌 “Thursday 6 Nov – The French Film Festival UK opens at Edinburgh’s Cameo Cinema with Sylvain Chomet’s animated portrait of Marcel Pagnol, A Magnificent Life. Back on Friday for François Ozon’s The Stranger - an adaptation of Albert Camus’s classic exploring Algerian identity.” - Thanks to the festival for sharing this.
📌 “Thursday: Join Lara for a gentle, thoughtful wander to remember, to celebrate and to reminisce about people we love who have died. Thursday 6th November in Holyrood Park. Part of the To Absent Friends festival of Storytelling and Remembrance.” - Thanks to Lara Celini, Humanist Society Scotland, for sharing this.
📌 “Thursday 6 November - “Ecological Aesthetics in Experimental Film” at the University of Edinburgh. An in-person seminar by Dr Kim Knowles (Aberystwyth University) on how experimental cinema crosses over with issues of environmental destruction, climate change and posthumanism. All welcome!” - Thanks to Dr David Sorfa, Programme Director of Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh, for sharing this.
📌 “Friday 7 November - A massive night of live music in Banshee Labyrinth! New tunes from Pusher, and rock covers from High Risk and Root5. £8 in advance, £10 on the door.” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “Saturday 8th November - Edinburgh Short Film Festival - Jan Harlan's Masterclass at the Filmhouse! A 2-hour masterclass with Stanley Kubrick's producer, and producer of The Shining, among others! Harlan will share insights into the craft of filmmaking and the producer’s art.” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “Saturday 8th November 4pm - Mark Quinn from Greenhouse Records will be hosting the first in a series of themed listening sessions in the unique in-the-round setting of the Bruntsfield Pianodrome. Vol 1 will take us on a journey following the piano across continents and genres.” - Thanks to the organisers for sharing this.
📌 “Sat 8 Nov - Black History Tour of Collective and Calton Hill by author, poet and founder of the Edinburgh Caribbean Association Lisa Williams. Uncover the global stories hidden in Edinburgh’s skyline on this walking tour of Calton Hill's colonial links and its notable Black visitors from the past.” - Thanks to Collective for sharing this.
📌 “Saturday 8th November, 10am - 2pm - Back by popular demand The Fabric of Imagination designer fabric sale fundraiser for the Super Power Agency. Second and final sale of 2025 - all fabric £10 per meter and ready made items for sale.” - Thanks to Claire from Super Power Agency for sharing this.
📌 “Sunday 9 November: Good Time Yoga presents Yoga for Runners at Up & Running Edinburgh. Come and join us for yoga and a test run round the West End - finishing up with great coffee and tasty treats with good folk. Absolute beginners absolutely welcome!” - Thanks to Sim from Up & Running/Good Time Running Club for sharing this.
📌 “Friday, 7 November — Open Reception for Synaesthesia. An interactive photography exhibition at Leith Makers. This collection features colour and black-and-white portraits, landscapes, and abstract photographs, each paired with a carefully selected piece of music.” - Thanks to Ben Lesko for sharing this.
📌 "Fri 7 & Sat 8 November — Join us for the New College Book Festival at the School of Divinity, discussing the spiritual & secular with authors Manya Wilkinson ('Lublin'), Nadine Aisha Jassat ('Let Me Tell You'), Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin ('Ordinary Saints'), Abi Millar ('The Spirituality Gap') & more!" - Thanks to Katie Harling-Lee, The University of Edinburgh for sharing this.
📌 "Saturday 8th November, 10 - 1pm. Join our free, creative session, 'Balancing Acts: Crafting Family and Work Connections' where we'll use craft and drawing to explore solutions, hear an expert talk, and give you a voice to advocate for family-friendly workplaces. Come drop in!" - Thanks to Dr Sarah Foley at the University of Edinburgh for sharing this.
📌 "Tuesday 11th & Wednesday 12th November - Pottery taster workshops, 6pm. Learn to make a pinch pot, and have your work glazed & fired to take home! Part of the Bridge Pottery Collective's exhibition, MOVEMENT." - Thanks to Jo from the Bridge Pottery Collective for sharing this.
📌 "Edinburgh and Lothian Hearing Support Group has won a National Lottery Award to provide information, advice and support for anyone with hearing loss. It organises meetings with expert speakers and runs social events. Next meeting is on 24th November from 2 to 4 pm at Deaf Action, 49 Albany Street." - Thanks to Richard Peoples for sharing this.
📮 Anything missing? Please share your local news and events here. (If you've already sent something in, please don't send it in again, trust I'll get to it!)
👀 The most-visited links from the last newsletter:
- 🗞️ November's issue of the Broughton Spurtle is out now.
- 🚄 Extra police on LNER trains after stabbing.
- 🍽️ 'I've reviewed 43 of Edinburgh's best new restaurants in 2025, these are my favourites'.
- 🎓 Jobs axed at uni.
- 🚲 Voi electric hire bike roll-out continues.
⏰ Thanks for reading edition number 760.
📬 Free subscribers: 25,500+.
📲 Visits generated for local news sources: 850,000+.
🎈 Remember, you can get money off the Minute just now at this link. The discount will only run for a couple more days! Your support means the newsletter can continue. Unlike many 'local' news titles, it's not owned by some mega-corp of shareholders and is 100% independent. Local news by and for local people, supporting local publishers. If that sounds good, please take up this offer to help keep the Minute ad-free. Thanks.
Michael MacLeod