The Edinburgh Inquirer

22/04/2025

There's perfect storm gathering for elderly care in Edinburgh, but the third sector remains determined to weather it. Thanks to Vintage Vibes Edinburgh and Welcome to Queensferry Care for sharing your wisdom with us! Keep up the good work.

Even in the midst of a deepening funding crisis, care providers in the Capital are finding some hope

19/04/2025

Wuthering EdinburghyMeadows Festival Edinburgh sense of community. It takes a certain kind of person to want to frolic in a field dressed like Kate Bush – a bunch of eccentric people celebrating a wonderfully British icon.”

Celebrating the joy of Edinburgh’s Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever.

The uplifting day of dance hoping to find a long-term home on the Meadows

17/04/2025

Was traditional dancing when you were at school all Strip the Willow and Dashing White Sargeants and nothing much else?

Well, that is starting to change in Scotland’s increasingly cosmopolitan Capital. Meet Scotland’s new ceilidhers

The changing face of traditional dance in Scotland's cosmopolitan Capital

14/04/2025

We’re sure you probably won’t have heard of Tyler King. We’re even more confident that you’ll hear a lot more about him in future.

Cat Thomson met the head chef of Condita Restaurant to hear about his rapid rise from golf club kitchen porter in Fife to Michelin Star glory.

The city's newest culinary star on his journey from cafe kitchen porter to Michelin recognition

14/04/2025

It sounds outlandish, but could it happen?

With Edinburgh International Airport rapidly expanding and its Glasgow counterpart cutting services, could the Capital eventually takeover as the only major airport in Scotland.

Plus: Police clear Cammy Day in s*x pest probe; Nicola versus Boris selfies; and Pentlands wildfires

29/03/2025

Forget uninspiring plays in draughty church halls, many of the Capital’s unpaid theatre companies are simply outstanding.

Let Will Quinn be your guide to the wonderful world of Edinburgh’s volunteer drama companies.

The world of Edinburgh's outstanding drama volunteers

28/03/2025

How one family business is helping make tourism a force for good in Edinburgh.

Sarah McArthur met Kat Brogan, managing director of Mercat Tours, to hear about their journey to become a sustainable B Corps business.

And all the while putting shivers down the spines of guests who joins their popular Old Town ghost tours. 👻

The history walks for tourists that help to bring locals together

24/03/2025

The most high-profile statue of a non-Royal woman ever planned in Edinburgh should have been a moment of pride and celebration.

Instead it has become highly controversial with some of Scotland’s best-known writers and musicians joining protests against it.

Here’s what’s gone wrong with Edinburgh’s plans to honour a feminist hero.

Plus: Police investigate 'gang war' shootings; and warning over fresh social care cuts

22/03/2025

How cycling saved a village cafe.

As the Tour de France is announced to be coming to Edinburgh, we celebrate the way the rise in the popularity of cycling is changing life in Edinburgh and the Lothians for the better.

Lanterne Rouge

As the Tour de France picks Edinburgh, we talk to a tasty rural business that’s tapping into cycling culture, and how to get there yourself

20/03/2025

We’re celebrating the volunteers who are protecting and transforming Edinburgh’s beautiful green spaces.

There are many reasons why the city has the best parks in Scotland - many of them get wrapped up and head out to pick up litter, tend to trees and do a hundred and one other jobs.

This is the story of the city’s growing army of Friends of the Park groups.

Friends Of Montgomery Street Park Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links The City of Edinburgh Council

The unsung heroes keeping Edinburgh's green spaces beautiful

19/03/2025

Vacancies on Princes Street are at their lowest level in 25 years.

That may come as a surprise, given the ongoing debate about the future of the street. Major developments including retail billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen’s huge investment in Jenners will transform the outlook in the coming years. In the meantime, all the scaffolding and boarded up units under renovation can lend it an air of being unkempt.

David Forsyth talked to Roddy Smith and Donald Anderson about the reemergence of Princes Street as a place major retailers and some of the world’s leading hotel brands want to be.

Vacancies at their lowest level in 25 years as tourists help city buck national trend

17/03/2025

When Tony Crolla’s team tried to start setting their pavement cafe up 35 minutes before opening time council officials said no.

The popular Brunswick Book Club cafe-bar pays £11,000 a year for its license to operate outdoors, an incredible 7,000% increase in fees over the last 30 years.

Now Tony is calling out the city council for failing to support local businesses and instead over-zealously applying rules and charging ever higher fees.

Plus: Big Wheel plan for summer in Princes Street looks dead in the water; and the city firm seeking £1m to boost world wind-power efforts

15/03/2025

The home of Scottish Rugby is 100! And it’s not just Taylor Swift who has broken records at Murrayfield.

David Forsyth delves into its storied past.

Murrayfield Stadium marks 100 glorious years and looks to an exciting future

14/03/2025

The Edinburgh International Festival has announced its lineup for 2025.

There are plenty of world-class performers, but is it as adventurous as director Nicola Benedetti suggests? And is the Festival doing enough to attract new audiences? Where are the Rush tickets that are so popular in so many other places?

Will Quinn picks through the highlights and asks the tough questions.

International Festival 2025 has world-class performers, but no revolution (or Rush tickets)

06/03/2025

It’s one of the eternal Edinburgh questions: What’s to be done about Princes Street? The debate is usually accompanied by much gnashing of teeth and beating of breasts.

The subtext is usually the same each time it is asked. The underlying assumption that the world’s most famous one-sided street is going to the dogs and something must be done to put it right.

That’s the story you might have taken from any number of recent media reports about Princes Street and the challenges it is facing.

The problem with that narrative is that it is wrong. The truth is far more nuanced - isn’t it always? - and a good deal more positive than most correspondents would have you believe.

So, when the three community councils which cover the New Town joined forces to jointly protest the city’s plans for the street’s future, we wanted to know more.

What was behind this unusual show of militancy? Anti-tourist sentiment? NIMBYism from people lucky enough to live in some of the city’s most expensive neighbourhoods? Sarah McArthur found out.

City centre residents say the city risks repeating the mistakes of the past

01/03/2025

When we read numerous ‘news’ reports suggesting JD Wetherspoon’s Standing Order in George St was the best loved bar in Britain, we just couldn’t help ourselves.

Now we love a Spoons as much as the next table, but we’re not convinced the Standing Order is the best Wetherspoon’s in Edinburgh - the beautiful Caley Picture House anyone? - nevermind the best in Britain.

So, we went in search of some of the best watering holes that Edinburgh has to offer. You can read all our recommendations in the comments.

26/02/2025

How often have you heard people decry the decline of local journalism in our cities? Where, you might ask, are the journalists exposing the scandals going on under our noses?

This week we published the results of Sarah McArthur's investigation into Edinburgh's gig economy. Working with the Workers Observatory, she uncovered the unvarnished truth about life as a delivery rider in Scotland's Capital. It can be time-pressured and unsafe work. Dynamic pricing and hold-ups can mean pay falling as low as £3 an hour.

So, we say, local journalism is alive and well, but it needs your support. Proper journalism like this takes a great deal of time and skill to produce. We don't publish misleading click-bait headlines or load our newsletters with annoying pop-ups ads. But we do need your support to produce more reporting like this about our great city.

If you can, please consider supporting our journalism by joining us as a paying member. It also guarantees you eight brilliant, exclusive newsletters a month - and all for far less than a decent coffee a week (£1.53, when you sign up for a year).

The delivery riders facing dangerous conditions for low pay in the Capital

30/01/2025

The wonderful, often uplifting stories behind the memorial benches of Princes Street Gardens.

The poignant stories behind the memorial benches of Princes St Gardens