Skip to main content

OLD STORY OF ‘NEW’ BASEMENT GHOST SIGN

Submitted by Editor on

Recent work to restore the exterior basement stonework of 19 Hart Street has revealed traces of an old shop frontage.

On the Broughton Place elevation it reads, ‘CONFECTIONS—M.T. SCOTT—CIGARETTES’. Round the corner on Hart Street, we think we can decipher a palimpsest of ‘GROCERIES’ and ‘CONFECTIONER’.

To discover more about the place’s history, Spurtle embarked on a tumultuous rummage through censuses, statutory registers, valuation rolls, Post Office directories and local newspapers. Here’s what we found.

Upset

Dear Spurtle,

Very very upset at the closure of Narcissus.  A great disaster personally as well as for the local (and greater) community.  One of the retailers who brightened up Broughton St visually … plus added variety amongst the excess of food-related outlets.

Feel incredibly sad for the staff, particularly Dagmar who seems to have been there forever. I just hope the business can be rescued and re-incarnated. Narcissus was the best florist in Edinburgh, in my opinion.

I guess Spurtle will have to find a new accommodation address too … ?

Miss H.F. Goodson

Dear Miss Goodson,

We share your sense of loss. And, yes, we are arranging a new postal address on Broughton Street. Details in Issue 328 (May).

Editor

PILRIG GARDENS

Submitted by Editor on

April sunshine. Spring in the step. 

No. 8 in an occasional photo series celebrating Spurtleshire street-name signs.

#Edinburgh

#hyperlocal

#news

BOTANICAL REFRESHMENT

Submitted by Editor on

The idea that visiting a gallery can be a healing balm is manifested in Shipping Roots, by Keg de Souza. This is the current exhibition at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden.

From the first moment you enter the building, your nostrils and lungs are filled with the deeply calming aroma of eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is widely used as a natural cold remedy, by decreasing mucus and expanding the bronchi and bronchioles of your lungs.

SHORT-TERM LETS – PROGRESS OR POTENTIAL PROBLEMS?

Submitted by Editor on

This is a longer version (with new reactions afterwards) of the article which appeared in Issue 327.

Readers are doubtless familiar with the recent background of short-term lets (STLs) in Edinburgh – namely, that following the passing by the Scottish Government of a law enabling local authorities to designate 'Short-term let planning control areas', City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) immediately announced the establishment of such a control area, covering the whole local-authority area, which came into force on 5 September 2022.

LEITH

Submitted by Editor on

Keeping it real.

#Edinburgh

#hyperlocal

#news

#out and about

TRAMWAYS

Submitted by Editor on

This article is taken from the North Briton (14 January 1871). A condensed version of it appeared in our Issue 327 (1 April 2023).

UNDERGROUND PARKING FILLS A GAP

Submitted by Editor on

A colourful Edinburgh entrepreneur plans luxury underground car parking in the heart of Broughton.

Gorodskoy Kòsmónavt (55) means to convert vacant voids and vaults below the road surface of Mansfield Place into an exclusive 2-storey complex with 150 parking spaces, luxury valeting and high-speed electric-vehicle charge points.

Private toilets and recycling facilities complete the package.

Access is proposed by ramps penetrating the unused central part of the carriageway (see foot of page). Test-trenches have already established the scheme’s viability.

Subscribe to