TER George Street rooftops

Pomegranate Restaurant – Housing Development in Liberton almost ready for the tenants – Classical music at the Usher Hall – Pre-Theatre menu at The Scotsman Hotel – Scottish Storytelling Festival

A petition signed by nearly 3,000 people aims to overturn the enforcement notice served by the council on the owners of Pomegranate Restaurant in Antigua Street requiring them to remove their signage. A Facebook campaign is also gathering momentum.

The petition says:-

After an 18-month sustained campaign of harassment led by a neighbour, Pomegranate Restaurant (located at Antigua Street, Edinburgh) is being forced to remove ALL the lighting and signage from their business. The attached photo shows their “offensive” menu boards and their “eyesore” restaurant frontage.

Having to comply with this order will have serious negative repercussions for this extremely popular restaurant. It will, in all likelihood, cost the owners and the many staff that they employ, their livelihood.

The previous establishment at the premises, an Italian restaurant, traded for over 20 years without any problems. As a Middle Eastern restaurant, however, they have been plagued by complaints.

If you love Pomegranate and their food, or you simply find this situation completely unfair, please sign this petition and make your feelings known.

The council’s planning portal shows that the enforcement notice deals with lighting, signage and decking outside the property, which it said was an unauthorised change of use. In the enforcement report the council stated that the owners of the restaurant put up unathorised illuminated signage, strip lighting, security cameras, menu boards, wooden decking and a canopy. The property is B listed and lies within the Edinburgh World Heritage Site, so listed building consent would also be required. In 2001 when the owners of the previous occupiers, Ferri’s restaurant, made an application, permission appears to have been granted for illuminated signage.

The council claimed that the changes made by the new owners were ‘an accumulation of unsympathetic additions…which detract from the simple architecture of the design, to the detriment of the character of the building.”

The council as planning authority have the responsibility of deciding whether an advertisement is appropriate or not. They consider these signs to be ‘visually dominating and unsympathetic’. They have demanded removal of the signs.

The initial decision was made by the council in November 2012 and appealed to the Scottish Ministers who issued their decision in February 2013, and this confirmed that the council’s enforcement notice should stand, even though the canopy had by that time been removed. The appeal decision also refused to accept that the bamboo fencing in place was in any way temporary as it had been there for some time. An appeal made at the same time for Listing Building Consent also failed on the same grounds.

The owners of Pomegranate claimed that the decking had been in place for four years, but the council produced a photo from May 2009 which showed that there was no decking there at that time.

The owners of the restaurant clearly believe they are being victimised by the council. What do you think?

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left to right Mike Afshar, MD at AMA Newton, Councillor Elaine Aitken, Alasdair Ross, Director of Dunedin Canmore and  Ian Watson, Master of the Merchant Company Endowment Trust. (Photograph: MAVERICK PHOTO AGENCY)
left to right Mike Afshar, MD at AMA Newton, Councillor Elaine Aitken, Alasdair Ross, Director of Dunedin Canmore and Ian Watson, Master of the Merchant Company Endowment Trust. (Photograph: MAVERICK PHOTO AGENCY)

A housing project in Liberton being built specifically for the elderly is almost complete. The Merchant Company is building a £4m project of 32 flats which will be available for rent by pensioners. The first residents will get their keys in Spring 2014. Read more here.

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Next Monday 21 October 2013 there will be a concert at the Usher Hall featuring MOZART Violin Concerto No.5 and MAHLER Symphony No.6

Stéphane Denève (Conductor)
Henning Kraggerud (Violin)

Stéphane Denève returns to Edinburgh to conduct his first concert since leaving the RSNO as Artistic Director in 2012, this time as Chief Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Joining them is Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud.

Mahler scored his Sixth Symphony for an enormous orchestra, complete with exotic percussion including cowbells and celesta. He scores this dramatic and melancholic tale of suffering magnificently. It is said to be one of the composers most heartfelt symphonies.

Pre-concert performance (6.30pm) – FREE to ticket holders
Mark Johnston & Katie Lonson

Violinist Johnston & guitarist Lonson perform as a duo in an exchange organised by the music development charity Live Music Now (Stuttgart and Edinburgh), complete with a delightful programme of Piazzolla, Bartók, Villa-Lobos, Debussy and Ravel.

Book tickets here.

 

North Bridge Brasserie at The Scotsman Hotel Pre-Theatre Menu

3 Courses for £21.50 per person

Starters

Chilled Summer Gazpacho, compressed Melon salsa

Potted Ham hock terrine, topped with a garden pea panna cotta, cornichon salad,

toasted sour dough bread

Clava Brie tart with smoked raisins, saffron pickled onions, butternut squash

Mains

St Mungos beer battered fish of the day, served with chunky chips and tartare sauce

Gordal olive polenta, aubergine caviar, pine nuts, feta and coriander pesto

Slow cooked leg of duck, pancetta, braised peas, gem lettuce and royal kidney potatoes

Desserts

Sticky toffee pudding, butterscotch sauce and clotted cream ice-cream

Hot dark chocolate mousse with toasted marshmallow ice-cream and crunchy milk rocks

Home-made ice-cream of the day

Available any day of the week, between 5:30pm to 6:45pm.

Diners arriving after 6:45pm (even if reserved for that time) cannot take the menu

Sides & drinks not included

Menu items subject to change

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sisfbanner

The Scottish International Storytelling Festival gets underway next weekend.

A ten-day celebration of live storytelling, oral traditions and cultural diversity, bringing together a large number of Scottish and international storytellers and musicians.

From Friday 18 to Sunday 27 October 2013 journey with nomads, explorers, pilgrims and voyagers. Be transported by travellers’ tales that span worlds of geography, fiction and landscapes of the heart. Bring your tales and journey to Edinburgh, the city of story, to immerse yourself in ancient traditions and modern magic.

You can get more information here.

Click to access sisf13programme.pdf

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.