One of East Lothian’s family seafood restaurants is teaming up with Musselburgh Racecourse and The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association for the first time to launch a new ‘East Coast Harbour Race’, as part of The Musselburgh Gold Cup Family Raceday in September.
East Coast Restaurant and Fish & Chips Takeaway on North High Street in Musselburgh is joining forces with Musselburgh Racecourse to launch the new ‘East Coast Harbour Race’ at 5pm on Sunday 11 September to help raise funds for The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association.
Since its launch in 2018, The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association has been working with East Lothian Council to improve the harbour and seafront in Musselburgh for the benefit of the community, local people and visitors through a series of ongoing fundraising events and voluntary activities, including the Fisherrow Harbour Festival earlier this year.
The organisers of the new ‘East Coast Harbour Race’ hope that the event will help raise awareness of The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association and allow them to progress their ambitious plans with a much-needed funding boost.
Planned activity includes essential harbour developments and expansion of the Safe Prom initiative with a continuous traffic-free path along the entire Prom, dozens of community-adopted planters and wheel-chair friendly picnic tables in 2022 and beyond.
East Coast Restaurant and East Coast Fish & Chips Takeaway, which is located just two minutes’ walk from Fisherrow Harbour and Musselburgh beach on the outskirts of Edinburgh, was also a co-sponsor of the Fisherrow Harbour Festival in May.
East Coast is owned and operated by Carlo and Katia Crolla. The Crolla family has been serving the local community in and around Musselburgh for nearly 50 years. Great flavours, family heritage and warm, friendly service remain as important to Katia and Carlo today as they did 48 years ago.
East Coast Restaurant owner, Carlo Crolla, said: “We’re really excited to be teaming up with Musselburgh Racecourse for the first time to help support The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association. We’re expecting hundreds of people from across Edinburgh and the Lothians to come along to the ‘East Coast Harbour Race’ on Sunday 11th September for a great family day out and help us raise as much as we can for this fantastic local charity, which relies heavily on the generosity of its volunteers and donations.
“We really hope our new ‘East Coast Harbour Race’ will go some way to helping improve the harbour and seafront in Musselburgh for the benefit of the community, local people and visitors. Our family has been proudly serving the local community with quality fish and chips for nearly 50 years, so it means a lot to us to be supporting the work of The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association and encouraging local communities to come together.”
Musselburgh Racecourse general manager, Bill Farnsworth, said: “Like the racecourse, the Crolla family are synonymous with Musselburgh and have played an important commercial role in the Honest Toun for generations.
“We are delighted to be hosting the ‘East Coast Harbour Race’ as part of The Musselburgh Gold Cup Family Raceday on Sunday 11 September to support the valuable ongoing work of the Fisherrow Harbour and Seafront Association.
“The racecourse has always been keen to foster strong relationships with local businesses and organisations, and we are very happy to contribute in a small way to help improve the harbour and seafront amenities which are so important to the Musselburgh community.”
David Wilkie Chair of The Fisherrow Harbour & Seafront Association (FHSA), said: “We value this opportunity to connect with two of Musselburgh’s most popular and successful businesses – East Coast and Musselburgh Racecourse – and appreciate the support that they are offering to FHSA.
“We will put any funds raised directly into projects which benefit the local area, to realise our vision to develop Fisherrow as a welcoming and accessible seaside resort with fantastic water-based and seafront activities, and look forward to working together in the future.”
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