W Hotel
The W Hotel is opening today. We are visiting later and hope to show you some of the inside – and the outside views.
We are told that while a company other than the council owns the square the W Edinburgh may allow vehicle access to the hotel’s front door. This will conflict with the council’s decision in October not to allow access for vehicles from Elder Street. We understand that it is owners of St James Quarter, Nuveen, who control the bollards across the entrance to the square.
The W Hotel had asked for permission to allow drivers to proceed to its main entrance for red carpet events, but the council’s Transport Committee refused the application on the grounds of safety fears.
Another application to put up a large W sign on the facade at high level was also refused – and the hotel now has a large neon sign at its front door instead.
Crane collapsed just off Leith Walk
A crane working on the Drum Property Group residential development site at Stead’s Place collapsed on Tuesday morning at about 9.50am. The broken arm of the crane landed on the newly built block. Emergency services were called, traffic diverted and the trams were delayed while the investigation got under way.
Ben Graham was on the scene to take these photos showing emergency vehicles parked on the other side of the street from the crane:
Homelessness
An estimated 244 people died while homeless in Scotland in 2022, according to new figures from National Records of Scotland.
The Homeless Deaths 2022 report shows that while the total figure is similar to the previous year, the number of deaths attributed to drug misuse among those experiencing homelessness fell from 127 to 89.
Almost three quarters of those who died were male. The number of deaths among females returned to levels seen in previous years after a drop between 2020 and 2021.
Beth Watson, senior assistant statistician, said: “Our estimate shows a small drop in the number of deaths among people experiencing homelessness between 2021 and 2022 but this change is not statistically significant.
“Our figures go back to 2017 when there were 164 deaths. While the year on year change is small, the number is still significantly higher than it was five years ago.”
The full report and an infographic for Homeless Deaths 2022 is available on the NRS website.
Pizza Geeks
Independent pizzeria, Pizza Geeks are launching a gaming and movie experience ‘pop up’ which will open in the city in December.
The brand-new pop up will officially open on Saturday 2ndDecember featuring an arcade and gaming room for their pizza lovers throughout the city. They have been teasing their followers on social media, hinting that something strange is stirring and promise a pop-up experience where the upside down meets the downright delicious. This will be their third site in the city as they continue to grow.
Pizza Geeks, well known throughout the city for their handmade Neapolitan inspired pizzas and their ‘Pizza for the People’ initiative, with restaurants in Haymarket and Leith, will launch their brand-new space located on Easter Road which is set to be their largest venue to date.
Location – 126 Easter Road, Edinburgh
Website – www.pizzageeks.co.uk
December issue
It is already the last week of November and we have just sent the December issue to press. It will be available at the usual outlets from 1 December.
If you would like to make sure of your own copy of the paper then please sign up. Please do subscribe to our monthly newspaper if you can – we deliver by mail in compostable envelopes, and the subscription helps us to keep on bringing you the news for free. So far this year we have produced these ten issues below:
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
