Sadly people strolling along the Portobello Promenade will no longer be able to pick up a copy from a newsstand located there due to repeated vandalism.

For several years, free copies of the monthly paper have been available to passers-by from a newsstand located at the bottom of Bellfield Street opposite the Wee Green Van.

But after the third act of vandalism – the all-weather lid was torn off the dispenser – we have been left with no choice but to withdraw the service.

The latest newsstand was ordered specially in October 2025 and cost £350 because it had a weighted mechanism to allow the stacking of several hundred papers.

On Good Friday, it was discovered the plastic lid had been broken off and several hundred copies of the paper had disappeared – presumably dumped.

While it seems likely this was another case of wanton vandalism it could be that someone just doesn’t like our coverage!

In March, on two occasions, the stand had been turned to face the beach – so that passersby would not see that copies were available to be picked up.

There will still be a limited number of copies of The Edinburgh Reporter available in Portobello in the first week of each month – courtesy of Portobello Town Hall who kindly allow a stand inside their premises.

But if you are a local business owner who could accommodate a stand with our free newspaper or a business or home owner who has CCTV in place and would like to assist us, please get in touch. [email protected]

The editor of The Edinburgh Reporter, Phyllis Stephen, said: “This is simply not sustainable for a small business like ours. This is the third time our dispenser has been trashed in this way. We cannot continue to pay for expensive bins, not knowing when the next mindless vandal will strike (if that is what has happened here). Of course this area of the prom is not covered by CCTV but we would have expected our newspaper dispensers to last much longer than they have. They are left untouched in other locations.
“The expense of this is considerable and therefore we will not be replacing the blue dispenser on the prom and will look for other outlets within Portobello. It is disappointing for us – and I am sure it will be disappointing for our readers not to be able to pick up the latest issue at a convenient spot.”

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