Leith has been named as one of fifteen towns in the UK which will be awarded £60,000 to progress to the next stage of the UK Government backed Town of Culture competition.
The news was announced at 5pm on Thursday that Leith has made it through out of a pool of almost 400 applications after a bid to the government was successful.
While many politicians have had their say about how fabulous the news is, we went out to Leith Walk to find out what local people thought as the news broke. Leith Walk was eerily empty of trams on Thursday as a result of the fire on Princes Street which means the tram is only running as far as the West End.
Lewis is a guitarist of a heavy rock band, Earl of Hell, and he said he would welcome some investment in culture. He said that it is difficult for his band to find venues in the capital. He said: “My band specifically don’t play in Edinburgh very often, because there aren’t very many grassroots venues left for us to play in. It’s really nice, a lot of bars and kind of small pubs, whereas we like playing in a club – we need a sound system.
“It would be great to have a year of culture in Leith. At one point the Biscuit Factory was being used as a music venue, and Leith Theatre as well.” (And the band is playing at the Banshee Labyrinth on 17 July….)
Arturo from Spain said that he found the idea of Leith being awarded £3 million for a year of culture quite “fascinating”. He said: “I’ve seen the transformation of the district in the last years, especially with many young families as well. It has been changing completely, and is totally different to what Edinburgh City Centre is, you know.
“It is really multicultural, and myself, I can see that as an asset, actually very nice.”
Jake from North London who lives just on the edge of Leith said: “I’m from North London, and I think that one of the best things about London is it’s a universalist culture. It’s an amalgamation of so many different cultures.
“One of the things I missed most, because I lived all over the world for a little bit – I really missed the food. Just here on Leith Walk, like, the amount of different kinds of food there are.. there’s a Turkish supermarket just down there. I haven’t been to a Turkish supermarket since I lived in Edmonton. I missed it so much. I love how culturally diverse this place is.”
Kirsty who has lived in Leith for almost 30 years said she thinks it is an incredible place. She said: “I think if there’s money available to celebrate the cultural diversity of a place like the I think it’s well deserved.”
One resident, who asked not to be named, said:
“I love living in Leith, that’s why I live here. I’m from Glasgow originally, but I’ve lived here on and off for 20 odd years.
“It’s obviously an area of contrast, so there’s still lots of poverty in life as well, and then there’s lots of shops and lots of difference.
I mean, there was that incident recently up there with the right wing attack, which was quite horrifying because we were out at that restaurant, and then this is where you live.
“So I don’t know about these things. I don’t know what it means or what it means to the people that live here.”
When asked whether she thought the award could present more hopeful vision of Leith, she said:
“But whose vision? Who’s looking at it? And whose vision is it? Whose gaze is it?
“I don’t know what that [the Town of Culture prize] means, because at the end of the day, it’s about the people that live here.
“Those planters, they’ve been planted up by the community, they’ve not been planted by the council, they didn’t bother with it. They bothered with Princes Street.”
Lilia, another Leith resident, said: “There’s so much going on, there’s so many great bars and restaurants and cafes. I think that’s the thing I love most about it. You walk down and there’s like a million places that you want to go into.
“It’s a bit funky and it’s got a lot going on.”
Georgia said: “I like the collection of shops; you can find things that you’d often have to quite out of the way to find in other cities.
“There’s a nice community, everybody’s out and about, and you know each other, you know your neighbours.
“It’s very much a living area.”
Marina, another local, said: “I like my friends. I know that’s a very basic answer, but I have a very lovely community, and they all happen to be based in Leith.”
