An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
C.C. Blooms – the popular club at 23–4 Greenside Place next to the Playhouse – has applied for listed building consent to replace details of its fascia (Ref. 12/00172/LBC).
The firm wants to instal new, internally lit sign and menu boxes, and to substitute new lettering in a less bulky style to achieve a 'more tasteful effect'.
That trundling, rumbling, clickety-clack sound you can hear in the background is the Spurtle production team nervously rattling their teeth as Issue 203 passes through the presses.
Barring last-minute snarl-ups, the February edition will appear across pubs, clubs, eateries and meeteries, hair salons, galleries, antique shops, greengrocers and a multitude of other odd spots across Broughton from tomorrow onwards.
Hats off to the Broughton Street A-board artist who arrrived at this novel explanation for where coffee comes from.
However, some locals will surely be wishing they'd known about it the last time they went into Artisan Roast and ordered a capuccino.
Many thanks to the seven Spurtle readers who drew this interesting innovation to our attention.
Four artists feature at the Union Gallery this month, in an exhibition titled Poetic Licence.
Taking pride of place is the Cromarty Series by James Newton Adams: a collection of childlike acrylics detailing life in and around the Cromarty Firth on Scotland's north-east coast, most created in direct response to short poems by the writer Iain Finlay Macleod.
'Ooh, lovely – no traffic!' was the reaction of a window shopper we recently overheard admiring this work. 'Yes, but look at the subsidence,' replied her companion, showing all the artistic sensibility of a chartered surveyor.
The work in question is by Kelly Stewart, and depicts Broughton Street as seen from Mansfield Place. It is currently on sale as a limited edition print in Concrete Wardrobe.
It’s not funny and it’s not clever, but this spectacular splat is nevertheless strangely compelling.
The huge splurge of pink spray-insulation recently squirted onto a fence on Broughton Road creates forms reminiscent of fungus, blancmange, molten lava and masticated bubble-gum.
Despite appearances, they are crusty to the touch.
Spurtle deplores this mis-use of a product better deployed in disabling burglar alarms.
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In the last month, Spurtle has stumbled across a really excellent website detailing the Edinburgh roots of interconnected Italian families in Greenside and Picardy Place from their arrival here in the mid-19th century.
The site has been compiled by Helen Quilletti Stanton, and represents a remarkable feat in retracing her ancestors' footsteps in a style which is both easy to follow and interesting to read.
Kavelle – a Gorgie-based bridal couture company – seeks planning consent to enlarge openings at the front of 4–5 Brandon Terrace, and replace existing windows with a new shop front (Ref. 12/00058/FUL).
Greens share the vision of Scotland controlling more of its own destiny, and we will be part of the campaign for independence in the coming years, writes Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian region.
However, our vision is one of a much broader devolution of power, rather than any narrow nationalism. We want to see powers handed from the UK to Scotland, but then far more powers going from Scotland to local councils and from councils to communities.
The wish of the Scottish Government to hold a referendum on Scottish independence must be respected, writes Mark Lazarowicz, Westminster MP for Edinburgh North and Leith.