Festival organiser demands end to demolition threat to music venue
One of Scotland’s leading festival and event organisers has urged Edinburgh to halt the demolition of a live music venue to make way for a “banal” student housing and hotel development on one of its major thoroughfares.
Former concert promoter Peter Irvine has warned that Leith Walk is being ruined by a rash of “concrete block” developments, including the one threatening the future of its main year-round venue.
Mr Irvine, founder of Regular Music and Unique Events, said the city needed “local destination places” like Leith Depot to thrive in future, but was driving out independent operators in favour of real estate firms and student housing operators.
His views have emerged just weeks after author Irvine Welsh called for Leith Depot to be saved and warned that Leith Walk was being ruined by the “crass exploitation” of property developers.
The operators of Leith Depot have vowed to fight the prospect of demolition and campaign to reduce the impact of the “monstrous” property development on the area.
It emerged in March that Leith Depot was one of several businesses expected to be affected by plans by the Drum Property Group for a huge swathe of land at Stead’s Place.
The firm claims that its proposals for student housing, a hotel, affordable housing and new retail units will “revitalise an important part of the city”.
However Mr Irvine, who is also the author of the bestselling Scotland the Best travel guide, said: “This isn’t just about one live music venue
0 Leith Depot’s Pete Mason, Paddy Kavanagh and Julie Carty are determined to fight plans to demolish the live music venue which is going to be trashed. It’s also about an area where emerging businesses and independents of one kind of another can still start there.
“Leith Walk is the one part of town where independent business and entrepreneurs have been able to afford to open in recent years.
“There is still a whole load on them at the moment, but Leith Walk is changing fast, and not for the better, because of the leaping property prices and explosion of student accommodation. It’s not just businesses that are being squeezed out. There seems to be an unstoppable demand for new student accommodation, all of which is utterly boring. Developers just throw them up – they don’t care.
A statement from Leith Depot said: “If demolishing this block is allowed to happen, it will mean the end of another independent grassroots venue. This cannot happen and should be stopped.
“We understand the developers own this land and they are wanting to develop the site, but it needs to be done responsibly. This building is currently viable and the businesses there employ a lot of people.”
Fife Hyland, commercial director of the Drum Property Group, said: “Current tenants returning on subsidised rent, retaining a music venue and building affordable housing are all key elements within our plans.”