‘It’s still got a community attitude but that’s borne of the people who stay here’
Retired Bill Brownlee, 72, moved into the Colonies 29 years ago, buying his lowerlevel flat for just £55,000 at the time after admiring the peaceful nature of the neighbourhood and its community spirit.
A resident of Edinburgh for over 40 years, Bill believes that the area’s history shouldn’t be forgotten – and is glad to see longstanding traditions of community events being enjoyed by new residents.
“It was built in the late 1800s, and it was initially built to accommodate the artisans in the area. It was built as a co-operative movement by and for artisans in the area,” Bill said.
“It has drifted away from that – it’s seen as sort of a trendy area now in certain respects.
“Having said that, it’s still got a fairly good community. There are still people like myself that have been here quite a number of years, and even people that have been born and brought up here whose parents have passed and left them the house.
“It’s still got a community attitude, but that’s borne out of the people who stay here. There are still families that have been there for a while.
“There’s lots of events that take place over the year that raise that community spirit.
“At Christmas, we have a ceilidh where tickets initially go out to the residents of the colonies, and then if there are any left over, other folk can come to the ceilidh.
“There’s also a yearly yard sale coming up in May, and there can be 30 odd houses participating.
''It’s just putting stuff out for sale in your garden, but that attracts a big influx of people coming into the area just for the day.
“There’s a Creative Colonies, whereby within the colonies housing, there are a few creative types that design or do artwork and they’ll invite people into their houses for viewing and purchasing art goods.
“There’s all sort of things in this community that keep it vibrant.”
However, Bill believes that skyrocketing house prices and rents have made it much more difficult for young people to secure a place in the now sought-after neighbourhood – and says he wouldn’t be able to afford to buy his own flat today.
“I bought my flat nearly 30 years ago, and I couldn’t afford to buy it now – I think that’s unfair for people coming in,” he said.
“Mine was advertised at £58,000, and it needed some remedial work. I think I got it for around £55,000. That seems like nothing now, but nearly 30 years ago, that was still a fair amount to pay.
“There are the lower colonies and the upper colonies, and they enter from different streets. The upstairs houses are usually bigger and command a greater price.
“If one of those is done up nicely, they can be over half a million in today’s prices.
“There’s a certain draw to this area that instils the higher price – but I like the historical importance.”