£7.7m shot in the arm from Trainspotting
How mean streets became locations of choice...
IT is expected to be a blockbuster hit when it opens in cinemas today.
But it’s not only the box office that will be cashing in on the revival of Trainspotting. For T2 – which sees director Danny Boyle return to his 1 6 classic – has helped boost Edinburgh’s economy by £7.7million.
Film Edinburgh, the city’s movie office, said 2016 was a record year for money invested on shooting productions in the capital – up 11.5 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Rosie Ellison, of Film Edinburgh, said: ‘Having started working with the T2 production team in October 2015, we knew 2016 was going to be a big year for filming in Edinburgh, but the results are simply inspiring.
‘The stature and calibre of productions now using the Edinburgh region as their backdrop is having a positive impact on filming and led to us celebrating a record-breaking year for filming productions.’
Last spring, T2 film crews and actors spent three months shooting in more than 50 locations around the city and the Lothians – including Arthur’s Seat, Princes Street and Leith. Boyle said: ‘The goodwill from local individuals and organisations towards the production made it a pleasure to be back filming in the city.’
Another production that helped boost Edinburgh’s economy last year was feature film Churchill, starring Dundee actor Brian Cox, which is due to hit cinemas this spring.
US time-travel drama Outlander, Bollywood film Tum Bin 2 and children’s programme Teacup Travels were also among 321 features filmed in and around the capital.
The multi-million-pound boost is ‘direct spend’, including accommodation, catering and location fees, from the combined 37 days productions spent filming in the city.
However, as the figures do not include cash spent by crews in bars, shops and restaurants, the economic impact is certain to be even greater.
IT says everything about how far the cast of Trainspotting have come in 20 years when you discover that the invitation to their world premiere after-party read: ‘Choose ostentation, selfcongratulation and canapés.’ Canapés? One shudders to imagine what Robert Carlyle’s character Begbie would have told you to do with a canapé when the Edinburgh-based film first hit our screens in 1996. But then Leith was a very different animal to the bohemian pussycat we see today.
The Volunteer Arms on Leith Walk – the Volley in the parlance of Begbie – converted to a smart gin and whisky bar in 2014.
Running Renton would be more likely to be knocked down by a Lycra-clad jogger today, rather than the car that struck him as he tried to outpace the chasing security guards.
But anyone choosing to buy a property in locations featured in the original film two decades ago would be seeing a handsome return on their investment as its sequel opens today.
Researchers at the Bank of Scotland studied property inflation rates in areas that featured in the ground-breaking movie. Their findings have shown homes in some favoured post codes have risen more than 200 per cent in value.
After waves of young professionals colonised the area, Leith has long divested itself of its spit-and-saw-dust drinking establishments.
Now, it boasts the highest number of Michelin-starred restaurants in Scotland and comes replete with urban delis, swanky bars and cool artistic hang-outs.
In 1996, the average property in Leith cost £59,902. Fast forward 20 years and average prices have risen to £182,440 – a leap of 205 per cent. Other areas featured in the Trainspotting film have fared just as well. The bookie’s, where Renton climbs out of the ‘worst toilet in Scotland’, was located on Muirhouse’s Pennywell Road before it closed down.
Here, within the EH4 post code, the average house price has risen 206 per cent in 20 years – from £86,281 in 1996 to £266,748 last December. And it is not just Edinburgh’s property that has prospered in the intervening 20 years. The Volcano night club, where Renton meets Diane, was located in Glasgow’s Benalder Street.
While it has long since been demolished and replaced by flats, its neighbouring properties in the G11 post code have shot up 218 per cent – from £56,486 then to £179,833 today.
Across the city, Rouken Glen Park in Giffnock was used in shooting practice by Sick Boy, whose weapon alighted on an unfortunate dog. Here, average properties in the G46 post code have risen 194 per cent to £231,362 (1996 price £78,799).
Despite the many comments from luvvies that Trainspotting changed their lives, the everyday tale of heroin addicts in the dark recesses of Scotland’s capital probably didn’t change house prices. And for anyone who believes it’s ‘s **** being Scottish’ needs only look at the explosion in London’s property market at the same time.
The flat Renton tries to let on the corner of Talgarth Road and North End Road in London is just around the corner from West Kensington Tube Station.
In this quaint enclave, the average price went from £125,271 to a staggering £674,840 today – an increase of 439 per cent.
The lesson is clear. Choose life. Choose a lifetime mortgage.