Eighties Edinburgh: 15 fabulous photos which will make you nostalgic for Edinburgh in the 1980s
Gary Flockhart
·3-min read
French circus Archoas can be seen here driving a motorbike over a car on Waverley Bridge as part of a publicity stunt for their Edinburgh Festival Fringe show. Year: 1989 (Photo: Joe Steele)
For some it was 'the decade that taste forgot’, while for others it was a time of great pop music and a golden era for fashion. Whatever your feelings about the 80s, it was an eventful time to be living in the city of Edinburgh.
Take a look through our photo gallery and let us know your own memories in the comments section before you go.
An old No 7 Edinburgh tram can be seen here getting taken to Blackpool on the back of a lorry. Year: 1983 (Photo: Stan Warburton)
Crowds gathered in the rain outside resister House in Princes Street to watch the Evening news-sponsored Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade in August 1985 (Photo: Joe Steele)
Curlers check out the new seven lane curling rink at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Year: 1980 (Photo: Hamish Campbell)
Protesters gathered to protest against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when she arrived in Edinburgh to open the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Year: 1981 (Photo: Denis Straughan)
An Edinburgh taxi is dressed up as a racing car for the Evening News Festival Cavalcade. It can be seen here making its way down Princes Street. Year: 1983 (Photo: Bill Stout/Bill Newton)
Jimmy Cole, Edinburgh milkman, breaks the news to his horse Nippy that Scotmid are to stop doorstep milk delivery in October. Year: 1984 (Photo: Alan Ledgerwood)
Here Leith Division Guides and Brownies take part in the Leith Pageant. Year: 1986 (Photo: Albert Jordan)
Edinburgh businessman Wallace Mercer, former Lord Provost Kenneth Borthwick, Alan Grosset and athlete Allan Wells launch the MacCommonwealth Lottery, a fundraiser for the Commonwealth Games in 1986. Year: 1986. (Photo: Alan ledgerwood)
Scottish band Wet Wet Wet visited the HMV shop on Princes Street to sign records. Year: 1987 (Photo: Bill Stout)
Crowds gather outside the Royal Scottish Academy to see Edinburgh skiffle band Wray Gunn and the Rockets performing on the streets during the Edinburgh Festival. Year: 1987 (Photo: Stan Warburton)
Queen Elizabeth II can be seen here chatting to Fred Lonie at the Edinburgh Crystal department whilst visiting during the 150th anniversary exhibition at Jenners department store. Year: 1988 (Photo: Albert Jordan)
Banned book Spycatcher by Peter Wright, the controversial memoirs of a retired British intelligence agent, was available at Grange bookshop in Edinburgh. The ban was worked around by giving the book away free with another purchase. Year: 1987 (Photo: Stanley Hunter)
Here you can see the exterior and sign at Fountain Brewery, the Scottish & Newcastle Breweries site at Fountainbridge. Year: 1988 (Photo: Derek McNaughton)
Scottish writer Muriel Spark accepts an honorary degree from Edinburgh University during the graduation ceremony at McEwan Hall. Year: 1989 (Photo: Albert Jordan)
Princess Anne can be seen here with the horses at the Royal Highland Show, held at Ingliston Showground in Edinburgh. Year: 1989 (Photo: Jack Crombie)
Two years ago, after yet another couple of nights of rioting in the banlieues, twenty retired French generals wrote an open letter to Emmanuel Macron, then about to run for a second term, warning that the divisions between communities and increasing “violence and nihilism” in France would eventually cause a social breakdown, with a risk of “chaos” leading to a “civil war” that would then “require” a military “intervention… in a dangerous mission to protect our civilisational values and safeguard
A father’s last moments protecting his son before he was murdered in the street by a gang armed with machetes and zombie knives has been caught on CCTV. Kelvin Ward, 50, was stabbed after leaving a KFC with his son, who the gang had been trying to kill, on 18 April. The armed gang launched themselves at Mr Ward as they chased him across the street, before he was fatally stabbed.
For much of this year and before 7 October, naval gazers had about four areas to look at. First, the ongoing fight in the Black Sea with the Russian blockade weaponizing hunger despite regular Ukrainian successes there. The Russians were also keeping navies busy in the high north and the North Atlantic.
Call off the search: the worst show of 2023 is here. That is, unless you’re a 13-year-old boy, in which case Obliterated (Netflix) is your dream product. Guns! Naked breasts! A lead character who is a government operative but also looks smokin’ hot in a red bikini! And that’s before we get to the script, in which a foreign baddie plots to nuke Las Vegas. Standing in his way is an elite tactical unit (the best kind) whose members say things like: “We’re supposed to stop the bad guy with the bomb”
Donald Trump has been accused of using his company’s funds to pay his tax and legal bills, in breach of a court ruling that requires him to notify a financial auditor before withdrawing cash.
How’s Brexit working out? There have been some marginal positives, but in terms of the economy, it’s been mainly downside, and on the issues that really matter to voters – particularly immigration and a better functioning health service with more money behind it – Brexit has so far manifestly failed to deliver.
Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas joined the likes of Zara Tindall and Princess Beatrice to support Princess Eugenie for an important reason on Wednesday night. See photos.
As Eurocrats-in-chief go, Ursula von der Leyen has generally been relatively inoffensive to British sensibilities. Most of us were dimly aware that she was one of those people who excel at “failing upwards”, with her emergence as President of the European Commission following a chequered spell as Germany’s defence minister.
Henry Nicholls/ReutersThe British royal family is reportedly taking legal advice after Piers Morgan named the two so-called “royal racists” on his Talk TV show in Britain on Wednesday night. Buckingham Palace is “considering all options,” including taking legal action, the Mirror reported after Morgan said the names of the two senior royals that had featured in the Dutch version of Endgame, Omid Scobie’s new book. The names appeared in a section about who had discussed the skin color of Meghan M
The Var at the centre of the PSG-Newcastle penalty controversy has been removed from Champions League duty after authorities concluded both he and the referee were at fault.