Edinburgh has been terrific at sustaining and developing festivals, but its record with permanent venues is abysmal. Leith Theatre was nearly sold off, Ross Bandstand is tragically neglected, Odeon boarded up for nearly 20 years + The Venue, Studio 24 & Picture House, Electric Circus all abandoned, and all in the name of gentrification.
(Brian Ferguson – Journalist for The Scotsman)

The loss of the above venues, as well as The Playhouse becoming a mainly musical theatre based venue, was the beginning of a steady decline in the Edinburgh live music scene. As a result, music fans from Edinburgh, The Lothians, Fife and the Borders find themselves regularly having to travel to Glasgow or elsewhere, to see bands. This presents various travel issues and costs which are listed in the travel issues and costs section below.

If nothing is done to change this situation then music fans will continue to face the same issues, as they have for many years now. In addition, Edinburgh will continue to miss out on the exciting opportunity of a new venue, missing out on the big names it would attract and the associated income it would generate for the city and businesses in the surrounding area.

Building a new venue or repurposing an existing building can take several years to get planning permission and complete, the time to act is now. The required funding need not come entirely from the Council. The Council could work in partnership with one of the big energy companies, or other types of company (like other citifies do), the Council might only need to provide the land.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, the heart of an economically powerful region, and home to 513,000 people. Approximately 2.8 million people reside within a 60-minute drive of the city and it is the only major European capital currently without a purpose-built indoor arena, or a central mid-sized venue for rock and pop bands.

The city is the UK’s most visited outside London. It is home to the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish legal system, and is the UK’s second largest centre for financial and pharmaceutical businesses.

In 2016, there were 15.6 million visitor nights in the Edinburgh and Lothian region, bringing £1.5 billion in expenditure. The world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe alone brings in the region of 3 million visitors, powering an associated festival economy currently valued at £313 million and rising.

The city boasts more FTSE 100 companies than any UK city outside London. With a number of high-performing sectors, from tech to financial services, Edinburgh is the 27th most popular conference destination in the world.

The city is home to a student population of 150,000 across no fewer than six universities and other colleges, benefiting from excellent talent retention. Nearly 50% of Edinburgh’s workforce is employed in high value ‘knowledge’ jobs and over 44% of its working population holds a degree or equivalent qualification.

Edinburgh to London by train is a four-hour journey and there are direct connections to 157 destinations served by 38 airlines flying from Edinburgh International Airport. With Michelin-starred restaurants rivalling many of its UK counterparts, Edinburgh has also been voted Favourite UK City by Conde Nast readers.

And all of this without a purpose-built indoor venue in Central Edinburgh for rock and pop live events…

Edinburgh now has a 02 Academy with a capacity of 3,000, however, it is approximately three miles outside the city centre, and gigs there are quite often poorly attended as a result.

The Usher Hall on Lothian Road is a fine venue with a capacity of 2,200, however, it is more geared towards Classical, Jazz, World and Folk music, and only rarely caters for the so-called low arts musician. Work will soon begin on the 1,000 capacity Dunard Centre concert hall behind Dundas House at St.Andrew Square. In addition, St. Mary's Music School will eventually relocate to the Old Royal High School. Both buildings will be geared towards classical musicians, no such provision or thought appears to be given to the so-called low arts musician.

As a result, Edinburgh is almost always ignored by mid-tier touring rock and pop bands. Cities like Glasgow, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, London etc. are always on these band's touring schedules, as they all have venues to cater for this size of band.

Glasgow

Glasgow was deservedly recognised as a UNESCO City of Music in 2008, and like most major cities, has venues to accommodate small to arena size bands. This petition is NOT an attempt to take any gigs away from Glasgow, but to attract more bands to come to both cities, like they did in the past. In order for that to happen, Edinburgh would need to have a large enough venue to accommodate mid-tier bands, just like all other major cities do.

Travel Issues and Costs

Car

Glasgow is an approximately 93 miles round trip away by car. To some, this may not sound like much, but it is NOT convenient or enjoyable to have to travel there by car.  

A purpose built venue would reduce car emissions as I wouldn't be surprised if about a quarter of Glasgow audiences commute from Edinburgh and other surrounding areas by car.

Train 

The last train to back to Edinburgh is around 23:30-23:45 and with most shows finishing around 23:00, this means worrying about missing the train and frequently having to leave before the end of the show. And of course, there is no longer any certainty that a train will even be running either to or from Glasgow or other cities.

Bus

Travelling by bus is slightly cheaper and the service is more reliable. But, once you arrive in Glasgow, getting to and from the venue involves a significant amount of walking. This usually has to be done at night, and unfamiliarity with the layout of the city takes a little bit of the shine off the gig experience for some people.

Hotels

To get around these issues, many fans decide to book a hotel in Glasgow and travel home the next day, usually requiring taking a day off work. This of course involves an additional expense, which would not be required, if these fans did not have to travel out of their own city to see a band.

In addition to the expenses listed above, going to concerts can be very expensive.  This has been well documented in mainstream media recently, e.g. £180 for Genesis at Glasgow Hydro recently!

It would be great to see an indoor venue with a 1,000-3,00 capacity, be built (new or repurposed building) in Central Edinburgh, instead of yet more student flats and hotels.

In summary, a new 1,000-3,000 capacity venue could:

• Spare rock and pop music lovers the additional expense and hassle caused by the nonsense of having to travel outside Edinburgh to see bands. Reducing car/bus emissions at the same time.
• Bring in income to hotels pubs and restaurants in the surrounding area.
• Provide tourists, students and locals with an additional source of entertainment, bringing income into the local economy.
• Help the local music scene as young musicians in Edinburgh could be inspired by the thought of playing a decent sized venue in their home town.

Memories of a once great live music scene when all the big names came to Edinburgh are nice, but the time has come to make new memories in a new music venue. It’s high time that Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, put itself back on the live music map once again!