Edinburgh's West End π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ ~ Scotland
Edinburgh's West End π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ
We are back in Edinburgh today, the capital of Scotland and the city where I grew up in and went to school and university.
You can't really give it justice in one post so we shall be focusing around Shandwick Place, an area close to my heart, and you will find out why as you read the article.
As you can see from the worldmappin map below the West End of Edinburgh is the area to the West of Princes St. Today we are taking a snapshot of the gorgeous Georgian architecture around Shandwick Place, the twin crescents Atholl and Coates and finally Ava Street to give you a sample of the architecture of the period and life today.
Spring sunshine and Queensferry Street our starting point
Princes Street where you see the yellow buses is the main street in Edinburgh and has changed so much over the years. Now cars are not allowed along it, so often people will drop you off here on Queensferry Street.
On the corner of Princes St and Lothian road is the church you see in the pictures.
St John's Scottish Episcopal Church
St. John's Episcopal Church was started in 1816 and was completed and consecrated on Maundy Thursday, March 19, 1818. It was designed by the architect William Burn in the Perpendicular Gothic style.
Churches often give a fascinating insight into the culture and history of a town and country and this is no different.
Some of you might have heard of Episcopal and Presbyterian without knowing their differences.
At the Scottish Reformation in the 1500s the Scottish Church fell into two parts, Episcopal (with Bishops) and Presbyterian (without Bishops, governed by elders).
The church deserves a post of its own, as does its sister church St Paulβs and St Georgeβs in York Place at the East End of Princes Street.
Read all about the history of the church.
The old Binns Category B-listed building
145 Princes St on the corner is the 8 story building which now houses the Johnny Walker experience.
The Johnnie Walker Princes Street experience opened its doors to the public on September 6, 2021. The transformation of the building took over four years.
The building has a rich history and was Binns department store then House of Fraser and now The Johnnie Walker Princes Street experience.
You can book a tour with drinks and in some cases meals and chocolate from Β£30 to over Β£450!
I am not a big whisky drinker but never really thought of Johnny Walker as a good whisky. It is blended and I am more of a purist want to drink a single malt, not some blended nonsense mixed with Coke!
West End shots
Queensferry Street on the left and Hope Street on the right.
Looking towards Princes St from Shandwick Place.
Shandwick Place
You can see the tram tracks, which were reintroduced to parts of Edinburgh a few years ago.
This is where my appointment was. I was early so have time to show you around an area which I used to often visit as a child.
Charlotte Baptist Chapel
This church is not the church that I used to know!
Let me tell you why...
Charlotte Baptist Chapel is an evangelical Baptist church and is affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) and the Pillar Network.
Established in 1808 by Christopher Anderson, the congregation originally took over a former Episcopalian chapel on Rose Street in 1912, and became known for significant revivals. In 2016 the chapel relocated to its current Shandwick Place site, which was formerly St George's West Church. St George's had closed in 2013 with the congregation moving across the road to yes you guessed it St John's Scottish Episcopal Church.
Talk about musical chairs church style!
Coates Crescent a typical Edinburgh Georgian New Town crescent
This is Coates Crescent and with its twin, Atholl Crescent, were part of Edinburgh's New Town western development that was more or less completed by 1825.
Here is Atholl crescent, you will see that they the two crescents mirror each other with the main road Shandwick Place running through them.
Beware of the blooming trams!
Melville Crescent
In the distance you can see Melville Crescent and in the middle is a statue...
The statue is of Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville.
Melville Crescent is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is currently undergoing public realm improvements, including wider footways and new street trees which means more fluffing roadworks!
Robert Dundas 2nd Viscount Melville
Coates Crescent Gardens
Coates Crescent came into the care of the City of Edinburgh Council in 1949 and is most known for the statue.
Gladstone Memorial
The Gladstone Memorial commemorates William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) who served four terms as the British Prime Minister.
It is a bronze and granite monument and was completed in 1917 by the sculptor James Pittendrigh MacGillivray.
It features a central statue of Gladstone in Chancellor's robes, surrounded by allegorical figures representing virtues such as Eloquence, History, Fortitude, and Faith.
Fun fact ~ It was originally sited in St Andrew Square but was moved to its current prominent position in Coates Crescent in 1955.
Beware the trams
They are everywhere...
... and there is a tram alighting point , tram stop whatever it is called in the middle of Shandwick Place.
Look at the time, it is flying, so time to cross over into Atholl crescent.
Atholl Crescent Gardens
Atholl Crescent came into the care of the City of Edinburgh Council in 1948 which some of you observant readers might remember was one year earlier than Coates Crescent.
Another Fun fact ~ the minute of agreement between the Council, the Atholl Crescent proprietors and the George Heriot Trust were never executed and therefore they were reaffirmed in 1957.
There is no memorial on this side of the street, but the shrubs and grass are pretty similar, and yes gets watered! Just as well as we are having the driest spring in decades!
Going back in time
The reason Atholl Crescent holds a place in my heart is because it was where my father worked for a few years.
I would come to his office after school. He was a surveyor for a local firm. I always remember the owner greeting me with a glass of whisky in his hand and a cigarette hanging from his mouth...
"Now then you fluffing wee rascal, how was school today? Will you have a dram with me?"
Dram meaning a glass of whisky, lol I was only about 12... changed days!
The business is long gone.
Time to get to my appointment.
Appointment finished I need to get back home to Fife as I had another appointment there.
The great thing about this part of the West End is that there are a couple of bus stops where buses from all over stop.
I can get here from my home by bus quicker than driving and trying to find a parking space!
Time waits for nobody. Most of these shops and businesses have all changed hands since I was at school.
A street I know well
Your typical Georgian New town straight street as opposed to the crescents we saw previously.
This one is Alva Street.
It is where the family of one of my mother's bridesmaids and one of my godmothers lived.
Her husband was a lawyer in Edinburgh before he moved to Inverness to be the Procurator Fiscal.
Sad times though as one of their sons died from a drugs overdose.
Talking of drugs ... Not a fun fact ~ Edinburgh used to be the Heroin capital of Europe.
Dinner anyone, I am getting peckish!
Forage & Chatter used to be quite a nice restaurant albeit too pricey.
Well that is a shame, they went bust. I did see via a search that they tried to sell the business without the branding or IP.
Why would you buy a restaurant without the IP and branding? No wonder it hasn't sold!
Well the bus is here and so it is time to finish our wee tour of Edinburgh's West End.
Have you been to any of these places I highlighted?
Cheers everyone and I hope you enjoyed our little adventure!
This post is for #wednesdaywalk which was inspired by @tattoodjay
Thanks for visiting and I hope you managed to get out for a walk this week.
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated. Note images are all snapped by me with my Google Pixel 9 XL Pro smartphone on the 6th May 2025 and four were used in canva to make the lead image.
@tengolotodo May 21st 2025
DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT OFTEN
Haste Ye Back!
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I loved this great tour of Edinburgh. Thank you, Super Ed! Who knows how life turns and maybe one day I will be able to visit it.
I am not very fond of whisky either, but I think I have told you before, Venezuelans love whisky and surely if they visit the city they would love that Johnny Walker experience hehe.
I love cities with trams. I love the pictures you show of the city. I think that in my mind since the 90s I had associated with Edinburgh with the images of Trainspotting, it's great to have this new vision.
Happy week Super Ed!
Hehe Trainspotting, did you see Trainspotting 2?
Thank you Super Eli, the weather was gorgeous which always put things in a great light!
Oh yes the whisky, so many have whisky and coke but they use blended whisky such as Johnny Walker!
I love how Super Eli is getting active again on Hive, here is to a beautiful week for us π
The buildings of Edinburgh are beautiful, Ed! I hope that I can one day visit Scotland; you never know, perhaps we share common ancestryπ
Churches can tell a lot about the history of towns and cities. They played such a big role over centuries, sadly even the cause of wars.
As for trams, we've not had any here for many many moons so it was quite a thing having to keep out their way when visiting my son in the Netherlands, not to talk of bicycles as well! Gave my son, and myself quite a fright a couple of times!
Awesome post Ed.
The trams used to part of Edinburgh when my father was a kid, but not when I was, so to have them now is a bit strange, but he never saw them back before he passed away. Yeah they give me a fright too!
Thanks Lizzie, these posts are always fun to write and I do try to include some history in them. Churches are fascinating and we had such a turbulent time during the reformation, like you say at war with each other!
Maybe one day I will be able to make a trip to Scotland. My Ancestory says that I am about 20% Scottish. I know it is on my mother's side of the family. If I really got serious of my geneaology I am sure I could figure out who and where from, but just haven't gotten into it that much. Who knows, maybe we have some distant relation.
It is a fun place to visit and if the weather is good then there is not much better place to see.
Hehe there are a heck of a lot of Americans with some sort of Scottish blood in them somewhere.
I remember once in Florida a waitress when she found out I was Scottish, asked me if I knew her great aunt Helen from Scotland. Eh Scotland is a big place I told her lol.
I hear the weather can be fickle there. Is that true?
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You have presented the place in such a way that it is possible to get a good idea about this place. The place is very beautiful. Also, the old churches here are now quite interesting. Best wishes to you.
It's a bonnie wee toon as we would say! Thanks for enjoying it.
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That's brilliant, thanks guys and have a cracking day!
Hey @tengolotodo you are welcome.
Thanks for using @worldmappin π
A wonderful tour of this area, brought back memories of my visits there, such a charming city with so much history, LOved my times there
Thanks for joining the Wednesday walk
Have a great day
If you carried on be walking you would have ended up close to Murrayfield. There is heaps of history and you nailed it as charming is a word I also use to describe Edinburgh.
Here is to a great rest of the week for us all.
I did make it to Murrayfield a couple of times for All Black Matches
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πππ₯³ Congratulations π₯³ππ
Your post has just been curated and upvoted by Ecency
keep up the good work
I really want to cross the north sea again some day but that boat trip is such time consuming thing :D
Join us on the Ecency Discord
Thanks for the curation Mick, ah the boat trip, we did Newcastle to Amsterdam last summer. Give me a boat over a plane now any day!
Thank you so much @jlinaresp for the @visualshots curation and I wish you a great rest of your day.
Thanks to you cor sharing yor great work @tengolotodo friend!... Big pleasure for us in the @visualshots team to support and appreciate it!
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This looks like a beautiful place! I hope I get the chance to visit there one day. I know what you mean about a post getting too long. I started writing my post this morning and about halfway through I realized I was going to need to break it up into two posts!
Yeah Edinburgh is still a gorgeous city even though the amount of tourists and things designed for tourists has gone through the roof.
Need to watch out for the narrow roads with your camper van though!
I don't think there is any way I would fit through there! Not without taking down some historic landmarks in the process!
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What a interesting and educative tour of Edinburgh. It's indeed a beautiful city and it still shines till date.
Good wish - I'd love to visit here one day.
!BBH
You would enjoy it luchyl, still a very charming city to me.
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STOPThanks Buzzy and here's to a happy voting week for us all!
Those historical places are always worth visiting. The way you describe it makes it more Interestingπππ
hehe you know I love to write a post as I would be reading it, so I try to make it fun for people.
I mean who wants to read some boring shit
Hiya, @lauramica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2567.
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That's awesome, thanks so much @lauramica for the @worldmappin curation π
You are very welcome @tengolotodo! it was well deserved. βοΈ
Keep up the great work πͺ
My dream place where I really want to visit, The city is truly stunning, with its fascinating old churches adding a touch of historical intrigue. Itβs a place where history and beauty blend seamlessly, offering something special for every visitor...
It's full of history, which has not changed over the centuries.
Congratulations, Ed! You made a golden publication. All so complete, clear, accurate, fun. This the kind of postings that are worth a thousand points on any platform, my friend. Thanks for sharing it with us. I am a lover of Gothic architecture, so I was drooling over the images of St. John's Scottish Episcopal Church (I look forward to that post where you show it inside). Ah, I am positively amazed at how in many European cities the old and the modern coexist. An excellent walk, as always! Hugs, my friend
You know that I am a firm believer that learning should be fun. If something is fun then we want to do it and will learn more and faster.
i remember when I was a guest lecturer at a university in Aberdeen to Masters students. They loved my lectures so much that some of the Indian students would invite me to go and be cooked for.
Thank you Nancy I love it when a fun post can be historical and we can learn from it.
Oh you know I have some churches to show you!
A big gothic hug coming your way Nancy :)
This looks like a perfect day for a walk around town. I like how all of the building have the same sort of classic style, it really feels like a cohesive neighborhood with a history. Unfortunately, far too often you see cities where old buildings are torn down and replaced with some boring modernist box. The city also looks quite clean and fresh, with not so many cars. It find its rare to find major cities that aren't overcrowded with cars or motorbikes. I would love to visit some day. Thank you for sharing. Cheers!
That part of town on the main roads they made it public transport only. Much of it is in a UNESCO heritage zone and many of the old buildings are listed buildings which means they can't be demolished etc.
This part of town was built in the Georgian times so much of the architecture is the same.
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Ah that makes sense then. I'm glad they decided to protect it. I always enjoy walking down streets that are much the same as they were in historical times, great for daydreaming haha
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Oh my! The town is perfect for walking. The buildings are also beautiful. Scotland is one of my dream country to travel with. And when I read your post and saw pictures showing how beautiful the place isβ¦ it encourage me to visit there. And Iβm hoping that one day I can see it through my eyes. Have a great day ahead. Greetings from the Philippines.
Salamat Des, Scotland is a beautiful country and you will be glad to know we even have a couple of Jollibee restaurants!
thanks for taking me on this tour. it just feels like i was there with you on this
You are welcome and I am try to write so people can feel as if they are going along on the tour :)
I really enjoyed reading your post. The site looks very nice, it always strikes me that such old buildings are so well preserved.
I was also very struck by the fact that you were offered a glass of whiskey when you were just twelve years old, as you say, times have changed. If you do that now I'm sure it will create some legal problems for you.
Thanks for sharing, dear @tengolotodo, the photo gallery is very good. A big hug from Maracay.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Hehe times have changed now for sure. For the better, I am not sure, but they have definitely changed!
Old buildings and architecture need to be preserved, and many of these are protected by law which is a good thing.
Thanks for popping in Irvin and a hug from Scotland.
Here little importance is given to the conservation of old buildings, which is very unfortunate.
My father was very fond of whiskey, especially Johnnie Walker. Some years ago, when the economic crisis had not arrived, Venezuelans were the biggest consumers of whiskey in Latin America. Now it's not like that, the average bottle of 12 year old whiskey is around 30$, a very high price for most of them. Happy day dear friend.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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I have only been to Edinburgh once, it was early january few years back and it was still rammed with tourists! I spent most of my time wandering through the city's amazing gothic graveyards.
lol well once budget airlines got so popular Edinburgh got slammed all year round. So when we came back to Scotland we moved over the water to Fife. It is cheaper less all year round tourists, and only 40 minutes from Edinburgh.
There are so beautiful graveyards, we had one not far from where we lived in Inverleith where I used to walk the dogs. They were Alaskan Malamutes (basically big Huskies) and you got into the graveyard via a hole in the wall. When it was night and the dogs started howling like wolves, the junkies in there shat themselves π€£π€£
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St. John's is a beautiful gothic style church, really cool. I would love to see the whole building, it looks awesome. The streets look beautiful there as well, the old streets you grew up!
You're dad sounds like a nice guy, and nothing wrong with some whiskey. I'll pass on the cigarettes though. What a shame about godmother's son dying of an overdose. Sounds like it was a heroine lover's paradise years back. I'm glad those days are over.
What a pretty city, I would love to visit one of these days. Hopefully not too far in the future!
Yeah there are a few gothic churches that I need to take some pictures of and post there. Mind you some of my longer travel posts are like your Sunday post as they take over two hours quite easily with choosing the pictures, doing some research and then writing words!
Yeah the old guy was a character and that is what people used to do. Changed times now, not sure if they are better or not but definitely changed!
Edinburgh is a great city and it was great growing up there as it was not crowded with tourists like now lol