Newkirkgate Shopping Centre — Attraction in City of Edinburgh

Imagine a place where Lidl or Greggs is the most poshest of the shops.. yeah? Welcome to NKSC - there are also 2 dispensing chemists (Boots & Lloyds), a £5 crew-cut barber, greasy burger & hot-dog cart, HBOS, newsagent, First Choice Travel, several charity shops and a rent-to-buy Warehouse.

But it has 'character' - I hear people saying to me - well..no it hasn't. Drunk people from 7am onwards doesn't count towards having character. People with different stages of inebriation and disabilities alike, in electric wheel chairs or crutches. Junkies with their dogs and alcoholics blocking the entries to shops and passways and ... "NO I HAVE NOT GOT 60p FOR YOU!" - Character? My arse.

Anyway, this area is the place where you can pass through to get too the Shore. When it is bright day or early evening. You can. If not, don't. When this place is shut - last shop to close is Lidl - it transforms itself into the Leith of yore. Shady, creepy and generally unpleasant.

I give it an extra star for Boots, Poundland and Lidl

Yes, they have ahem improved the centre from what it was. There is an NHS Dental Clinic - (much needed for some local 'benchers') and Greggs the Baker has a shop (obviously), what can only be described as a 'Posh Greggs'. Which funnily enough does improve the quality of shopping in this concrete mistake.

They've made some pavement improvements and Queen Victoria statue is still there. However the local bench occupiers, with their white lightning cider, are still there (although they now have fewer benches to occupy, they just huddle...

It's a great little neighbourhood shopping centre, much maligned by MSM from leafy Upper Edinburgh... No craft beers I'm afraid No specialist craft bakers No Michelin restaurants, sorry... Just loads of really useful places to all manner of goods and services, which the 'skint little people' like myself enjoy doing... Ya know groceries, household goods, food, sausage rolls, medicines, take away coffees, cash machines, getting our teeth fixed, eyes checked, birthday cards etc, etc, etc... Yeah it's a bit dated and tired, but then probably most folk are happy with having loads of businesses and retail outlets on their doorstep, rather than glitz and glamour.... Kirkgate is surely within walking distance from afar as The Shore, Leith Links and most of Leith Walk... tram stop next door, busses every 10 minutes or so... So yeah, Kirkgate isn't a St. James Quarter... no Rolex's on sale, or Lego, or Sushi etc. One thing that does let it down are some folk who tend to congregate with open cans of drink and get a bit rowdy, but they're pretty much moved on or left to their own devices, don't let that...

Very run down. Also, a large number of drug addicts and alcoholics loiter here. I only shop here because it is close by and to enjoy the occasional entertainment provided by said loiterers squaring up to each other.

Eight years later and nothing much has changed. Only the faces of the jaykies and junkies. One suspects that the previous crowd are now no longer with us (so to speak). The dealers are still there, though.

However, all the shop units are occupied. Unusual in this day and age. You can buy most things here, from food to clothes and paracetamol. It's like a village but with a difference. Not where you want to linger and soak up the scenery. No, get in, get what you need and get out.

It's a shame, really. The problem is societal and not easily fixed. It could be a lovely place,...