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Visitors’ reasons for visiting the Capital in August appear to be changing, suggests Kevin Buckle

Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of The Midnight Organ Fight is a fitting tribute to an iconic Scottish album, writes Kevin Buckle

The St Andrew Square rink is one of the few Christmans attractions that Kevin Buckle is in favour of.

Post-punk poster features a line-up of bands it’s almost impossible to better, writes Kevin Buckle

Visitors standing in the middle of the road taking a Scott Monument selfie are blind to the risks, says Kevin Buckle.

Retailers are taking a hit from online shopping but could do more to help ourselves, says Kevin Buckle

Tribute act gigs at the Ross Bandstand are happening at the wrong place and wrong time, writes Kevin Buckle

I was disappointed to be accused on social media of being too cynical about the City Centre Transformation Plan consultation after last week’s column.

I’ve not had time to read the full City Centre Transformation Plan and the webcast for the transport and environment committee meeting is on while I write, but all the summaries seem agreed on what it is about.

Tomorrow is the first Open Streets event, in which a number of city centre streets will be closed to cars from noon to 5pm.

It was interesting to see the first shops being named for Edinburgh St James, even if they were just four different brands with one owner. No great surprise they were all clothing brands and it will be interesting to see what other types of retailer sign up and how many move from other locations.

I was shocked this week to see that Edinburgh council had almost tripled the rent of the Stills Gallery at the bottom of Cockburn Street. A petition had been set up and yes that confirmed “This year we face an almost trebling of our rent, from £16,000 a year to £47,000, which poses a huge threat to our future”.

Often when Avalanche was in the Grassmarket I would be met by a large group of whooping and boisterous folk as I left the shop after work. Undoubtedly annoying and certainly a little too noisy to say the least they would be making their way from one pub to the next on a stag do.

Whenever there is a major change in people’s behaviour it takes a while for those affected to adjust. This applies especially to businesses so whether it is folk no longer going to the pub or changing their shopping patterns the consequences are well documented.

Hot on the heels of the wise family of Verona in my column a few weeks ago who saw little wrong with Edinburgh I had a long conversation with a family from Copenhagen.

There have been lots of old customers from West Nicolson Street and Cockburn Street days visiting the new Waverley Mall shop, but what I didn’t expect was the large number of young people that have been in from our time in the Grassmarket which ended only a few years ago.

Recently I’ve seen figures quoted about Madrid’s closing of its city centre to cars last Christmas claiming it to be a great result for the businesses there

With Avalanche now reincarnated as Avalanche Gapinski at Waverley Mall I’ve been in every day this week as I find the only way to get a feel for a place and the customers is to be there.

News that Carol Grigor, often labelled as Scotland’s most generous arts patron, was leaving Scotland after changes in the UK’s “non-dom” tax laws threatened to wipe out the family fortune came just as ministers will be starting to consider the fate of the Royal High School Hotel after the public inquiry.