While some of today’s summer holidays attractions were as popular ‘back in the day’, day trips by train and to the cinema seemed a lot more popular in the ‘good old days’, with many kids simply spending hours most days playing football in Edinburgh’s parks or even in the streets, with ‘jumpers for goalposts’ often required.
Some great places to visit during the school summer holidays have now unfortunately gone forever, including Brattasani’s chip shops, Little Marco’s and the flumes.
5. A day at the museum
Situated on Edinburgh's Chambers Street, the most-visited free attraction in Scotland for years, the National Museum of Scotland was always a popular place to visit during the school summer holidays, particularly as it was free! Most Edinburgh residents will have great memories of spending a day having fun here seeing all the artefacts and, of course, pushing the buttons to make the model trains go round the tracks. | National World
6. 'Posh' chippy tea at Brattisani's
A great way of heating up during the often bleak Edinburgh school summer holidays weather was a trip to Brattisani's fish and chip shops, at Morrison Street and Newington. Kids loved a 'posh' sit-down chippy tea at this Edinburgh institution during the school summer holidays. | Archive
7. Enjoy a trip to Little Marcos
Little Marco's on Grove Street welcomed one million children through its doors from 1980 until it closed in 2008, creating precious fun childhood memories for thousands of Edinburgh kids. Although there are now soft play centres across the Capital, this was the only place to go for kids in the 80s 90s and the 2000s during the school summer holidays. | Contributed Photo: National World
8. Have a go on the flumes
Pictured are the The River Rapids, Vortex and Twister water slides/flumes when they opened at the Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, September 1988. The popular attraction delighted youngsters for years during the school summer holidays in Edinburgh, with the Stingray flume (not pictured) described at the time as "the fastest water slide in Europe". Despite their massive popularity, the flumes were removed at the turn of the century following a spell of constant closures due to safety and maintenance issues. | TSPL Photo: National World