Leader comment: Diane's Pool Hall is a city institution in its own way

It has none of the majestic beauty of the Castle. Or the tantalising tastes of a breakfast at Valvona and Crolla.

Diane's Pool Hall on Morrison Street.

Diane’s Pool Hall won’t appear in any guide books alongside ‘hidden gems’ like the beer garden in the Pear Tree. It is though in its own way an Edinburgh institution.

For the uninitiated, its principal attractions besides the obvious pool tables are its handy city centre location, at the bottom of Morrison Street a stone’s throw from Haymarket Station, and to be blunt about the cheap price of its lager. Not surprisingly, that has made it a magnet for a generation of young men.

Every man of a certain age who grey up in Edinburgh has a story about Diane’s.

Whatever replaces it will certainly be more salubrious than what is there now. It’s just daft to get misty eyed about the demise of teenage haunts for their own sake.

The sudden closure of the pool hall is ultimately a good thing - because it is part of the ongoing regeneration of another once run-down corner of the city.

The fast pace of change in the Capital is wiping out lots of places which many of us remember fondly.

What should we do? How about putting the juke box from Diane’s, Bat Out of Hell and all, in the People’s Story museum?