'Be responsible and close the market down for the year' - Your Views Online

The organisers of Edinburgh’s Christmas market have confirmed that visitors will be welcome at the site until January 4 despite the introduction of new Covid restrictions. We asked readers if they were planning a visit...
There are no plans to shut down Edinburgh’s Christmas market early – but should there be?There are no plans to shut down Edinburgh’s Christmas market early – but should there be?
There are no plans to shut down Edinburgh’s Christmas market early – but should there be?

Alex Monaghan: I can almost find my way through this junk each year whilst blindfolded. Nothing changes. Same old rubbish in exactly the same places. How about a local produce market for future years ?

Vicki Childerstone: We went a few weeks ago and it was crazy, making you "queue" to get in, but not actually controlling the numbers. Making you go in at the back of the art gallery, where it bottlenecked. You couldn't get near any craft stalls as the queues for food stands were huge, there was a bottleneck at the big wheel and the queue was huge so people couldn't get pased. A one-way system would’ve worked better, along the top and back out the bottom maybe? This was the point we left as felt unsafe in general, not just due to the Covid. It seemed seally stupid to downsize and have it all on one level this year. It should have been spread out so help with crowds and timed entry and so no queuing for the rides.

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Jacqui Hood: Why is the overrated, overpriced and packed market being allowed to stay open when folk have restrictions on how many family members they can meet?

Anne Boak: With so many talented people in Scotland a market to reflect this would be more Christmas-inspired. Someone should tell the council that’s what all Scottish people have been wishing for some time. Wake them up so they might take note.

Alan Brown: None of this tat is for the Scottish people. It's all to cater for the tourist dollar. Hence the burgers and hotdogs instead of stovies and haggis. Some might say the council were crazy to put all their eggs in the tourist basket – and they'd be proven right now.

Alan Pirouet: No way can people be one metre apart with under 500 folk at a time. We visited and it was packed full. Be responsible and close it down for the year.

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David Nisbet: Last time I was there it was difficult to be ten centimetres apart.

Mandy Perry: We had visitors a few weekends ago, so thought the market would be a nice way to spend a few hours – bad idea! Packed in like sardines, we could barely get near the stalls. We lasted two-three minutes and left.

Robert Soper: It was actually exceptional when it first opened with local suppliers selling their own goods many years ago, now it’s just a cheap and nasty overpriced fairground and a disgrace to the complete beauty and utter elegance of Edinburgh. So many European countries do this with so much class that they are officially endorsed and sponsored by the likes of Chanel, Swarovski Glass, Christian Dior, Givenchy and Cartier. We have a shanty town. We are better than this.

Ian MacLachlan: Yes I will visit again – I like the sights and the smells of the food. But buying a sausage for £7? Pass.

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Claire AA Eeadie: It wasn't anywhere I chose to visit pre-Covid.

Davie Black: The place is an overhyped, super-expensive, dangerously busy excuse for an attraction.

Gary Johnstone: Get it shut down. If football games can only have 500 fans why is this still open? I guarantee you that when it's busy there are more than 500 there! But no, let's make money! It's always been overpriced and overhyped.

Bob Burnett

I take it any stalls serving alcohol will, of course, be restricted to table service only! And if not, why not?

Concert hall

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Joanna Baker, executive director of the charitable trust behind plans for Edinburgh's new Dunard Centre concert hall, says the venue will make a real statement on the world stage.

Ian Ross: It’s a waste of money. There is nothing wrong with the Usher Hall.

Sam McIntosh: How about renovating the Odeon and saving some of Edinburgh’s history into the bargain? It was always a great concert venue.

Callum Anderson: Half the capacity of the Usher Hall and a third of the capacity of The Playhouse. This clearly isn't built for the masses, who want rock and dance music. This is built for the elite.

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Dean Thomson: Still the only major city in the UK that lacks a decent-sized indoor venue like the Hydro in Glasgow.

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