Here’s how Edinburgh shoppers can support city centre businesses this Christmas – and win the ultimate staycation

With just one weekend left until Christmas, businesses in Edinburgh city centre and black cab company City Cabs are offering last-minute shoppers a safe, fun incentive to enjoy their city centre.

A harsh reality of the Covid crisis is that footfall in the city centre has been hammered – down by as much as two million.

In attempt to soften the blow, Essential Edinburgh – the company which runs the city centre Business Improvement District – is keen to get the message across that shopping local includes our city centre.

So, working with City Cabs, they are offering a taxi discount – plus entry into a prize draw worth over £600 to encourage people to safely use the city centre for the last shopping weekend before Christmas.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit businesses in the city centre hard in the run up to Christmas.

Roddy Smith, Chief Executive of Essential Edinburgh, said: “The city centre is welcoming and safe – it has wide pavements, large shop floors, shops and eateries that are doing all they need to and more to keep customers safe.

“And what safer way to travel in than in the fully partitioned black cabs, that are sanitised after every journey? By shopping local in the city centre, customers are protecting thousands of local jobs.”

Gary McGuff, head of Sales and Marketing at City Cabs, concurred, adding: “People wanting to enjoy the centre should use the discount code “CityCentre” when calling for a taxi, or by booking through our City Cabs app to get 10% off journeys into and out of the city centre and automatic entry to the prize draw.”

Every time the discount code is used in December and January, customers are entered into the prize draw to win the ultimate stay-cation: an overnight stay at The Cheval Edinburgh Grand, £200 Edinburgh Gift Card redeemable in over 100 city centre businesses, £100 GANT gift card, a pair of shoes up to £100 from ECCO, £50 of taxi rides and £20 Winter Woodland Handcare Collection from Neal’s Yard Remedies Edinburgh Franchise.

Full terms and conditions are available on www.edinburghcitycentre.co.uk/Taxi . To book your City Cab, visit www.citycabs.co.uk and use “CityCentre” code via their app or by phone.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.