The Pitt Edinburgh: Organisers launch fundraiser to bring 'lasting positive change' at new Granton hub

The Pitt, originally an award-winning street food market on Pitt Street, is set to open its new venue by the end of September after acquiring a 15,000 square foot industrial unit on West Shore Road in Granton.

Establishing a loyal following between 2015 and 2022 at their previous Leith venue, the team re-established the popular market as a not-for-profit community interest company last year, with ‘the resurrected Pitt’ set to house a year round indoor market, a permanent outdoor street food market, a coffee shop with panoramic views across the Firth of Forth, a bar and a 700 capacity events space.

The Pitt

A number of successful Edinburgh businesses including Pizza Geeks and Choola started out at The Pitt, and the fundraiser hopes to generate £50,000 to allow the team to continue to support and create opportunities for local individuals, businesses, entrepreneurs and community groups.

Hal Prescot, co-founder of The Pitt, said: “Granton has everything the original Pitt had but as a Not For Profit Community Interest Company we’re here to benefit and contribute to the local community. We’ve spent time getting to know our new community and have spoken with locals and groups to properly understand what matters to them and what they need from this space. It is this local understanding, combined with our existing knowledge of the challenges faced by Edinburgh’s incredible culinary and cultural industries that our ambitious plans aim to tackle.

"We appreciate the scale of our ambition, and we are acutely aware of what we are asking from this Crowdfunder, especially given the cost-of-living crisis. But having already raised the majority of the £600,000 required from First Port and Foundation Scotland, this is the final piece of the puzzle. We are delighted to have secured Aviva Community Funding, but to secure it all we need to raise at least £25,000 ourselves.

“The resurrected Pitt will go far beyond what our original site achieved. Support for our Crowdfunder campaign is a contribution to the growth and development of aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as an investment in local communities to bring about lasting positive change – and we thank everyone who can help us make this happen.”  

People can contribute to the fundraiser until August 6. A £6 donation will get your name listed on The Pitt’s ‘digital wall of fame’, a £10 donation will get your name listed on the ‘wall of legends’ and by donating £25 you will receive the equivalent back back in food and drink vouchers or you can also choose to it to the community.

Each donation up to £250 will be matched 1:1 by the Aviva Community Fund, with up to £25,000 committed to the project by them. The funds raised will help food traders, artists, and retail entrepreneurs to kick-start their businesses and support the creation of free learning and development resources, including mentorships.

Patrick Ward, director at Pizza Geeks said: “Our business wouldn’t be here without The Pitt – we started out trading on Pitt Street where we discovered an amazing supportive community of local traders. We got to try out our ideas and learn the business, and we now have three permanent restaurants and trade at markets all over Scotland. The Pitt is so important to the grassroots food business in Edinburgh, we’re so glad its resurrected.”

Ryan McGlone, youth work team leader at Granton Youth said: “Our young people are so excited that The Pitt is coming to Granton, we need a bigger space so can’t wait for it to be open and available for us to use. It’s been really exciting to be involved early on with the plans, working with the team driving the project forward, and we’re especially excited about the mural we’ve been codesigning for the indoor market wall. The Pitt is going to be such a positive addition to the local community and for us at Granton Youth.