Watch: Hospitality venues in Edinburgh's Grassmarket turn hundreds away after power outages - but now power restored and 'Hogmanay has begun'
Hospitality venues in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket say they had to turn people away because of intermittent power outages - but power has now been restored and they say Hogmanay is under way.
Louise MacLean, business development director for Signature Group, which owns Cold Town House and The Black Bull in the Grassmarket, said: “It’s really nothing short of devastating. We hate disappointing customers - we have had to turn away hundreds and hundreds of people from our two venues in the Grassmarket.
“The power went off 24 hours ago and we had to cancel all of our bookings - so many nights out were ruined. The power did come back on last night, but we were told by text message that it was probably not going to be a permanent fix and it would potentially go off again this morning.
“Sure enough, it wet off this morning. It eventually came on again around 2.30pm and we are told by SPEN that by 6pm the fix will be done and Hogmanay can go ahead as planned.
“We’re open, we’re trading and Hogmanay has begun.”
Scottish Power Energy Networks said they were doing their utmost to ensure there was no further disruption. A spokesperson said: “We fully recognise the impact this will have caused at such a busy time of year, and we apologise for the inconvenience.
“We’ll also have additional staff on standby tonight across the bells and into the early hours.”