Images free for personal non-commercial use only ©
Dave Henniker Leith page 20 - 2010
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 or back to Edinburgh (all)
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Previously photographed. One of Edinburgh's notorious vacant sites. It remains an unofficial adventure playground for local youngsters, one of whom has left his skateboard behind. | |
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The concrete skeleton of the adjacent former council block also remains an adventure playground and graffiti gallery despite stern warning notices about 24hour security surveillance. The authorities won't pay for security staff and put warning notices up as an unconvincing substitute. | |
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Arthur Street leads to Balfour Street near Pilrig Park. Leith Walk has had a reprieve from the tram works meantime and much of the street is looking smart again, especially the nice paintwork on the Sound & Vision premises. Leith has many unique shops. Hopefully they'll prosper once again. A few shops in posher areas are largely just art statements; Leith shops sell you what you need. |
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Further down the road opposite Lorne Street are these business premises which have been empty for a while. The plywood patchwork could be accidental art. Some alleged 'art' is less interesting or evocative than this. | |
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Jane Street 0 1280 x 907 304K |
At the end of Jane Street a shiny notice boasts of the wonderful tram service which we should see one day. Overhead is the remains of the rail bridge over Leith Walk. In the 19th century a passenger train went from Leith Central Station to Morningside Station in 20 minutes. Progress? |
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Try getting from Leith to Morningside in 20 minutes on today's public transport! More of Jane Street in this photo. | |
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The nearby statue of Queen Victoria at the foot of Leith Walk has been supplemented by this big shiny spike. Photographed at the beginning of a cold March 2010. The bench seats will be crowded when warmer days arrive in spring and summer. | |
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Just round the corner from Great Junction Streeet is a café with this eye-catching Hot Dog Man anointing himself with ketchup. The stuff of nightmares? | |
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Cables Wynd House (aka the Banana Flats) is the large concrete block of flats on the left. Henderson Gardens lead to Henderson Street on the right. | |
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Nearby is The Vintners Rooms Restaurant and its private courtyard. | |
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Here you can see a litte more of the curve where the building bends. Its shape gave Cables Wynd House the nickname Banana Flats. | |
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Henderson Street ends here at Tolbooth Wynd. To the left is Sheriff Brae and Sandport Place bridge. The 16 bus continues along Shore before turning left over the Water of Leith and into Commecial Street. | |
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Two views over the river from Sheriff Brae. This is looking upstream. further back, Citadel Court blocks the view of its identical sibling, Persevere Court. | |
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Looking downstream towards Sandport Place bridge. The water level remains constant here due to the tidal barrage at the far end of the docks. | |
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Once the State Cinema it's currently The Kingdom Church aka Edinburgh Miracle Temple. It's unknown whether any actual miracles have been achieved. If they had been then we'd have heard, surely? | |
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Too see what this street looked like when I photographed it in the '70s click here. | |
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Given a warm sunny day, a meal on the top deck of the floating restaurant would be quite pleasant, I'd imagine. | |
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A wider view of the Shore area as seen from the bridge connecting Commercial Street to Bernard Street. | |
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A gangway alows diners and drinkers to cross from the street. Further down-river on the left is the swing bridge beside Ocean Drive. | |
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Looking past the bow of the floating restaurant towards Customs House (now a gallery). The corner of Commercial Wharf and Commercial Street can be seen. | |
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A hotel apparently - but my O-level French makes me think it translates literally as bad house. Previously photographed. On the corner of Shore and Tower Street. | |
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Looking south west from near the Albert Dock. There was the merest suggestion of some tram works nearby. The rounded block of flats is on the corner of Constitution Street and Tower Street. | |
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Heavy metal machinery on the edge of Albert Dock. | |
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Leith is still an active port but these dockside cranes have fallen into disuse. Nevertheless, they still look attractive with their paintwork gleaming in the sun. | |
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The narrower part of Albert Dock, near its western entrance. | |
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The entrance to Victoria Dock (on the left) is no longer navigable as Ocean Drive crosses it here. Victoria Dock is at the rear of the Scottish Executive building. Ocean Terminal dominates the view ahead. | |
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A closer look at the ship glimpsed in Docks 54 above. | |
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I'm guessing that there's going to be a great big notice here with an artist's impression of the beauties of tram travel. | |
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Ocean T50 |
Ocean Terminal has become more attractive these days with good shops and much more. The area in front remains empty except for puddles and strange red and white striped pipe things. (see page 16) |
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The view towards Albert Dock from the dockside at the north end of Ocean Terminal. |
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Not far from Royal Yacht Britannia is this dilapidated old wooden pier stretching into Western Harbour. The new homes bearing the same name are 1km away across the harbour. | |
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Sharp-eyed visitors may notice the figure of a man standing at the end of the pier, apparently about to dive or jump into the water. | |
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Closer inspection with a long lens shows that this is an iron man with studs on his buttocks and seagull shit on his head and shoulders. | |
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Zoomed right in on the iron man. I used Google Earth's ruler to figure out that he was at least 90m away. |
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At the west side of the entrance to Albert Dock was this extremely orange vessel. I made no adjustments to the colour or contrast. I'm fairly certain its purpose is to lay undersea cable. | |
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I have no idea what this metal building is for, situated at the northern end of the multistorey carpark. | |
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The front of the building is quite imposing, with the metal plates and rivets catching the sunlight. The purpose of the upper door on its little balcony eludes me, as does everthing else about this strongbox construction. Suggestions on a postcard email/tweet please! The upper door has some large dents in it made from the inside... |
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The multistorey carpark has something resembliing horizontal railings jutting out from each floor. These metal beams do not seem to serve any useful purpose and their presence may be purely for decoration. | |
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Previously photographed from the top of the adjacent car park. This time I got up close with a fisheye lens. | |
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There's a timber business apparently thriving in contrast to the back wall of the yard, where nature is thriving and will destroy the building if the demolition men don't get there first. | |
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Preserved by additional brickwork and perhaps one day resurrected as a historic facade. Salamander Street connects Baltic Street to Seafield Road and runs east-west between Leith Links and Leith Docks. |
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