Edinburgh retro: Lothian Road in the 1980s and 1990s

Part of our Edinburgh retro series, this video looks back at historic pictures of Lothian Road.

Transcript

00:00 Hello I'm Neil from Evening News and this video is part of our retro series

00:05 where we look back at historic pictures of Edinburgh. In this video we'll be

00:09 looking at pictures of Lothian Road in the 1980s and 90s. In 1998

00:15 Furbies were the latest craze with children and a much sought-after

00:18 Christmas gift. Here we see shoppers queuing outside Wonderland on Lothian

00:22 Road hoping to get their hands on one. In this picture we can see punks and a

00:27 Cyberman walking up Lothian Road to publicise the 20th anniversary Doctor

00:32 Who exhibition at the Film House in December 1983. This picture shows the

00:38 Edinburgh Film House in February 1982, three years after it had opened as an

00:43 independent cinema specialising in new classic and arthouse films. The building

00:48 dating back to 1831 was previously St Thomas's Church of Scotland.

00:54 Here we see demonstrators from Nalgo and other trade unions protesting about cuts

00:59 to the NHS in Edinburgh in September 1980. African National Congress member

01:06 Saganye Chetty makes a speech of the unveiling of a statue dedicated to South

01:11 African freedom fighters in Festerval Square in July 1986. Here we see an aerial

01:18 shot of the Lothian Road area looking south. Taken in October 1993 the middle

01:25 of the picture shows construction underway on the Edinburgh International

01:28 Conference Centre. This picture from April 1990 shows construction work

01:33 taking place at the Gap site next to Usher Hall between Castle Terrace and

01:38 Cambridge Street Lane. The building became Saltire Court and is now home to

01:42 the Traverse Theatre. Staff from 20 Edinburgh hotels took part in the launch

01:48 of the Edinburgh Count Me In tourism campaign outside the Sheraton Hotel in

01:53 Festerval Square in April 1987. In July 1988 Edinburgh's Lord Provost

02:00 Eleanor MacLachlan laid flowers at the Festerval Square statue of Mother and

02:05 Child on Nelson Mandela's birthday. Edinburgh's Usher Hall has hosted

02:10 countless concerts and plenty of political rallies since it opened in

02:14 1914. In January 1992 the Lothian Road landmark was the venue for a keynote

02:20 debate on devolution and independence. Titled 'Scotland a time to choose' the

02:26 event was staged by the Scotsman featuring Donald Dewar, Alex Salmond, Ian

02:31 Lang and Malcolm Bruce. Here we see men climbing into a dragon

02:36 costume as Edinburgh's Chinese community prepare to celebrate Chinese New Year

02:41 outside the Caley Cinema on Lothian Road in February 1983.

02:47 Banking Union Bifu mounts a picket line at Clydesdale Bank on Lothian Road where

02:52 General Secretary Sandy Boyle is joined on the picket line by Gail Clark a

02:56 customer service officer with the bank during Christmas in 1997.

03:02 And finally this picture shows the junction of Lothian Road and the west

03:07 end of Princess Street in September 1992. If you'd like to check out more retro

03:13 content you can visit our website at www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com and click on

03:20 the retro tab.