Latest news with #SouthQueensferry
The Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Popular coffee shop suddenly closes permanently after four years as heartbroken fans say ‘you'll be missed'
A POPULAR coffee shop has unexpectedly shut its doors for the last time leaving fans heartbroken. An artisan coffee bar in South Queensferry, Scotland has announced its closure after only four years. Brew Culture in the town's high street decided not to renew their lease and will be closing down for good. The coffee shop shared a post on Instagram thanking their loyal customers. The post read: "Our shop lease expires in a few months and we've decided not to renew the lease. "We've had a great time brewing our lovely coffee for you and will miss you all. Thank you for your support." Fans flocked to the shop's social media to express their sadness over the news. One person wrote: "A really sad day. Thank you for all the lovely coffee and chats over the years. Another one added: "Sorry to hear this. You'll be missed on our wee high street. All the Best for the future and thanks for all the decent chat and awesome coffee!" Someone else wrote: "So sad to hear this we went down this morning and found shop closed. Thinking of u all. U treated us really good. "Loved the coffee and husband liked the Biscoff pastry. Good luck to u all for the future. Will miss u." Poundland to be sold for JUST £1 as frontrunner for shock takeover is revealed after wave of store closures Most customers have been left gutted at the closure news with many saying they will miss the lovely conversations with the owners. Brew Culture celebrated its fourth anniversary in March and had raving reviews on Google with 4.7 star rating. It comes after a legendary greasy spoon in London announced its closure after five years. The North London eatery Norman's Cafe has long been a hub for influencers and fashion-forward people looking for a greasy spoon with a difference. Opened by Sunday Brunch chef Elliot Kaye and Richie Hayes, the posh restaurant first opened its doors in 2020. Norman's Cafe began as a sandwich shop before widening its menu to include a range of British classics. Despite its immense popularity, however, the shop's owners announced that it will close its doors in June 2025. The shop's closure comes as luxury eateries have been forced to close across the UK. Soaring rent prices have led many to shut their doors, with some blaming the Government's decision to raise national insurance contributions for employers. However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that her decision was necessary to stabilise the economy - which unexpectedly grew in April. Others, like La Goccia in Covent Garden, blamed 'Covid' and 'Brexit' for making it difficult to hire trained staff.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tragedy as Edinburgh police find body in search for missing Midlothian man
A body has been found on the outskirts of Edinburgh in the search for a missing man from Midlothian. Alan McMillan, 53, was reported missing on Wednesday, May 21, and was last seen on Penicuik's Bog Road. An urgent search was launched in an attempt to trace Alan and on Friday evening at around 8.15pm the body of a man was recovered on Society Road, South Queensferry. READ MORE: Tragedy as Edinburgh man suddenly dies at Princes Street premises READ MORE: Worried Edinburgh locals tell how their sleepy street got dragged into gang war Police say formal identification if yet to take place, but Alan's family have been informed. There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Around 8.15pm on Friday, 23, May, 2025, the body of a man was recovered in the Society Road area of South Queensferry. "Formal identification is yet to take place, but the family of Alan McMillan, 53, who had been reported missing from Penicuik, has been informed. There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances." Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
'Calling it a housing emergency isn't helping anyone'
Laura and her family have been living in temporary flats since they became homeless four years are one of over 16,000 households in Scotland now classed as homeless, with over 10,000 children now living in temporary accommodation – both record high Scottish government declared a national housing emergency exactly a year ago but new data suggests the crisis is only getting worse."Calling it a housing emergency and not doing anything about it isn't helping anyone," she says. Laura, who is married and has four children aged four, five, 13 and 17, says she is desperate for a "forever home" for her family but lives with the threat of eviction every 37-year-old and her family presented as homeless in June 2021 after being evicted from a privately rented home. Laura has lived in South Queensferry her entire life, and says that they have been offered no permanent have been living in temporary homeless flats ever since, unable to secure a council house as Scotland continues to suffer a severe shortage in social housing. Laura's temporary flat is an ex-council home, owned by a private landlord, and leased back to the City of Edinburgh council to provide homeless such flats are owned by private landlords and not the council, the owners could decide at any time to withdraw their property from the leasing scheme – meaning tenants like Laura and her family would face of others in Edinburgh are in the same situation and Laura says she feels lost in the system."We don't have the support, we feel as though we've been pushed to the side essentially.""It's a losing battle because we're in temporary accommodation, but we could get evicted at a moment's notice," she says."It has a massive toll. We can't plan anything, we can't get settled, we can't make the place a home."Every day the children are asking me when we're going to get a home, and it's really really difficult because I don't have the answers to give them."Laura says she and her family have been offered other temporary homeless flats on the edge of Edinburgh, more then eight miles from the community they know and where the children go to school in South Queensferry."I completely understand there's people who'd have the opinion you should just take what you're given," she says."But at the same time, we've built a family here and we've got commitments."It's not refusing a home, it's refusing to lose the lives we've built." The Scottish government declared the housing emergency in May 2024 after coming under sustained pressure from opposition parties and councils have declared housing emergencies of their housing charity Shelter Scotland believe things have only deteriorated in the past 12 have carried out new research which suggests more than four in ten adults in Scotland are now struggling with housing. Polling by Yougov for the charity suggests that the equivalent of 2.3 million Scots are now struggling with the security, condition, affordability or suitability of their home - an increase of 800,000 people since 2021."It's been a year since the Scottish Parliament declared a housing emergency and since then, homelessness has gone up and social housebuilding has gone down," says Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson."Last week the Scottish government announced a Programme for Government with no plan to end the housing emergency."Instead, we had a programme for homelessness, which says nothing about the 10,360 children trapped in temporary accommodation which experts say exposes them to violence, vermin and isolation. This simply cannot continue."Ms Watson says that rather than just declaring a housing emergency, ministers must announce a detailed action plan to tackle it. 'A big problem' In a recent report, the Scottish Housing Regulator said systemic failure of homelessness systems were impacting three local authorities, with a further seven at risk of being impacted by systemic failure in the delivery of homelessness internal Scottish government risk assessments, obtained by BBC Scotland News through freedom of information requests, reveal that the government is at high risk of failing to deliver its high-profile promise to build 110,000 affordable homes by pledge, called the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, faced a budget cut of more than a fifth last year. That cut was reversed later in the year, but latest figures show the number of housing starts for all sectors are at the lowest since 2013 - and completions the lowest since are estimates suggesting that 164,000 homes in Scotland already have planning permission but are not being For Scotland, which represents the building industry, says it is becoming the hardest place to build houses in the UK."The housing emergency is an immediate and actionable problem which has been decades in the making," says chief executive Jane Wood."We've seen a consistent drop in the number of starts and completions and if that's dropping down, then we are obviously accumulating a big problem."She is calling for a more streamlined planning process in Scotland, including statutory timescales, better assessments of housing needs in different areas, and more accountability on delivery. 'Good track record' Shirley-Anne Sommerville, the Scottish government's cabinet secretary for social justice, told BBC Scotland News that the government is making progress on tackling the housing emergency but is under no illusion that there is a challenge and more to be done."The government has already delivered 136,000 affordable homes; that's nearly 50% more per head of the population than England and 70% more than in Wales," she said."So we have a good track record, but we know there's more to do, and that's why the budget this year got £768 million that will deliver eight thousand more affordable homes."Sommerville said they are determined to meet the 110,000 affordable target by 2032 and they had increased funding to mitigate the risks which their internal assessments had also said they would need to work with developers who already have planning permission to get homes City of Edinburgh Council has been contacted for comment.
