Edinburgh retro: looking back at Princes Street over the years

Part of our Edinburgh retro series, this video looks back at historic pictures of Princes Street.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, I'm Neil from the Evening News and this video is part of a retro series where

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

00:10 of Princess Street. Here we see Waverley Market being demolished in June 1982. The old building

00:18 housed a fruit and vegetable market, a roof garden and the lower levels were used for

00:23 fairs, circuses and exhibitions. The Princess Mall shopping centre now stands on the Princess

00:29 Street site. This picture from the morning of August 1987 shows men from the cleansing

00:35 department sweeping the pavement on Princess Street. Harry Tranter was a well-known Edinburgh

00:41 character selling postcards at the junction of Princess Street and Waverley Bridge. This

00:47 picture shows Harry in June 1986. This dramatic picture shows firemen on turntable ladders

00:56 battling a fire at C&A's on November 1955. This picture taken in the 1950s shows a tram

01:04 turning onto Princess Street at the top of Leith Street, the site where the James Quarter

01:09 stands today. Here we see pensioners marching along Princess Street to Usher Hall in September

01:16 1964. In the picture we can see messages on the banners calling for more old folks homes

01:22 and free prescriptions. In this picture we see locals go about their business in January

01:30 1958. The number of parked cars in the street is something that certainly stands out to

01:35 today's generation. Here we see an old Edinburgh tram making its way through Princess Street

01:41 en route to the Glasgow Garden Festival in March 1988. Spring girl Caroline Spencer is

01:48 pictured here with an umbrella and fur coat as she walks past the old Waverley Hotel in

01:54 Princess Street in March 1969. This picture from November 1968 shows the old street lighting

02:02 on Edinburgh's flagship street. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Edinburgh

02:08 Evening News but this picture from May 1973 shows the Evening News Centenary Parade travel

02:15 across Princess Street with the celebratory float featuring both old and new news vans.

02:22 If you'd like to check out more retro content you can visit our website at www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com

02:30 and click on the retro tab.

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