Late-1970s

©
Mark Harris, London, England
Photograph taken late-1970s
Where is It? |
Late-1970s Photos
Thank you to Mark Harris for
allowing me to reproduce this photo. This is one of many black and
white photos that Mark took in Edinburgh in the late-1970s. |
Question
Does anybody recognise the
style of building in this street, with its large bricks? There are a
couple of clues as to where it might be.
- I think that the shop with the fireplaces in the window is
No.150, but I cannot be certain.
- The pizza shop beside it is named 'Conti.....'. I expect
there would have been fewer pizza shops in Edinburgh in the 1970s than there are today. Please
email me if you recognise this location. Thank you. |
Peter Stubbs,
Edinburgh: June 29, 2013 |
Reply
1.
Miles Cumming
Edinburgh |
Replies Received
Late yesterday evening, I
added 8 of Mark Harris' black and white photos of Edinburgh, all taken in
the late-1970s, to the EdinPhoto web site.
©
©
For the two photo above,
I asked:
"Where
is it?"
Thank you to everybody who has
sent replies to me over the past 24 hours.
There has been a remarkable
agreement between almost all the messages sent to me. (All
were sent independently, and I'm only adding them to the web site now, so
people have not had the opportunity to read each others' replies before
sending in their own messages to me.) |
Less than an hour after I
added this photo to the web site, Miles Cumming wrote:
Foot of Leith Walk
©
"Could it be between Steads Place and Jane
Street, near the foot of Leith Walk?"
Miles Cumming,
Edinburgh: June 30, 2013 |
Reply
2.
Mark Harris
London, England |
Mark Harris wrote: |
Foot of Leith Walk
©
"I'm pretty sure that this Conti photo was
taken towards the bottom of Leith Walk?"
Mark Harris, London,
England: June 30, 2013 |
Reply
3.
Graham Ferguson
Saudi Arabia |
Graham Ferguson wrote: |
Foot of Leith Walk
©
"Correct! It is No. 150 Leith Walk.
It's now a Barnardo's charity shop."
Graham Ferguson, Saudi
Arabia: June 30, 2013 |
Reply
4.
Peter Stubbs
Edinburgh |
Two Photos Thank you, Graham, for your reply above.
I've now been to Leith Walk and taken a photo of No 150. I've
reproduced it as 'Photo 2' below. |
Photo
1.
Late-1970s

©
Mark Harris, London, England
Photograph taken late-1970s
Photo
2.
Jul 2013

©
Peter Stubbs - please contact
peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk
Photo taken Jul 2, 2013
Comparison of the 2 Photos
"The shops in the two photos above are
similar in many ways, but there are differences.
If both photos are of the same shop:
- the position of the shop
door has changed.
- new windows
have been fitted in a similar style.
- one of the chimneys has been removed
Also:
- The reflections in the shop windows of
the buildings behind the photographer are similar, but not identical, in
both photos. (I would not expect them to be identical. I've found
that Reflections can change a lot when the camera position is changed by
just a few inches.
- The stonework above the shop windows in both
photos looks similar, but the stones don't match exactly.
This leads me to believe that Photo 1 may be of anothe shop in Leith Walk,
but not No.150.**
See also 'Reply 10.'
Update
Dec 15, 2014
The Stones
On looking again, I've decided that the stones on Photos 1
and 2 do match. For some reason (weathering and/or the
lighting, perhaps?) some stone look lighter on one photo, others
look lighter on the other, and the long stone, 2/3 of the way down
the left-hand side of the large window looks lighter on both!
Conclusion
My conclusion is now that the fireplace shop in Photo 1 is
the same shop as Barnardo's Furniture at 150 Leith Walk in Photo 2.
For further details, please see Reply 11 and Reply 12, below.
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: July 3, 2013
Updated: December 15, 2014 |
Reply
5.
John Hadden
Edinburgh |
John Hadden wrote: |
Foot of Leith Walk
©
"The fireplace shop was at No. 150 Leith
Walk. The building on the right at No. 148 became the 'Continental'
bakery about 1976. Later, it became part of Globespan offices."
John Hadden,
Edinburgh: June 30, 2013 |
Reply
6.
Phil Anderson |
Phil Anderson wrote: |
Foot of Leith Walk
©
"Thia picture looks like Leith Walk, towards
the bottom, before Jane Street."
Phil Anderson:
June 30, 2013 |
Reply
7.
Thomas Simpson
Colinton, Edinburgh |
Thomas Simpson wrote: |
Hutchison?
©
"This
looks like the shops at Hutchison, opposite the 24-hour Asda, off
Slateford Road."
Thomas Simpson,
Colinton, Edinburgh: July 1, 2013 |
Hi Thomas:
Leith Walk
Thanks for your comments.
However, there seems to me to be strong evidence from 'Replies 1 to 6'
above that the fireplace shop in this photo was at 150 Leith Walk.
Peter Stubbs: July 2, 2013 |
Reply
8.
Simon Capaldi
Sheriffhall, Midlothian,
Edinburgh |
Simon Capaldi wrote: |
Stockbridge or Newington?
©
"I
guess the name of the shop is "Continental Cafe". I know the name,
but cannot remember ifs former location. Might it have been
somewhere like Stockbridge or Newington?"
Thomas Simpson,
Colinton, Edinburgh: July 1, 2013 |
Hi Simon:
Leith Walk
Thanks for your comments.
However, there seems to me to be strong evidence from 'Replies 1 to 6'
above that the fireplace shop in this photo was at 150 Leith Walk.
Peter Stubbs: July 2, 2013 |
Reply
9.
Henry Kaczynski
Annapolis, Maryland, USA |
Simon Capaldi wrote: |
150 Leith Walk
©
"I've
looked up the address, 150 Leith Walk, on Google maps, and that matched
the old photo above."
Henry Kaczynski, Annapolis, Maryland, USA:
July 3, 2013
|
Reply
10.
Sarah Gordon |
Thank you to Sarah Gordon who wrote: |
Foot of Leith Walk
©
"I
think this shop is now the Leith Walk Cafe, which is at No. 128 Leith
Walk. I've had a look on Google Maps and it does seem to match.
It looked a lot nicer in the 1970s."
Sarah
Gordon: December 15, 2014 |
Hi Sarah:
Leith Walk
Thanks for your comments.
I'll have a look at No.128 Leith Walk next time I'm passing it, and will
then add another comment to this page.
Peter Stubbs: December 15, 2104 |
Reply
11.
Bob Henderson
Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
Thank you to Bob Henderson for joining this
discussion and adding: |
The Same Shop
"I'd say say that the fireplace shop near
the foot of the Walk is the same shop as Barnardo's at No 150 Leith Walk
- i.e. Photo 1 and Photo 2 in Reply 4
above are of the same shop.
If you compare the joints and pointing of the
squared rubble limestone in the original with your shot they match
exactly, except where the chimney has been removed on the right hand side.
This has taken away the end of the cope stone there.
Also, the windows in the reflection do match,
and I am sure that, as you suggested, the difference in the width of the
reflected windows is down to the position of the photographer."
Bob Henderson,
Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
Hi Sarah:
Leith Walk
Thanks for your comments.
I'll have a look at No.128 Leith Walk next time I'm passing it, and will
then add another comment to this page.
Peter Stubbs: December 15, 2104 |
Reply
12.
Peter Stubbs
Edinburgh |
I agree
150 Leith Street
"Thank you, Bob, for your
Reply 11. I agree with you.
The fireplace shop would have been at 150 Leith Street - i.e.
Photos 1 and 2 below are both of the same shop.
Please read my comments below for a fuller
explanation. |
Photo
1.
Late-1970s

©
Mark Harris, London, England
Photograph taken late-1970s
Photo
2.
Jul 2013

©
Peter
Stubbs - please contact
peter.stubbs@edinphoto.org.uk
Photo taken Jul 2, 2013
106 to 154 Leith Walk
"I
visited Leith Walk this afternoon and found the long row of shops
including Barnardo's. It was on the west side of the street,
near the foot of the walk. The shops comprised most of the numbers
104-156 Leith Walk, but a few of these numbers were allocated to
tenements with entrances between the shops.
I photographed all the shops in this
block. All were a similar style of architecture.
However, I did not need to study the photos in any detail once I
realised that there was only one place in this row where the
height of the shop frontages rose by 3 layers of stone as you
travelled up Leith Walk. It was at the join of 148 and 150
Leith Walk."
So, the fireplace shop was at 150 Leith Walk."
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: December 15, 2014 |
Reply
13.
Neil Wood |
Thank you to Neil Wood for his message below.
Neil is the latest person to confirm that the fireplace shop was at 150,
Leith Walk.
Neil wrote: |
I agree
150 Leith Street
"This is 150 Leith Walk, in a section of
buildings known to older Leithers as ‘The New Block’."
Neil Wood: January 14, 2015 |
Reply
14.
Lorraine Lloyd |
I thought that
discussion on this subject had come to an end with Replies 11, 12 and
13, two years ago - but Lorraine Lloyd has now re-opened the question
Lorraine
wrote: |
128 Leith Walk
"We own No.128 Leith Walk. I've had a
look at this pic of the fireplace shop taken in the late 1970s.
©
I also think that it's the same shop as our
cafe at No.128, and not No.150 Leith Walk."
Lorraine Lloyd: 24 March 2017 |
Further Investigation?
Next time
I'm in the area, I'll try to take a photo of No.128 Leith Walk**,
then compare the joints and pointing of the stonework for No.128 with
that on the photo of the fireplace shop (just as Bob Henderson did that
comparison for No.150 and the fireplace shop in his recollections 11
above.
**
BUT if somebody gets there first and does the comparison
before me, I'll be happy with that!
Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: 24 June 2017 |
Reply
15.
Lorraine Lloyd |
Thank you to Lorraine
Lloyd for writing again after reaching the conclusion that the old
fireplace shop was, in fact, 150 Leith Walk.
That's the
conclusion that we reached with some certainty, three years ago, so
there's no need for me to do any further investigation or
photography on that topic.
Lorraine
wrote: |
150 Leith Walk
©
"We have been having looking at the picture
of the fireplace shop and and I have come to conclusion that the
Fireplace shop was not our café at 128 Leith walk but was 150 Leith
Walk which is Barnardo's "
Lorraine Lloyd: 24 March 2017 |
|