Four Capital Bank of Scotland branches have been put on the market by parent firm Lloyds in a nationwide property sell-off.

Three city centre branches and one in St John's Road, Corstorphine, are among six properties being disposed of or put up for lease by the banking giant.

Branches at Chambers Street, The Mound at North Bank Street and Castle Terrace will close in January to make way for a new branch on the corner of George IV Bridge and the Royal Mile.

The other properties, which are being put up for lease by the bank, are on Morrison Street and Earl Grey Street, although neither has ever been a branch.

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Cyclists will take to the streets of the Capital to show their support for reaching a climate change deal at the upcoming Copenhagen summit.

The world's leaders are set to meet next month in an attempt to thrash out a global deal on reducing carbon emissions.

Members of Spokes, the Edinburgh-based cycle group, will ride from the Usher Hall at 10am on 6 December, at the same time as cyclists around the world, for the Ride Planet Earth event, aimed at demonstrating people's willingness to do something about global warming.

Source: Evening News

Acclaimed jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux performed in a Tollcross pub for BBC 2's The Culture Show.

Peyroux, who has sold hundreds of thousands of albums worldwide, sang in Bennet's Bar for the show.

Ian Rankin was also interviewed for the programme, which included a feature about the decline of the British pub.

Source: Evening News

Collect stamps to enter the Christmas prize draw.

Tollcross Traders Association have organised a loyalty Christmas prize draw as a big thank you to all their regular customers.

You can collect a loyalty card and get it stamped each time you make a purchase at any one of the participating businesses. Once you have all nine boxes stamped, fill out your details on the back of the card and post it in one of the collection boxes, where you will go into the draw for one of the loyalty card prizes, donated by Tollcross Traders. Collection boxes are located in the Cameo, James Morrow Hi Fi, Royal Bank of Scotland and John Saunderson Butchers. The only condition is that you need to visit four different businesses.

There’s only a few more days left to complete your loyalty card as they have to be returned by Monday 31st November. The Christmas Prize Draw takes place after the Tollcross lights switch on at High Riggs on Thursday 3rd December at 6.00pm.

Tollcross Christmas Draw Prizes

Full list of participating traders

Source: Edinburgh Outlook

Independent traders get together to ad festive sparkle to the area.

Think of some of the best venues in Edinburgh – The King’s Theatre, The Usher Hall, the Filmhouse, the Cameo – and they can all be found in Tollcross.

But the area isn’t just about venues. There are also independent shops, cafés and restaurants, a student population and the grassy expanse that is the Meadows. And now the Tollcross Traders’ Association is helping local shops work together to keep the area vibrant and attractive.

Dougie Bell owns Lupe Pinto’s Chile and Spice Shop. What he likes about Tollcross is the “mixture of people you get here. There’s a big cross-section of society in Tollcross which really suits me and reminds me how varied we all are!”

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Dozens of city pubs, clubs, restaurants and shops are set to lose the right to sell alcohol within days after falling foul of new licensing rules

Up to 55 licensed premises have failed to complete the paperwork needed to comply with laws which come into force on 1st December. Police will visit the affected premises on Tuesday to tell them to clear their shelves until they gain a new licence, which could take several months. Sources say that around 20 of those affected are city centre bars and restaurants, including some well-known "big names". The problem has arisen because of a new requirement under the Licensing Scotland Act for each business to have a designated "personal licence holder".

While 1,924 licence applications have been processed in Edinburgh, between 50 and 55 businesses have still not supplied the licensing board with the necessary information.

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Pupils in Edinburgh's schools are widening their gap on the rest of Scotland after once again outperforming the national average in this year's SQA exams, new figures reveal.

Youngsters who sat their exams in May have also surpassed Edinburgh's results from the previous year, with those who took Advanced Highers gaining the best marks in six years.

A total of 12 per cent of pupils gained five Highers by the end of S5, compared with a Scottish average of 10 per cent.

But while the improvements have been welcomed by education chiefs, the figures highlight a stark contrast between schools in the city's more affluent areas and those in deprived communities.

So the best performing schools include Boroughmuir in Viewforth, St Thomas of Aquin's in Lauriston, James Gillespie's in Marchmont and The Royal High in Barnton – all affluent areas.

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A midnight screening of cult rock musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show will raise cash for the refit of one of the city's oldest cinemas.

The film will be shown at the Cameo cinema on Saturday, with all proceeds going towards the cinema's refurbishment fund.

The venue launched its campaign to restore the 95-year-old, B-listed building to its former glory in August this year.

It needs to raise around £80,000 to carry out the long-awaited repairs and renovations.

Source: Evening News

Fawlty Towers star John Cleese is set for a role in a new film about Burke and Hare.

The Monty Python funnyman, 70, will play an Edinburgh University medic who bought corpses from the murderous pair.

He joins Star Trek's Simon Pegg, 39, and Doctor Who David Tennant, 38, who have been lined up to play William Burke and William Hare.

Source: Evening News

Detectives in Edinburgh are appealing for information after a man was attacked with a bottle in the Bruntsfield area of the Capital.

The incident happened sometime between 3.30am and 4am yesterday (Monday), in Bruntsfield Place, close to Leamington Place.

The 20-year-old victim was in the company of his friends when they became involved in an argument with another group of males.

The argument escalated, and ended with the victim being set upon by two suspects, one of whom was brandishing a bottle.

He smashed the bottle over the victim's head, before using it to stab him in the stomach.

The two suspects then ran off in the direction of Morningside Road and were last seen near to Hartington Place.

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