Venues
All the West Port Book Festival venues are great spaces and places, although few are specifically designed to host events.
During the festival we had to be creative with space, so if you were flexible you may have been asked to sit on a cushion or a very small chair. If you were wearing sensible shoes, you may have been asked to stand. Solid seating was given to those who need it most.
If you were impressed by our crack seating-arrangement skills you may be interested to know that we had a ‘seating dress rehearsal’ the week before which resulted in ‘seating plans’ drawn up by one of our more artistically inclined staff.
A special thanks to John Chalmers, who constructed some spectacular benches from planks and what appeared to be table legs.
Having been established in the splendour of Dundas Street for sixteen years Pringle Booksellers moved to the more modest prospects of West Port in 2003, to the shop previously occupied by Grant and Shaw Booksellers.
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Armchair Books has been a favourite stop for bibliophiles for more than fifteen years, who appreciate the way the shop combines an eclectic stock with a sterling regard for the health and safety of its customers.
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The Blue Blazer is a traditional Edinburgh pub, a leading light in Edinburgh’s West Port.
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145-147 West Port has been a landmark for book lovers for over twenty years now. Formerly known as West Port Books it was saved by the skin of its teeth from becoming yet another cafe two years ago and is now called Edinburgh Books.
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Edinburgh College of Art (eca) has an international reputation as one of the most successful independent art colleges in the UK.
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Main Point Books – the name says it all. This brilliant wee second-hand bookshop run by Richard Browne is a mecca for fans of the offbeat, an empathy zone for all who love Brautigan and Vonnegut, Orwell and Dick.
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The OWL & LION seeks to blend art, commerce and creative living by continuous collaborations with artists from various disciplines to create unique exhibitions with an innate style, creative challenges and consistent quality of workmanship.
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Pageant is a small, yet perfectly considered boutique / studio space boasting a unique, lovingly selected array of men's fashion, art and music.
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After twenty years in West Port, nestling in the shadow of Edinburgh castle, the ‘frightfully serious’ and very fine bookshop of Peter Bell is a local landmark.
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te POOKa is a performing arts charity dedicated to inspiring the public through performances and workshops. Nicknamed ‘the mischief makers,’ they perform throughout the UK and abroad, provoking and delighting audiences in city streets, ancient forests, international festivals, formal ballrooms and remote island villages.
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The Meadows is a flat expanse of grass and trees which is beloved by people with far too much energy, as well as others who like to contemplate whether clouds actually do resemble animals and other important metaphysical questions.
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