Edinburgh Cocktail Festival Brings Energy and Life Back into the Heart of the City Centre
Edinburgh’s New Waverley is hosting the city’s first ever festival dedicated entirely to cocktails which kicked off on Friday 4 August, continuing a steady stream of events and activity that is bringing new life and energy back into the Old Town.
Located at Sibbald Walk – the site of the new public square behind the Royal Mile which forms the heart of the New Waverley development – the Edinburgh Cocktail Festival brings together a myriad of cocktail bars, street food stalls, pop-up events and live performances and will run throughout the August festival month.
The Edinburgh Cocktail Festival is organised and curated by Scottish Creative agency The Drinks Cabinet in collaboration with the Food and Flea Market currently based at Sibbald Walk. Events include a Tanqueray Gin Forest, Ketel One Bloody Mary Kitchen alongside a host of other innovative and experiential experiences for visitors during August.
Bringing the Festival to Edinburgh is part of a long-term plan by Artisan Real Estate Investors (AREI), the investment partnership driving New Waverley, to create a genuine sense of place for its city centre regeneration projects, building exciting, sustainable and vibrant locations in which to live, work and visit.
Welcoming the launch of the Edinburgh Cocktail Festival, Artisan’s Asset Manager Charlotte Swanson said: “It’s brilliant to be able to help enable such innovative exciting events to take place at the heart of one of the world’s great cities. We are especially pleased to be able to support local entrepreneurs like the team behind the Edinburgh Cocktail Festival, enabling them to host such spectacular events in what is fast becoming Edinburgh’s most exciting new district.
“We have worked hard to encourage start-up businesses and new ideas to flourish at New Waverley and throughout all our developments throughout the UK, creating the platforms to host such exciting and innovative events as the Edinburgh Cocktail Festival, the first of its kind to take place in the city. Likewise, we have welcomed new young, entrepreneurial business to flourish at The Arches which creates an edgy, exciting environment quite unlike anywhere else in the city.
“It is important for us to create places at our developments that people want to come and live, work, relax and enjoy. We also want our developments to integrate with and reflect the local environment, and build a genuine sense of community. This is now starting to happen at New Waverley.”
She added: “This part of the Old Town in particular has undergone a spectacular transformation, which is especially witnessed at Festival time. The area is brimming with visitors, the hotels are full and the cafes and restaurants are spilling out onto the pavements. In short, life in all its glory has returned to part of the city which had been closed off for years. It shows what can be achieved when urban regeneration projects get it right, combining the very best of Edinburgh, both old and new.”
The Edinburgh Cocktail Festival is the latest in a series of high profile events, street markets and arts projects which have taken place at New Waverley since the area’s redevelopment began, just two years ago. Other projects included a poetry banner in conjunction with the Scottish Poetry Library, the Words in Lights projects and Word and Stars Projects in conjunction with the City of Edinburgh Literature, an Edinburgh International Arts project in conjunction with the EIAF.
Led by development partnership Artisan Real Estate Investors, New Waverley is now one of Edinburgh’s most exciting new districts, stretching from the Royal Mile down to Waverley Station. This includes The Arches, a row of 19 renovated Victorian arches which now host an eclectic mix of shops, cafes, restaurants and curiosities.
During the last two years, New Waverley has delivered 400 hotel rooms, including two Whitbread hotels – a Premier Inn and a Hub by Premier Inn – and an Adagio Aparthotel overlooking the Royal Mile. Last month, it was announced that some 2,900 civil servants will be located at New Waverley’s next phase office development as part of a new UK Government hub.
Edinburgh Cocktail Festival will run from August 4 to 28 on Market Square at Sibbald Walk.
For more information, visit www.edinburghcocktailfest.com or www.newwaverley.com
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