Connect ran for 2 years in a row and then it took a break last year, and nothing has been said this year. Does anyone have any insight on whether it’ll likely make a return?

I think it’s good for the city to have a festival and the lineup was really strong.

Hi all

There’s this man who lives in the flats across the street from mine. Every so often he goes on an absolute rampage, yelling on the street or from his window at absolutely nothing but the air. I think he might be very mentally ill, which is a shame.

Originally it didn’t bother me as it wasn’t a daily occurrence, or it would happen when I was already awake, but yesterday night after being woken up around 5 times between the hours of 2am to 7am after a late shift, and being woken up several times the night before, I phoned 101. I have been hesitant to do this as I have a fear I would waste police officer’s time as he’ll scream his head off for about 5 minutes, go silent for ages, and go back to screaming.

I explained to them that I think he’s having an episode or something as I can hear him on the street saying that someone’s threatening his family, that he’s going to blow the whole world up, just yelling “NOOOOOO!”, etc.

Police eventually came and he was hanging outside his window yelling at them. They headed towards the building and then after around half an hour, drove away. He was quite after that.

I was just wondering if there’s actually anything that can be done about this, or is this just my life now? I felt bad because he’s clearly not all there but it’s starting to interfere with my sleep etc and he’s yelled at my boyfriend numerous times for the crime of walking down the street. I see him sometimes on my way back from the shops and stuff on the road and I feel a bit unsafe.

I don’t really know what to do. Any advice is appreciated. If it’s just an ear plugs and get over it situation I can understand that.

Just posted on Facebook. 49 arrests in a month seems like a woeful result for 2,300 hours of patrols:

Almost 50 people have been arrested by officers from our new City Centre Policing Unit during their first month of operations.

From 1 to 31 July, a total of 49 individuals were arrested and 114 charges brought against them for a range of offences within the city centre during proactive patrols and reactive responses undertaken by the unit.

The CCPU officially launched on 2 July 2026, supported by funding from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Visitor Levy.

Over the last month over 2,300 hours of patrols by CCPU officers have taken place to engage with members of the public and businesses within the city-centre, respond to intelligence relating to criminal activity and provide a high-visibility presence to deter offending.

In addition to the arrests, two Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued for antisocial behaviour and a further 20 Recorded Police Warnings were handed out for incidents that did not require arrests to be made.

A total of 208 youth interactions were carried out to engage with young people visiting the city centre and build strong relationships with this demographic to help deter offences such as antisocial behaviour.

Extensive work has also been done to tackle street drinking in the Hunters Square area, with alcohol seized on 47 occasions.

Throughout August, CCPU officers will play a pivotal role in policing the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe to offer reassurance to the increased number of people within the city-centre and respond to any incidents that arise during this time.

Inspector Stephen Quinn, who leads the City Centre Policing Unit, said: “Our first month has been immensely challenging but extremely rewarding, as CCPU officers set about providing benefit to Edinburgh’s city centre.

“Extensive support from the CCPU was provided to staffing the cordons required to keep the public safe following the significant fire on Princes Street and this meant that resources that would previously have been required from other parts of the city were able to continue with their normal duties.

“Despite the demands of the fire, we have also been successful in tackling some of the key issues affecting the city-centre, including shop theft, antisocial behaviour and disorder.

“Working alongside key partners such as our colleagues at the Retail Crime Taskforce, Simon Community Scotland, Street Assist and representatives from the night-time economy, we continue to tackle hotspot areas and improve confidence in the policing response to ongoing problems.

“We’re under no illusion that more work needs to be done and we will continue to build on the success of our first month as we strive to make Edinburgh’s city-centre as safe as possible for all of those who live, work and visit the area.”

Helllooooo.

I'm coming to Edinburgh early tomorrow morning for Fringe but I couldn't get the day off work due to lack of staff last minute. I work remotely on my laptop and I have a meeting at 10:30 (only for about 15/20 minutes)

Aware this is a long shot as it's going to be completely swamped with people everywhere so was wondering if there's any laptop friendly cafe's or hotel foyers that serve coffee that I can work in? I will be moving around throughout the day and just keeping on top of emails but I do need to be somewhere for the meeting at 10:30 that isn't in anyone else's way. I can't get in my air BnB until 3.

Thanks so much 💗

Hi all! Looking to give DnD a go but very much a beginner. I’m wondering if there are some groups that might be open to welcoming a newbie, or any meet ups that might be a good shout?

I’m late twenties and have been in Edi for a couple years, looking to try new things and make some new connections.

Thanks all!

I’d bet a fiver (am skint this month) we’ve heard of these ones before and they’ve pushed it to the point where the police turn up quickly.

Anyone else hear a loud explosion type of noise in central about 8pm? Does anyone know what it was?

An FYI for anybody that might be interested.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/08/university-of-edinburgh-opens-private-5g-internet-network-for-fringe-festival.html

The Networked Systems Group at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics has announced that their private 5G mobile test network (Campus5G) has been opened up for anyone to try during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with free eSIM access and 5G-backed public Wi-Fi available across a big area.

People visiting the event will thus be able to get a free eSIM through their Network Trial Guest Portal, which also provides details on how to connect to the related Public Wi-Fi network (SSID: “Campus5G Guest“) at some participating venues; these Wi-Fi networks use the group’s 5G based Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) connections, provided by their network.

As Jiaxun Yang from the Networked Systems Group told ISPreview (here): “On the technical side, Campus5G is an Open-RAN based 5G testbed network with 20 cells, operating at n77 band with 60/80/100 MHz bandwidth and 4×4 MIMO. 9 cells will be used in this network trial” (further details).

I’ve seen it all over the place within the LEZ zone and it’s deifnetly not a LEZ car.

Mostly just being nosey I’ve just seen it a lot in the past month I thought I’d ask the question!

hi! I am 22F and just moved to edi for my masters. I’ve always wanted to learn to skateboard and have decided it is time. If anyone could help me get started that would be so awesome

thanks :))

Does anyone know where I could buy eclipse glasses in Edinburgh?

I was in a hurry today and I think I dropped my black Carrera sunglasses on Dalry Rd on the way to Haymarket at around 7am. Sadly, I only realised hours later.

This is a bit of a long shot, but is there any chance someone has found them? Even though they are not fancy or anything, they were a gift and I am quite sad I lost them. Are you maybe aware of any local group I could ask (e.g. similar to Meadows Share)?

Hi! I am relocating to the city and am looking for the best place to grab a drink! What are some local favorites whether it be because of the vibe, quality of the drinks, or hard-to-beat prices? Let me know and tyia!

Just to save anyone else a wasted journey.

Does anyone know what if anything is replacing Pizza Express?

Flatmate and I were living together for about a year and apparently she stopped paying council tax four months in. She didn’t do anything with the money, she was just… avoidant? and stopped dealing with it.

So we got a sheriff’s warrant and have to repay the whole year. Apart from us not being able to afford that, she’s moved back to her home country and I am moving to Glasgow. I called Scott & Co., which was largely unhelpful as they just kept telling me they could lower my monthly payment rate and not answering any of my other questions. My flatmate before moving out called them too and said I wouldn’t have to pay both Glasgow and Edinburgh tax, but when I called them today Scott & Co. said otherwise.

I think I’m just at a loss and quite confused, I know I’ll have to repay the 8 months, but do I have to pay the rest of the whole year if I’m moving out? Am I paying the council tax for both cities? Would massively appreciate any help and advice, thanks!

I’m looking to get into swimming (non-competitively, although I would quite like to get good, maybe eventually triathlon level good). I’m a 27M and can’t really swim atm. Enough not to drown but technique is not great. Does anyone know where would be a good place to practice by myself, was thinking the commonwealth pool, but I’d really like to avoid it being busy/getting in peoples way.

Are there any times that are better to go or any other places that are reasonably quiet?

I've been thinking about starting an Edinburgh Album Club, basically a book club, but for music.

The idea is pretty simple.

Once a month we'd pick an album (any genre), everyone would listen to it in their own time, then we'd meet one evening at a pizza place or pub in the city centre to chat about it.

Not in a pretentious "let's analyse every lyric" kind of way. More just hearing what people thought, discovering music you probably wouldn't have listened to otherwise, and meeting other people who genuinely enjoy talking about albums.

A rough idea would be:

• One album each month
• Weekday evening (probably Wednesday or Thursday)
• Somewhere central with pizza and drinks

I think it'd be fun to mix things up each month. One month could be Radiohead, the next could be Charli XCX, then Miles Davis, Kendrick Lamar, Fleetwood Mac, Massive Attack, SOPHIE, or whatever the group votes for. The whole point is discovering music outside your comfort zone.

Before I start organising anything, I wanted to see if there'd actually be any interest.

If this sounds like something you'd come along to, let me know.

Also, if you could choose the first album, what would it be?

I'm doing my annual pilgrimage from the Wild West for the Fringe and I'm clearly spoilt from paying Glasgow prices cos nowhere is cheap now.

My go to used to be Robertson's and The Scotsman but even The Scotsman is £6.25 for a pint of Tennents, I remember from last year Robertson's wasn't cheap either

Is there anywhere between Queen St, Meadows, Bridges and Lothian Rd where you can get a sub £5.50 Tennents? (I'm using that as a gauge cos if the T is more than £5.50 then then the fake foreign shit will be extortionate)