Editing Leith (section)

==Culture and community==
[[File:LeithBananaFlats.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Cables Wynd House|Leith 'Banana Flats']]]]
Leith has a long history of pioneering social advances, some of which were the first of their kind in Scotland:

All boys were educated for free from 1555 onwards. This was paid for by the local trade guilds. All girls were educated from 1820, a long time after the boys, but a very early example of free education for females (only required by law from 1876). A free hospital service was provided from 1777, paid for by a local tax, with beds sponsored by local shops. Leith had electric street lighting from 1890 and electric trams from 1905 (only Blackpool was earlier in the UK). The first public sewer in Scotland was built in Bernard Street in 1780; this flowed into the Water of Leith.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fowlb.org/leith-history/|title=Timeline|publisher=Leith History|access-date=23 October 2022}}</ref>

Leith was formerly a port linked to the trade of the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://electricscotland.com/history/leith/3.htm|title=Leith|publisher=Nelson|first=John|last=Russell|year=1922|access-date=23 October 2022|archive-date=23 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023142910/https://electricscotland.com/history/leith/3.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Leith is also home to The Queen's former floating Royal residence, the Royal Yacht Britannia, now a five-star visitor attraction and evening events venue permanently berthed at the Ocean Terminal shopping centre.<ref>{{cite magazine| last = Hubbard| first = Lauren| date = 30 September 2018| title = The Story Behind the Royal Family's Yacht, Britannia| url = https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a23456210/royal-yacht-britannia-history/| magazine = Town & Country| location = New York, NY| publisher = Hearst Magazine Media, Inc| access-date = 3 August 2019| archive-date = 3 August 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190803143639/https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a23456210/royal-yacht-britannia-history/| url-status = live}}</ref>

Leith was named as the fourth "coolest neighbourhood in the world" by ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' in 2021.<ref>{{cite news |last=Clark |first=John Paul |date=6 October 2021 |title=Edinburgh's Leith voted one of the top five 'coolest' places in the world |url=https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburghs-leith-voted-one-top-21785337 |access-date=26 February 2023 |website=EdinburghLive |language=en |archive-date=26 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226200936/https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburghs-leith-voted-one-top-21785337 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Port of Leith distillery]], is the United Kingdom's only vertical whisky distillery.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-25 |title='This is an exciting time!' How Scotland's whisky industry went from bust to boom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jan/25/scotland-whisky-industry-bust-boom-exciting-new-distilleries |access-date=2023-01-30 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

===Educational establishments===
Leith is home to [[Leith Academy]], one of the oldest schools in Scotland, and to the Leith School of Art, which along with [[Glasgow School of Art]] is one of only two independent art schools in Scotland.

From 1855 until 1987, [[Leith Nautical College]] provided training for [[Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)|Merchant Navy]] seafarers in Scotland.<ref name="Scotsman">{{cite web |url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/former-students-leith-nautical-college-meet-586559 |title=Former students of Leith Nautical College to meet up |date=25 April 2018 |publisher=The Scotsman |access-date=14 September 2022 |archive-date=14 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914205305/https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/former-students-leith-nautical-college-meet-586559 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Dominies">{{cite book |date=1987 |title=The Sea Dominies: The Story of Leith Nautical College, 1855-1987 |location=London |publisher= Board of Governors of Leith Nautical College |isbn=978-0951240809}}</ref>

===Media and art===
Festivals occur throughout the year, including [[Leith Festival]], Leith Late festival,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leithlate.co.uk/|title=LeithLate|website=LeithLate|access-date=14 November 2021|archive-date=14 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114220842/https://www.leithlate.co.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref> PLU Parents Like Us and the [[Edinburgh Mela]] on Leith Links, part of the Edinburgh Festival since 2010. The Leith Gala, now known as Leith Festival Gala Day is an annual event that has taken place since 1907; it was originally a charity event to raise sponsorship for local hospital beds before the National Health came into place. It has developed into the community-based Leith Festival.

Leith houses a notable number of cultural arts studios and small independent businesses, including the Leith Theatre on Ferry Road, Leith School of Art in North Junction Street, WASP Studios by The Shore and Out of the Blue in the former [[Dalmeny Street drill hall]].

Leith FM (later renamed Castle FM) started as a week-long RSL station during the late 1990s, linked to Leith Festival. A few years of annual 28-day broadcasts later, the station bid for and won a permanent community radio licence and broadcast for several years on 98.8 FM and online. In December 2013, Leith Dockers Club locked the station out of its rented premises, due to the "substantial" debt it was owed by the station, and the future of the station is currently in doubt.

===In popular culture===
Scottish folk rock duo [[The Proclaimers]] titled their second album ''[[Sunshine on Leith (album)|Sunshine on Leith]]'' after the town, including the [[Sunshine on Leith (song)|eponymous track]].<ref name="Larkin80">{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2003|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-969-9|page=392|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref> This spawned a [[Sunshine on Leith (musical)|musical of the same name]] that included music from The Proclaimers, which itself had a [[Sunshine on Leith (film)|film adaptation]] in 2013.<ref name=Fisher>{{cite news|last=Fisher|first=Mark|title=Sunshine on Leith: A Musical|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/apr/28/theatre1|access-date=17 February 2023|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="TIFF">{{cite web |url=http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/festival/2013/sunshineonleith |title=Sunshine on Leith |access-date=2023-02-17 |work=TIFF |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816021448/http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/festival/2013/sunshineonleith |archive-date=16 August 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[Irvine Welsh]] had his [[Channel 4]] drama ''Wedding Belles'' (2007) filmed in [[Henderson Street]].<ref>{{cite web| title = Happy so glad to get the hang of it with Marty|date = 5 March 2007|publisher=Edinburgh Evening News|author=John Gibson | access-date = 2011-04-14| url = http://news.scotsman.com/comment/Happy-so-glad-to-get.3351722.jp}}</ref> Welsh's novel ''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'' and its prequel, ''[[Skagboys]]'' concern a group of drug users living in the Leith area in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/feb/05/choose-leith-trainspotting-locations-changing-edinburgh-irvine-welsh|title=Choose Leith? Trainspotting locations reveal the changing faces of Edinburgh|date=5 February 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=23 October 2022}}</ref>

The [[BBC]] drama ''[[Guilt (British TV series)|Guilt]]'' is set in Leith, with filming locations including the Eastern Cemetery. The show is written by [[Neil Forsyth]], a former Leith resident and stars [[Mark Bonnar]] and [[Jamie Sives]] both of whom attended Leith Academy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/10/30/guilt-episode-1-review-witty-gritty-new-thriller-no-guilty/|title=Guilt, episode one review|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=30 October 2019|last1=Hogan|first1=Michael|access-date=20 January 2020|archive-date=14 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214045437/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/10/30/guilt-episode-1-review-witty-gritty-new-thriller-no-guilty/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[BBC]] [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] drama series ''[[McLevy]]'' features stories loosely based upon the historical figure [[James McLevy]] who operated in Leith crime hotspots amongst other locations in Edinburgh.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/meet-james-mclevy-original-no1-detective-2468858|title=Meet James McLevy - the original no1 detective|date=30 May 2007|newspaper=The Scotsman|access-date=23 October 2022|archive-date=23 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023144332/https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/meet-james-mclevy-original-no1-detective-2468858|url-status=live}}</ref>