Kevin Buckle signs up to a helpful street guide

I’ve no idea why, but simple signs directing visitors around Edinburgh are deemed to need the full consultation treatment with “key stakeholders” invited to endless meetings and what should be a simple process turned into one that appears to never end.

I first became aware of the need for signage over a decade ago when I was told by the council that people needed to be encouraged to visit the Grassmarket and return to Princes Street via King’s Stables Road rather than clogging up the Mound.

What amazed me was the council’s inability to place signs to encourage this behaviour. The irony is that it was deemed unacceptable to put any signs up without consultation whereas now there are massive changes taking place which sometimes actively ignore public opinion.

This strange attitude to signs even extended to the Open Streets road closures that failed to have any signs actually explaining what was happening. When I raised this with the organisers and in particular about the bottom of Cockburn Street where the “road closed” sign was clearly putting people off walking up the street I was told that lessons would be learned. However, every month I would check and nothing improved at all.

In fact, with Open Streets not only did signage not improve but all the promised figures about how these measures had affected businesses never materialised either and we were left with supporters quoting a friend of a friend having spent £40 in a Victoria Street shop as proof of increased spending.

Edinburgh is an easy city to walk around and nothing is really too far away if you know where you are going, but directions for visitors are poor and if for instance you come out of the back of Waverley Station there is no indication of what is available in the various directions.

I did hear there was going to be an app which, of course, the purists who despise “clutter” of any kind were keen on, but I am unaware of any progress on that idea, so it either hasn’t happened or is not well publicised.

While I’m sure signage won’t be at the top of anybody’s list of things that need attended to post-pandemic, there is a lot to be said for directing visitors around the city centre in a safe and sensible manner.

Most people will be looking forward to the day that we have to worry again about overcrowding, whether that be in August or at Christmas, and if truth be told there has very rarely been too many people in the city centre, just too many in certain parts.

Spreading out visitors more evenly and then even further afield should be something the council starts to plan for now.