Olivia Alabster (@OliviaAlabaster) sent me this article yesterday with a confession that its her hometown:
Pressure is being put on the council to give shops hit by the tram works a discount of up to 25 per cent in their business rates.
Tory councillor Joanna Mowat wants the city council to petition for a blanket reduction in the rates bills of businesses in areas such as the West End, where disruption is expected to continue for at least another year.
[…]
Brian Roberts, of hairdresser Headline in Shandwick Place, said: “People are on their knees along here. It’s like a street in Beirut, not Edinburgh. It’s devastating.
What I find fascinating by Brian’s comment is that a similar one was made in September on the other side of the planet in Mumbai.
Along J P Road in Andheri, which seems to belong in Beirut owing to the construction of the Metro Rail project…
Quite fascinating that we have two people, living on opposite sides of the globe, who compare the inconvenience of constructing a metro or tram to a city that has no public transport system whats-so-ever. Brian will be getting his ‘looks like Beirut” certificate in the mail and this is probably one of the few times that I have a full address to work with.
According to Brian at Headlines salon, this is what Beirut looks like.