Edinburgh Corn Exchange

Edinburgh Corn Exchange is an events and concert venue located in New Market Road in Edinburgh, Scotland. The structure, which was commissioned as a corn exchange, is a Category B listed building.

1. History

The first location where merchants could trade in agricultural products in Edinburgh was on the High Street. Cattle, horse, and grain markets moved to the Grassmarket in the 15th century, and it was at the corn exchange in the Grassmarket, which was designed by David Cousin and completed in the mid-19th century, that the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, made a speech in 1884. In the late 19th century civic officials sought to relocate the markets out of the city centre: the site they selected was in the Chesser area of the city some 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of the city centre. The new building was designed by the City Superintendent of Works, James A. Williamson, in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, on 23 June 1910. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of eleven bays facing northeast onto New Market Road, with the end sections projected forward as pavilions. The central section of five bays featured a loggia formed by four Doric order columns supporting an entablature, a cornice and a parapet. At the back of the loggia was a central doorway with an architrave flanked by two single windows on either side. The end sections of three bays each were fenestrated with sash windows and surmounted by an entablature, a cornice, a parapet, and a small central pediment on each side. The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture. After a long period of disuse, it was acquired by Marco's Leisure in 1992 and, after a major refurbishment, re-opened as an events and concert venue in 1999. Meanwhile, the area to the southwest of the building, i.e. behind the building, was developed as the Corn Exchange Village with facilities such as ten pin bowling, an indoor mini golf course, 5-a-side and 7-a-side football pitches, and a sports bar. Performers at the corn exchange have included the rock band, Blur, in 1999, the rock band, Manic Street Preachers, in 2007 and the Indie rock band, Kaiser Chiefs, in 2009. There were protests outside the corn exchange when the UK Independence Party leader, Nigel Farage, arrived to give a speech in May 2014. The venue was acquired by the Academy Music Group in August 2021 and renamed O2 Academy Edinburgh. In April 2025, the building underwent a rebrand and returned to its original name of Edinburgh Corn Exchange. It remained under the ownership of Academy Music Group.

1. See also

List of Edinburgh music venues

1. References

Nearby Places View Menu

154 m

Chesser, Edinburgh

Chesser ( CHEZ-ər) is a mainly residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, east of the Water of Leith. It, with Longstone, is to the south-west, Allan Park and Craiglockhart to the south, Slateford, Hutchison and Moat to the east, and Gorgie Road to the north.

Neighbourhood

Slateford railway station

Slateford railway station is a railway station serving Slateford in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on the Shotts Line from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts. The station has two platforms, connected by a stairway footbridge, and CCTV. It is managed by ScotRail. It is currently served, Monday to Saturday, by one ScotRail service each hour from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley with a two-hourly Sunday service. There are also additional services, one from Motherwell to Edinburgh in the early morning with a late evening return and a morning peak service from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh via Carstairs, returning in the evening peak. The staple passenger traction calling at this station is the Class 385 Scotrail “Express” Electric Multiple Unit, however it is also served by Class 380 “Desiro” EMUs. As this station lies on the spur of the West Coast Main Line from Carstairs to Edinburgh, a variety of CrossCountry Class 220 Voyager, Avanti West Coast Class 221 Super Voyager, Class 390 Pendolino and London North Eastern Railway Class 801s are in use, and also Class 397 on TransPennine Express services. The line was and still is heavily used by freight, including imported coal from Ayrshire to Drax Power Station, a daily intermodal service, departmental traffic and a daily train of loaded steel to the Dalzell works at Motherwell. Freight trains normally avoid the centre of Edinburgh and the busy station complex at Waverley by using the link from here onto the Edinburgh Suburban Line at Craiglockhart Junction, which also gives access to the marshalling yard at Millerhill. There is also a crossover for access to Network Rail's Slateford Depot, which houses On Track Plant and Test Trains when they visit Edinburgh. When first opened by the Caledonian Railway in 1848, the line here ran through to a terminus known as Lothian Road. This was subsequently replaced by a larger depot at Edinburgh Princes Street in 1870, though it was more than twenty years thereafter before the station was fully completed. What is now the main line to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway at Haymarket (originally known as the Duff Street Spur) was opened by the Caledonian company in 1853 and the station along with it. The Caledonian had planned to use this link to access the E&G station at Haymarket and hence run through to Waverley, but it would be another century before this actually came to pass as agreement with the E&G over running powers couldn't be reached, forcing the Caledonian to develop its own terminus instead. The spur remained disused but intact until it was finally completed and commissioned in September 1964. All passenger services now use this line to reach Waverley, as services over the original route to Princes Street were withdrawn by British Railways on 6 September 1965. Goods traffic ended the following year and the track was then lifted. Much of the formation has been used for road improvements, though the former junction site can still be made out.

Industrial Landmark

Slateford

Slateford (Scottish Gaelic: Àth na Sglèata) is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is east of the Water of Leith. The former village of Slateford lies on the Lanark Road where it crosses the Water of Leith, 1⁄4 mile (400 m) south west of Slateford Station. The name "Slateford" comes from local rock found in the area and the old fording point on the Water of Leith that the village grew round. In 1882 it had a post office with money order savings bank and telegraph departments, a police station, a Good Templars Hall, School, U.P. Church and the extensive bleachfields of Inglis Green. The village was crossed by the Union Canal Slateford Aqueduct in 1822 and a few years later the 14-arch viaduct carrying the Caledonian railway line. The situe of the Canal, Road and Rail bridges capture all three modes of transport together still to this day. In 1952 and later in 1967 major road widening projects removed all but a few of the original cottages, though Slateford House, School (Now the headquarters and visitor centre for the Water of Leith conservation trust), and Church (used as a warehouse) still stand today. Slateford is home to the first car-free housing development in the UK, Slateford Green.

Landmark Neighbourhood

Slateford Aqueduct

The Slateford Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Union Canal over the Water of Leith at Slateford, Edinburgh, Scotland. Completed in 1822, it has eight arches and spans a length of 500 feet (150 m).

Bridge Landmark