Lying where grandiose New Town townhouses give way to
malls and utilitarian housing, Broughton and Calton
have long been transitional neighbourhoods with a
mixed identity. It’s here that Edinburgh’s gay village
found a home in the 1980s. But gay culture is anything
but overt along bustling epicentre Broughton Street;
even if polished pubs, hip bistros, smart delis and
art galleries all speak of affluent good taste. The
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top of Leith Walk is more ragged. This major
thoroughfare boasts a famously gritty gay club, as
well as a strip of good Indian restaurants. Regal
Georgian and Victorian townhouses preside over largely
deserted streets in Calton, where only the occasional
restaurant or hotel brings much life. Even so, a
steady trickle of idlers and picnickers pass by to
climb Calton Hill for its wide-open lawns, wonderful
city views, and curious monuments – an Athenian-style
temple among them.
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