Leith Walk

This is Leith Walk, one of Edinburgh's main arteries and a street full of character with all sorts of little shops ranging from the ubiquitous Chinese and Indian takeaways to charity shops, mortgage advisors, traditional toyshops, hardware stores, shops selling saris and most recently Polish delis and restaurants. You can also see the very traditional Scottish town architecture of the tenement flats. These buildings would have been built in the late 19th century and most tenements will have two, three or four flats on each floor, depending on the size of the flats. The central stairwell is communal property and in theory should be looked after by everyone in the stair. Sadly, in many tenements, no-one takes responsibility for ensuring the stairs are kept clean. In days gone by, and even when I was a student, there was a bit of wood that got passed from flat to flat. When you got the bit of wood, it was your turn to clean the stairwell and if it wasn't up to the standard of the tenement matriarch, you soon knew about it!