Recollections of Rose Street, Edinburgh

Recollections

Ralph Fusco

Colinton, Edinburgh

Thank you to Ralph Fusco who wrote:

Asa Wass

The Shop

"I've read previous entries on your edinphoto web site concerning Asa Wass, especially the one from Asa's great-grandson Ken Miller, and your own letter in tonight's Evening News yesterday.

I can confirm that there was an Asa Wass 'shop' in Rose Street around 1949 - early 50's when I lived there.

Obviously, it would not be Mr. Miller's great-grandfather (who arrived in Edinburgh 1860) who ran the shop then, but may have been one of his sons."

Bottles and Clothes

"I was born in 1943 at 112 Rose Street, above 'Scarlets Pub'. I remember, from the age of 6 or 7, being sent frequently by my mother to 'Asi Wassi's' (as we kids pronounced it) to hand over empty bottles or old clothes in exchange for badly needed pennies."

Inside the Shop

"The 'shop' was about 4 or 5 stairs along, on the same side from my home, so would be about number 120 or 122 Rose Street. It was actually a first -floor flat in a slum tenement like mine at 112.

I only recall seeing one big room, just inside the door of the flat, and the bare wooden floor, covered from wall to wall with hundreds of empty upright bottles and a large pile of rags in one corner of the room."

Moving the Goods

"I think these stockpiles were regularly moved from Rose Street originally by horse and cart and later by lorry, but I've no idea to where they were all taken to!"

Visiting the Shop

"Visiting the strange old man up 'Asi Wassi's' stair in Rose Street with other 6 or 7 year-old pals was a scary, but exciting, adventure for us boys in those days."

Ralph Fusco, Colinton, Edinburgh: September 2, 2008

Recollections

Ralph Fusco

Thank you to Ralph Fusco who wrote:

Blue Sun

"By sheerest coincidence, while leafing through the items about Asa Wass on your website, I spotted the one about the blue sun in 1950 and the entry by Bob Wright of Inverness who was in Rose Street when it occurred.

Can you believe that, at that very time, some pals (7 year olds) and I were lying on our backs on the pavement in Rose Street staring up at the sun and watching the same phenomenon, not far from where Bob Wright would have been."

Ralph Fusco: September 2, 2008

Recollections

Edith Caulfield

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Edith Caulfield posted this message in the EdinPhoto guest book:

Question

Ice Cream Shop

"Does anyone remember the name of the Ice Cream Store on Rose Street between Castle Street and Frederick Street?

I lived on Castle Street and can remember going along Rose Street for Ice cream."

Edith Caulfield, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Message posted in EdinPhoto guest book, Dec 12, 2010

Recollections

Tom Finlayson-Smith

Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Tom Finlayson-Smith wrote

Reply

Ice Cream Shop

"The name of the ice cream shop was Di Marco. (I think that's the correct spelling.) They also sold meals in their Café section. e.g. fish and chips.

I lived in Rose Street, above the Kenilworth Pub and moved to Castle Street when I was 18."

Tom Finlayson-Smith, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia: December 18, 2010

Recollections

Allan Dodds

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England

Allan Dodds wrote

Milnes Bar

"I used to frequent Milnes Bar (on the corner of Hanover Street and Rose Street) in the 1960s. It was a hotbed of political discussion and artistic endeavour."

Literati

"We used to sit at a table next to the literati of the day:

- George Mackay Brown,

- Sorley McLean,

- Hugh McDermaid,

- George Mackay Brown,

- Sidney Goodsir Smith,

- Ian Crichton Smith,

- Alan Bold,

and of course there were ourselves, aspiring but regrettably failed poets of the day!"

Beethoven

"One of my best recollections is of whistling movements from Beethoven's Pastoral symphony alternately with one of the august group during the course of a drinking session.

Regrettably, we never progressed socially from this and I never got to know which of the poets he was. But it sounded good, impromptu and with no rehearsals.

Sandy Moffat

Sandy Moffat was then an undergraduate friend who attended Edinburgh College of Art, and I see from the internet that he painted a very good picture of the leading poets of the time, exactly as I myself remember them.

Understandably, I do not appear in his picture, but I don't altogether hold it against him as I was a complete nonentity at the time!

Allan Dodds, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England: January 13, 2011

Recollections

Dorothy Finlay (née Cossar)

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Thank you to Dorothy Finlay for posting a message in the EdinPhoto guest book.

Dorothy wrote:

Scott's Bar

"For a time, I worked in the Roxburghe Hotel in Charlotte Square, as a waitress. If we had an early finish we'd head for a nighcap to Rose Street where there was a pub called Scott's; I beleive she was the owner.

She had steel grey hair, cut in a bob. She sat at the bar and refused to serve any ladies who didn't have a male escort.

Is the pub still there?"

Dorothy Finlay (née Cossar), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook: March 4, 2012

Scott's Bar

I think it would probably have been around 1960 before emigrating to Australia, when Dorothy worked at The Roxburghe Hotel and visited Scott's Bar.

Yes, Scott's Bar is still at 202 Rose Street, just round the corner from the Roxburghe Hotel.

Peter Stubbs: Edinburgh: March 4, 2012