10 things anyone who grew up in Edinburgh will remember

Few children growing up in Edinburgh in the 1980s or 90s would not have been familiar with Little Marcos.
Opened in 1980 as Scotland’s first indoor soft play area, it was a cool place for kids and a favourite venue for birthday parties. Before shutting in 2008, it welcomed one million children through its Grove Street doors.
Former devotees of Little Marcos will recall “massive slides”, the “ball pit” and “ride-around bikes”.
Marcos Leisure Centre was first opened in the 1970s. It was an 80,000sq ft plot over three floors and as well as soft play, there was squash, snooker and pool. The Demarco family has since sold sections of the property, keeping the ground floor and creating a new basement. The venue was launched in its latest guise as the new Marcos Pool Hall and Pizza Bar, in November 2014.

Swimming at the Commonwealth Pool was a big treat, partly because of the flumes - even the sheer terror of the Stingray.
Throw in a bag of steaming hot chips from Bratisanni’s chippy nearby and the day out was complete.
Unfounded rumours of hidden razer blades was enough to put some swimmers off - as was the horror of emerging from the water wearing less swimwear than had been in place at the top.
The new look, revamped pool was opened in 2012, following a £37.5million refurbishment, and sadly the old flumes did not make the cut.
Speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News in 2012, Gary Hamilton, from Penicuik, recalled the Stingray flume: “It was a sheer drop – you paid £1 for a shot. Come to think of it, you should have got a refund for losing your shorts on the way.
“I remember coming off and feeling a bit warm around the bum where a hole had been ripped out of my trunks. My mate, Jim, was worse. He jumped off the diving board and the velocity tore his trunks right off. He didn’t realise until he was getting out of the water. His shorts were floating off in the middle of the pool.”

Watching the goldfish in the big fish pond in the Grand Gallery was much more exciting than any of the actual exhibits.
Your parents would have to drag you away so you didn’t spend the entire day perched by the side of the pond.
Children visiting the museum today won't have a chance to watch the fish, who disappeared when the museum was re-opened following a multi million pound facelift in 2011.

Ice cream lovers in Edinburgh flocked to Boni’s to sample its wide range of Italian ices.
Mr Boni’s ice cream was started by Biagio Boni, a young Italian who came to Scotland at the beginning of the last century to escape his poverty-stricken homeland. Biagio owned the Empress Cafe in Gilmore Place and, in 1910, invited his younger brother Giuseppe to join him.
The business remained in the family and, in the 60s, the Empress closed to make way for the Quernstone restaurant. The family’s cafe took on the Mr Boni’s name during the 70s. It led to further cafes being opened in St Mary’s Street and Cockburn Street.
It closed its doors for good in 2002.

Most Edinburgh residents of a certain age will have fond memories of Fat Sam’s restaurant in Fountainbridge, which closed down in the mid-1990s and was finally put out of its decaying misery and demolished in 2007. The gangster themed Chicago-style diner opened its doors in 1986 in the former Edinburgh meat market building and was a favourite of local children.

Fat Sam’s incorporated the iconic 1884 stone meat market arches, sign and carved bull heads into its exterior, all of which have since been restored and re-homed a little further up Semple Street. You may still stumble upon the odd branded ‘I survived Fat Sam’s’ pin badge, but sadly the much-loved restaurant itself did not survive.

A place to pick up your magazines, books, office supplies, or stationary sets before the new school term, John Menzies was first opened to the public in 1832, sitting proudly at 61 Princes Street. Known affectionately by locals as Menzies, the shop became the first Edinburgh bookstore to sell issues of The Scotsman over the counter in 1833. A year later John Menzies was granted exclusive rights in the east of Scotland to Charles Dickens’ first novel Pickwick Papers and by 1850 turnover had reached £8,148 - around £600,000 in today’s money.

The store closed between 1859 and 1928 before making its return to Princes Street and in 1973, with turnover at an all-time high, John Menzies opened its flagship store at 107-108 Princes Street. The store became synonymous as a vendor of records, toys and games, in addition to its traditional range of books, magazines and stationery and was immortalised in Danny Boyle’s 1996 film Trainspotting. In 1998 the retailer sold off its store to rival WH Smith for £68 million.

For many, Wimpy was their first introduction to American-style fast food, albeit served up with real crockery and cutlery.
It was originally a specialist fast-food section within a more traditional restaurant, but its popularity soon led to the establishment of separate Wimpy sites serving only hamburger-based meals.
By 1970, the chain had grown to more than 1,000 outlets in 23 countries, and innovations included the introduction of the first vegetable burger from a fast-food chain – the Spicy Beanburger – in 1985.

The UCI at Kinnaird park was Edinburgh's first multiplex.
Opened in 1990 it was host to a number of film premieres, including Back to the Future Part III.
Odeon bought the 12 screen cinema venue in 2005, but it was closed and demolished within just three years. However, a new Odeon has since been built on the same site.

A shopping institute - Woolworths was an instant hit with city dwellers when it opened its Princes Street store in 1926, opposite the North British Hotel.
The iconic store hit its peek in the 1960s, a time when many Edinburgh locals spent their weekly pocket money on pic ‘n’ mix, the latest knick knacks, and adults enjoyed a drink or snack in the tartan-floored restaurant on the top floor.
The Princes Street store lasted until 1984, with other Edinburgh branches closing down when the company went into administration in 2008.

It's was the seat every child wanted!