How Edinburgh looked in the 1950s

A zebra crossing is trialled on Nicolson Street in January 1951.

Ski jumping came to the Braid Hills in April 1951. 55 tons of snow were brought from Norway and a temporary jump constructed. Crowds of over 10,000 people gathered to watch on the two days of competition.

In 1951 Edinburgh's largest factory was the North British Rubber Company's works which employed over 3650 people.
Staff are seen running out of the factory at the end of a shift, in November 1951.

Crowds of holiday-makers on Portobello Beach in May 1952 - with rollercoaster and funfair in the background.

A queue of trams on Princes Street after an overhead bracing broke at the Mound in November 1952. Engineers had the trams moving again within 40 minutes!

Torrential rain during a thunderstorm took just 15 minutes to cause flood damage in July 1953.
A number 35 bus ploughs through the water under Slateford Railway Bridge.

A trial of a "traffic roundabout" at Haymarket, Edinburgh in 1954.

Snow and slush at a tram stop in Edinburgh - looking north down Lothian Road to the West End in February 1955.

During the 1955 General Election campaign, Independent Liberal candidate Sir Andrew Murray addresses people at an open air meeting at the Queen Victoria statue at the foot of Leith Walk.

Buses gather at Shandwick Place in September 1955.

Fire at C & A department store in Princes Street in November 1955 - as seen from Waverley Bridge.

Edinburgh locals take to the ice-covered Union Canal by Meggetland in February 1956.

A rather empty looking bus station at St Andrew Square in April 1957.

New road markings were laid out on Lothian Road in August 1957 designed to help traffic flow easier - but motorists were not convinced! The police had to issue a statement through the press urging drivers to follow the arrows.

Crates of Tennent's lager were thrown from a beer lorry as it turned from The Pleasance into Drummond Street in August 1958.

Looking down Leith Street towards Picardy Place in November 1958. Picture shows the Top Deck restaurant, John Collier menswear, Timpson's shoe shop and H Samuel the jewellers. All these shops were demolished to make way for the St James Centre and King James Hotel.

To prove that some things never change, this scene in George Street, in November 1959 was described at the time as "parking pandemonium".

In December 1959 a group of Edinburgh councillors toured the city slums in the Greenside area. The slums were later demolished in the early 1960s.