Fancy expanding your horizons and going somewhere different for a night out? Why not try Edinburgh. The Scottish Capital has a lot to offer and provides an alternative night life to your usual Saturday night.  Edinburgh has a large number of pubs, clubs and restaurants. In recent years George Street in the New Town has grown in prominence, with a large number of new, upmarket public houses and nightclubs opening, along with a number on the parallel Queen Street. Stockbridge and the waterfront at Leith are also increasingly fashionable areas, with a number of pins, clubs and restaurants. 

The largest nightclubs are Lava & Ignite and City Nightclub, as well as The University’s student union, Potterrow. Smaller commercial venues include Base, Faith, Stereo and Karma. In recent year’s night clubs on George Street such as Opal Lounge, Lulu’s, Why Not and Shanghai have become popular.

The main alternative, indie and rock nights are hosted at The Hive, Opium and Studio 24. The Liquid Room re-opened on 4^th August 2010 after undergoing a full re-fit, after being damaged by the fire that destroyed an Indian restaurant which was situated behind it in December 2008. The GRV, Cabaret Voltaire, The Bongo Club and Sneaky Pete’s now host the majority of underground events in Edinburgh. 

So if you are looking to visit Edinburgh for a good night out, why not stay in a fully serviced apartment to provide you with more freedom than given by staying in hotels. Our Edinburgh Apartments provide spacious and high quality accommodation, giving you everything you need. All of our apartments are situated in prime locations, meaning you won’t have a long way to go to get to the pubs and clubs. Not only saving you money on taxi costs, but also taking the worry out of how you are going to get home!

Here at Serviced City Pads, we ensure we provide a wide range of service apartments, accommodating a wide range of people. So if you want to visit Edinburgh with all of your friends, you don’t have to worry about being split up. As our apartments can cater to larger numbers.

So if you are looking for accommodation in Edinburgh and fancy staying in a more special environment than those provided by hotels, then contact Serviced City Pads and we can help you find the most suitable apartment for you, We also provide 5000 apartments in over 30 cities across the UK

Each year Edinburgh is host to arguably the world’s biggest and best New Year celebrations. If you want to make your New Year one to remember then Serviced City Pads can help. We have a fantastic range of Edinburgh apartments in great locations to allow you to explore this historic city as well as getting involved in Hogmanay.

Stay in one of our serviced apartments and immerse yourself in this world renowned event. Opening with a spectacular torchlight procession creating a river of fire from the historic Royal Mile to the Son et Lumiére and with a fireworks finale on Calton Hill this is certainly not something to be missed. Call a member of our reservations team on 0844 335 8866 and we will be happy to help make your New Year’s party your best yet.

Street parties and carnivals mean you could be forgiven for mistaking this event more for Rio in the summer than Scotland in the winter but the vibrant and dynamic atmosphere is one which attracts visitors from every corner of the globe. Keep in the spirit of the occasion and stay in one of our serviced apartments. These Edinburgh apartments offer unique accommodation which goes hand in hand with the programme of music, dance, literature, art, concerts and sporting events not to be found anywhere else in the world. Make the trip with the help of Serviced City Pads and you won’t regret it.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay once again welcomes the very best in music and art throughout the festival with appearances this year from Biffy Clyro, KT Tunstall, The Coral, The Charlatans and Billy Bragg to name but a few. Enjoy this stellar line-up with Serviced City Pads. We can provide you with serviced apartments in Edinburgh which cater to your needs and requirements. Whatever you reason for travelling, we are able to help.

Keep the party going well into 2011. Call Serviced City Pads today on 0844 335 8866.

The Edinburgh International Science Festival is coming back to Edinburgh again in 2011 for the 22^nd time. The festival will take place from Saturday 9^th April 2011 to Friday 22^nd April 2011. As usual the festival will feature hundreds of talks, tours and exhibitions for children, families and adults in various locations around the city.

If you’ve not heard of it before, the Edinburgh International Science Festival is one of the largest science festivals in Europe with the last event in 2010 containing over 200 different science events across Edinburgh.  Not only is it a great opportunity for the public to celebrate some of the inventions and innovations of the world of technology and science, but also gives scientists a chance to share their work and passion for science with the public. This is done through hundreds of different events including shows, workshops, exhibitions and lectures. Have a look at the festival website to check out the events for this year and latest news, www.sciencefestival.co.uk.

Last year’s Edinburgh International Science Festival was a great success and the festival won the title of ‘Best Cultural Event’ at the Scottish Event Awards in September. So expect more of the same in 2011 with a new programme of events ready to amaze and excite the public’s imagination.

As you can imagine the Edinburgh International Science Festival is a hugely popular event with children and families, and many parents will be looking to plan a weekend or week up in Edinburgh. As far as accommodation is concerned Edinburgh has a wide variety of options but there is one in particular that is ideal for families and that is serviced apartments. With a separate bedroom and twice the space of a normal hotel room, serviced apartments provide a much welcome change for parents away with their families. After spending a whole day out and about with the kids, having the comfort of your own bedroom and knowing that with the self-catering facilities you can cater for even the fussiest of children, a serviced apartment is the logical choice for family accommodation in Edinburgh.

Serviced City Pads are one of the leading supplies of serviced apartments in Edinburgh and have a wide variety of apartments available to offer across Edinburgh city centre, so if you are looking to book accommodation for the Edinburgh International Science Festival, then why not give us a call on 0844 709 8000 or visit our website at www.servicedcitypads.com to see what we can do for your stay.

Serviced City Pads book serviced apartments within Edinburgh, please contact the serviced apartment team on 0844 335 8866.
Edinburgh is promising sparkle galore today with the unveiling of spectacular Christmas plans for the city centre, backed by the Capitals biggest winter marketing drive ever.

Edinburgh is the best city in Britain for a Christmas break. Scotlands Capital is stunningly beautiful for the rest of the year too but at Christmas, it becomes truly magical experience, the heart of Edinburghs winter festival and here’s why.

Christmas shopping, winter family fun and lots of other activities take place in a sparkling Edinburgh city centre. Hardly any other city on the world has the ability to bring excellent shopping and the magic of Christmas so close together, and at the centre of Edinburghs capital as well. Events and festive Christmas celebrations take place throughout the city from Princess Street itself with the Gardens, the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle in the Old Town to George Street in the New Town.

The winter festival in Edinburgh lasts for more than a month, starting with the Christmas lights switch on in late November, followed by Christmas time in fairytale-like Edinburgh, and finally, finishing off with the Hogmanay 4-day long celebrations.Serviced City Pads.

There’s no doubt  that the best thing about Christmas in Edinburgh is the Winter Wonderland, a mix of fairground rides, Ferris Wheel, outdoor Ice Rink, hot food stands, Christmas Fair and traditional German Christmas market. These are still open for visitors for nearly 4 weeks.

Other Christmas events include the Santa Run, Edinburgh’s attempt at breaking the record for the largest gathering of Santas, the Reindeer Gardens in West Princess Street Gardens and carol concerts theoughout Scotlands Capital. Serviced City Pads.
Our Iconic Torchlight procession remains the favourite with Hogmanay festisval goers of all ages. The event created a dramatic ‘river of fire’ throught the city, form the Royal Mile to Carlton Hill.

The procession, which has been a record crowd of around 25,000 in attendance, was led off from the City Chambers by the Up Helly Aa Vikings and massed pipes and drums. A trail was blazed through the centre of Edinburgh, down the Mound, along Princess Street and into Waterloo Place on its way to Carlton Hill. The culmination of the process on Carlton Hill saw lighting of fire scultures along with music and other performers.

The evening concluded with a sensational fireworks display that wowed the crowd and sent everyone on their way for the remaining Hogmanay festivities to come.

Our brand new spectacular event, Boogie wonderland is set to be the funkiest gig in town and will give partygoers the perfect chance to dust off those platforms and get dressed up to the nines. A full-on tribute to the seventies hosted by the boogieman himself, organisers are calling for ticket holders to dig out those shiny catsuits, don those flairs and chessy moustaches and groove under the glitter ball to a truly Top opf the Pops, seventies soundtrack featuring a whole cast of retro tribute bands. Serviced City Pads supply Serviced Apartments throughout Edinburgh, please contact the reservations team on 0844 335 8866.

Stay in Edinburgh this weekend and have an Audience with Howard Marks at Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh from 8.30pm. Serviced City Pads supply short and long stay apartments throughout Edinburgh.
Dennis Howard Marks (was born 13 August 1945 in Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend, Glamorgan, Wales) is a former teacher, drug smuggler and author who achived notoriety as an international hashish smuggler through high-profile court cases, supposed connections with groups such as the IRA, and the Mafia, and his eventual conviction at the hands of the American Drug Enforcement Administration. At the height of his drug career, he was said to have controlled 10% of the world’s hashish trade.

Marks attended the Graw Grammar School in Pontycymer, followed by Balliol College, Oxford between 1964 and 1967 to study Natural Science, Physics (B.A.,Oxon). Among his friends at Balliol was the epidemiologist Julian Peto, and journalist Lynn Barber. After this he studied at the University of London (1967 to 1968). Then back to Balloi, Oxford (1968 to 1969) to study History and Philosophy of Science and then to the University of Sussex (1969 to 1970) to study Philosophy of Science.

He spent seven years in the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana. During his smuggling career, he claims not to have used violence and to have refused to deal with hard drugs. Both he and his now ex-wife Judy Marks were extradited from Majorca, Spain to Florida. They have three children together, Amber, Francesca and Patrick. He also has an older daughter, Myfanwy, from a 5 year relationship with Rosie Lewis.

Since his release from Prison, Marks has published a best-selling autobiography, Mr Nice which has been translated in many languages. Along with Mr Nice Howard has compiled an anthology called the Howard Marks Book of Dope Stories and more recently a follow on from his autobiography Senor Nice:Straight Life From Wales to South America. Marks is a campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis and tours the world with a one-man show. He appeared in the documentary Stoned in Suburbia which aired on Sky 1 in the UK.

Judy Marks has also written her autobiography of their life together entitled Mr ansd Mrs Nice.

Marks stood for election to UK Parliament in 1997, on the single issue of legalisation of cannabis. He contested four seats at once: Norwich South (against the future Home Secretary Charles Clarke), Norwich North, Neath and Southampton Test. The average vote was over 1%. This led to the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) by Alun Buffry in 1999.Serviced City Pads.

Marks has a role as a customs officer in the planned film Ecstasy, based on the bestselling book by Irvine Welsh and also made a cameo appearance in the 1999 film human traffic.Serviced City Pads.

In 2010, he played a fictional role in the imfamous ganagster movie Killer Bitch. He is also subject of an upcoming biopic starring Rhys Ifans as Marks entitled Mr Nice, named after his autiobiography of the same name. Chloe Sevigny will play the role of his wife Judy. The film is slated for release in 2010.Serviced City Pads supply Serviced Apartments.

The Old Town of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Serviced City Pads reservation team on 0844 335 8866.One end is closed by the castle and the main artery, the Royal Mile, actually made up of several distinct streets, leads away from it, down the now-ruined Holyrood Abbey. Narrow closes (alleyways), often no more than a few feet wide, lead downhill on either side of the main spine in a herringbone pattern. Large squares mark the location of markets or surrond major public buildings such as in front of the Tron Kirk, and surrounding St Giles Cathedral and the supreme courts.Short and long stay accommodation in Edinburgh through Serviced City Pads.Other notable places inlcude the Scottish Parliament Building, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, the Royal Museum of Scotland, Surgeons Hall, the University of Edinburgh, and numerous underground streets and vaults, relics of previous phases of contruction. The street layout, typical of old quarters of many northern European cities, is made especially picturesque in Edinburgh, where the castle on top of a rocky crag, the remnants of an extinct volcano, and the main street runs down the creast of the ridge from it.

The topography for the city is known as ‘crag and tail’ and was created during the last ice age when receding glaciers scored across the land pushing soft soil aside being split by harder crags of volcanic rock. The hilltop crag was the earliest part of the city to be develop, becoming fortified and eventually developing into the current Edinburgh Castle. The rest of the city grew slowly down the tail of land from Castle Rock. This was an easily defended spot with marshland on the south and a loch on the North. Access up the main road to the settlement was therefore restricted by means of various gates and a City Wall, of which only fragmentary sections remain.Serviced Apartments in Edinburgh through Serviced City Pads.Due to the space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of the ‘tail’ the Old Town became home to some of the earliest ‘high rise’ residential buildings. Multi-story dwelling were the norm from the 16th century onwards. During the 18th century the Old Town has a population of about 80,000 residents. However, in more modern times it had declined dramatically to just 4,000 residents. There are currently approximatley 20,000 residents in various parts of the Old Town. As the population was for a long time reluctant to build outside the defensive wall, the need for housing grew and hence the buildings became higher and higher. Tragically, many of these buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1824; the rebuilding of these on the original foundations led to changes in the ground level and the creation of many passages and vaults under the Old Town.

On December 7, 2002 another major fire in the Old Town engulfed part of Cowgate. It destroyed the famous comedy club,The Guilded Balloon, and much of the Informatics Department of thr University of Edinburgh, including the comprehensive A1 Library.Serviced City Pads.

Since 1861 when the society was only 6 weeks old, the EPS has had an annual open exhibition. It is one of the most highly regarded international exhibitions in the UK, typically attracting over 3000 entries from all around the world. Unlike some exhibitions, they only accept what can be displayed, around 200-220 prints, which makes it highly competitive to gain acceptences. Serviced City Pads supply apartments throughout Edinburgh.

This trend goes some way towards explaining why the consistently excellent entry for the Edinburgh Photographic Society’s international exhibition, which only accepts prints, is down for the fourth year in a row – its 1,755 entries being just over half of the 3,477 it attracted in 2006.

One of the most arresting images is the sensitively composed, superbly lit Gypsie Girl by Andrea Martini of Italy, which won one of the three Federation Internationale be l’Art Photographique (Fiap) gold medals. Surrounded by a stack of rough-looking broom heads the crouching girl is pictured with her arms wrapped protectively around her naked figure, doe-eyed look on her grubby face. Selector Judy Boyle said ‘The lighting focuses the viewers eye on the main subject, which makes this a first-class environmental portrait’. Serviced City Pads short and long stay reservations team can be contacted on 0844 335 8866.
Among an excellent selection of animal shots, the brilliantly captured Great Gey Owl by Mick Durham of Scotland was highly commended. Picked out against a white backdrop, the owl, looking like an aeroplane about to take off, stares full on at the viewer, its penetrating black pupils in its yellow eyes at the centre of a stunning splayed-winged form.

Durham’s similarly razor-sharp Brown Hare in Morning Dew is so close up you feel you could almost touch the fleet-footed animal, which is picked out amid the long, droplet covered glass, yellow buttercups and the smudged whites and pinks of daisies. Apartment accommodation in Edinburgh through Serviced City Pads.A contrasting soft focus lends an ethereal quality to English photographers Peter Ree’s Venice Dawn – a painterly portrait of Italy’s lagoon city, seen in a misty haze. Awarding it Fiap robbon, selector Steven Le Provost said it has ‘bags of atmosphere’.

One of the most natural-looking images is of a thick-armed man, crouching on one knee amid the straw of a farm shed, being kissed by a gorgeously golden-coloured sheep. The Kiss, David Wheeler of England, which was awarded a Fiap ribbon, has a warm, earthy feeling.

Forty three per cent of the entries were mono, with arguably the best being the seemingly casually composed Fiap gold-medal winning Bike Rack, by Alan Brown of England. In it, a bicycle leaning on a street sign forms th focal point of a snowy landscape, with nine black slabs evenly spaced out behind it, and a flat-roofed, academic-looking building and trees half-obscured in a whitened background. It is simple but stunning.Serviced City Pads supply apartments in Edinburgh.

Finally a photograph which captures the innocent excitement of youth amid the contrasting warmth of a sandscape. In He Tripped and Fell Down, by Tak Cheong Pun of Macao, five youngsters charge down a rich ochre sand dune, with another falling headfirst downhill – big splodges behind them and long shadows in front. The image is energetic and playful – full of joy and life.

Prince Albert originally layed the foundation stone of the National Gallery in 1850, giving a moving speech in whcih he hails the William Henry Playfait designed building as a ‘temple erected to the Fine Arts’. The building will stand next to the Royal Scottish Academy building, also designed by Playfair and headquarters for the Board of Manufacturers since 1822.Serviced City Pads supply short and long term serviced apartment accommodation.
In 1882 The National Gallery’s collection of pictures, as well as public and political appetite for a permanent record of Scots achievement, grows to such an extent that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is founded and is funded by local newspaper propreitor, John Ritchie Findlay and is opened in 1889.

In 1959 The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art is founded and opened to the public in August at Inverleith House in Edinburghs Royal Botanical Garden. All but a few of the National Gallery’s paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings dating from 1900 are moved to a new location. The vast majority of objects in the gallery’s collection today, however, were acquired after the 1960’s. Please contact the Serviced City Pads reservations team on 0844 335 8866.In 1971-2 Five new small galleries at the south end of the National Gallery are created by building an upper floor. The space is in part created to house the great Maitland collection of French late nineteenth – and early twentieth century paintings, including works by Monet and Van Gogh.

In 1978 a further suite of galleries is opened, this time beneath the ground of the south end of the National Gallery, to house the Gallery’s Scottish Collection and also provided room for facilities such as a Print Room, Library and Picture Store.

1999 The Dean Gallery opens, a magnificent building opposite the Gallery of Modern Art, The Gallery is used to house the generous gift by the Edinburgh born sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi of a large collection of his work. he new gallery also showcases the National Galleries superb Dada and Surrealism collection. Edinburgh accommodation with Serviced City Pads.2003 Extensive redevelopment of the Royal Scottish Academy Building, now owned by the National Galleries of Scotland, is completed, turning the venue into one of Europe’s premier exhibition venues. It’s first exhibition in the newly developed space Monet: The Seine and the Sea, attracts visitors of over 170,000.

In 2004 The second phase of works on The Mound is completed through creation of an underground link – overlooking Princess Street Gardens – that connects the National Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy Building. The new space provides state-of-the-art visitor facilities:education suites, a new restaurant and cafe, a lecture theatre/cinema and IT Gallery.

The National Galleries are showing the most exhaustive selection of paintings by Christian Kobke (1810 – 1848) ever to be shown outside Denmark.Kobke was a pre-eminent painter in his country and one of the foremost talents of Denmark’s Golden Age. The Exhibition features around 40 of Kobke’s most celebrated works, spanning a variety of genres. Giving and overview of Kobke’s acheivement within its cultural context, the exhibition emphasises his exquisite orginality and experimental outlook while focusing on the most innovative aspects of his work.Kobke’s paintings demonstrate his ability to endow ordainary people and places and simple motifs with a universal significance, creating a world in microcosm for the viewer. Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartments via their website.

Another Someone – Bedlam Theatre until Saturday August 28, 2010

If your after something young and refreshing, unpretentious and uplifting, go and see this show. Even though it probably defies most catergorisations – being qualifiable as either a contemporary dance with words or a musical with storytelling – this little show about happiness could probably pass for a piece of easy audience therapy too. Serviced City Pads.

The fact that it doesn’t try too hard to be older or clever than it is probably lets this show get away with ocaasional narrative flaws. And they make these work by flaunting them. Becky Wilkie’s thorughly enchanting music make the whole thing bind seamlessly together and she appears in the triple role fo a composer, musician and narrator. RashDash founders Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland, as well as their new member Marc Graham, are all talented singers and dancers too, making it feel as though this quartet redefines the notion of a triple-threat. Not only that, but they genuinely threaten to break new ground and bring a whole new brand of music theatre – if not an album or two as well. So do go and see them while they are such amazing value for money. Happiness guaranteed.

Speechless – Traverse Theatre until Sunday August 29, 2010

Based on facts, this is the story of twin sisters who refused to speak, preferring to communicate with each other as growing olders forces then ever deeper into comfort of their secret world.Serviced City Pads short stay serviced apartment accommodation.
Increasingly difficult, they are transferred from secondary to special school as family and experts remain baffled. Otherwise intelligent, articulate and witty, the twin belong to a normal family with mother, father and three siblings. Except not so normal, since they are immigrants from the Carribean living on an RAF base in the UK where thay are the only black family. And, we should remember, this is the early eighties when society in Britain was only just begginning to confront the word ‘racism’. Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartments in Edinburgh.
TV plays a large role in punctuating the sisters lives, on a daily basis watching Dallas or Top of the Pops with their supper, or markingthe passing of the years with Charles and Diana’s wedding and the Brixton Riots. Meanwhile the people around them attempt to save th twins from silence. Their mother Gloria (Anita Reynolds, admiringly convincing despite being too young for the role) alternately pleads and cajoles, as does special scholl teacher Cathy (Emma Handy), while schoolmate Kennedy (Alex Waldmann) offers a potential lifeline through his own troubled adolescence.

As June, Demi Oyediran brings a spark of hope to the more outgoing sister who might just escape, while Natasha Gordon sustains a growing unease as the more manipulative Jennifer. Theirs is a truly remarkable, disturbing joint performance that expertly makes the twins personalities distinct yet leaves no doubt that they are inseparably intertwined.Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartment accommodation through Edinburgh, please contact the reservations team on 0844 335 8866

When anyone thinks of taking a short city break or staying away from home for a while such as working away, it is automatically presumed that a hotel will be the better option both in terms of cost and availability. An apartment can actually work out much cheaper than a hotel, especially if you are staying for any length of time. You will also find that serviced apartments are widely available in all the large cities in the United Kingdom.

Many hotels don’t have the essential comforts that you require when you are away from home such as a wide screen television and DVD player. An apartment has all these home comforts which are especially good for families who are trying to travel light. Serviced apartments in London offer much more space than a hotel, especially for a family who would be struggling to fit into a hotel room with all the beds in the same room. Hotels in London are notorious for being small and this is not suitable for anyone who likes their privacy.

For someone who is working away an apartment offers the convenience of being able to dine at home as serviced apartments in Birmingham, London and other cities have fully equipped kitchens where you can prepare either a meal or a snack. Here at Serviced City Pads we offer space, style and luxurious surroundings in peaceful locations that are still close to all amenities and transport for your convenience. With a widescreen television, DVD player and Internet connection you will have all the modern comforts of home.