wood for the trees

February 6, 2005 7:45 AM

Wood for the trees. The Forest Cafe in Edinburgh , a volunteer run , eco - friendly , creative space thats worth a look.
posted by sgt.serenity (19 comments total)

Thanks for pointing to this sqt. Ann Arbor needs one of these too. To a boomer this looks like a sunrise.
posted by JohnR at 8:03 AM on February 6, 2005

I've seen some Mefite link to this in their profile. Where did you get the link from?
posted by Gyan at 8:14 AM on February 6, 2005

As someone who's spent a lot of time at the Forest, I'm glad people are spreading the word. I moved from Edinburgh in September and this beautiful, relaxed café is the place I miss most.
posted by bwerdmuller at 9:21 AM on February 6, 2005

looks like a great place, and some wonderful work in the gallery--thanks sgt! : >
posted by amberglow at 9:43 AM on February 6, 2005

Forest is a nice place to hang out with a laptop and a pot of tea. Dammit. (I was hoping it would stay secret a bit longer :)
posted by cstross at 12:16 PM on February 6, 2005

wow, fellow forest mefites ...... i should be working in there on friday 10-3 if you want to say hello !
Well , I'll also add they have a large performance space upstairs and are looking for people to do things there during the festival ....its very very cheap at 10 quid an hour i think.
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:10 PM on February 6, 2005

Oh my. Moved to Edinburgh three days ago, and already Metafilter's given me somewhere to visit. Maybe I'll drop by on Friday, sgt.serenity.
posted by Marquis at 2:42 PM on February 6, 2005

wasn't this linked to before? is it the cafe on the little square up near north bridge? (not complaining, just confused - i left edinburgh when it was "just" an veggie cafe, iirc (6 or 7 years ago), and am wondering if this is the same place).
posted by andrew cooke at 3:42 PM on February 6, 2005

Cool place, cool concept. I hope more spring up all over. Hope I get to visit this one, too.
posted by Shane at 3:54 PM on February 6, 2005

thats right andrew , it moved from the grassmarket to lothian st , its a much bigger place now with the accent more on being creative (whatever that may be) you simply walk in , put your name in the diary and do your thing.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:38 PM on February 6, 2005

oh, ok. thanks. (stares off into space dreaming of the kalpna and that little italian restaurant down leith walk(?). then realises he hasn't pressed "post"...)
posted by andrew cooke at 4:50 PM on February 6, 2005

Seems like a cool space, but kind of a self-post, yeah, sarge?
posted by squirrel at 7:43 PM on February 6, 2005

Great link... and from there it's a click to Ethicaladventures and in turn Greenpeace's The Chemical House which is brilliant.
posted by missbossy at 9:10 PM on February 6, 2005

MetaTalk
posted by squirrel at 10:33 PM on February 6, 2005

During the festival? You mean the fringe sarge? Cool, I know some mad people who might want that space!
posted by dabitch at 10:40 PM on February 6, 2005

If I ever get back to Edinburgh, this is definitely somewhere I would visit, thanks Sarge.
posted by Tarrama at 10:54 PM on February 6, 2005

andrew cooke: the "little italian restaurant" on Leith Walk metastasized -- Vittorio's was voted best Italian restaurant in Scotland a couple of years ago (out of a city heaving with expat Italians running restaurants -- it's not as back-handed an award as you might think), and it's sort of expanded and eaten an entire block, except for the corner chippie which is embedded in the front of it. (The chippie is run by the owner's uncle, and will presumably be added to the empire when he retires.) You pretty much have to book to get a table on any given evening now. The food is still just as good, though, and very cheap for the quality.
posted by cstross at 3:00 AM on February 7, 2005

are we talking the scruffy little green place?! and not the fancy italian food deli thing further down? (it did have nice food, but when we last ate there, to celebrate pauli's viva, the only other person was an old regular).
posted by andrew cooke at 6:02 AM on February 7, 2005

I've been there, without knowing (until now.) Great little place.
posted by fire&wings at 4:57 PM on February 8, 2005