14 BUSINESS
Edinburgh legal firm names new chair
Spinning the vinyl
A day to laud the independents with live music and special releases
By STAFF REPORTERTWENTY NEW staff are required ahead of
the opening of the new Herringbone bar
and restaurant on London Road at Royal
Terrace Gardens.
The Herringbone bar and restaurant is
poised to attract customers to its newest
location, handy for either Edinburgh
Playhouse or Easter Road.
Buzzworks Holdings, which owns
the Herringbone both here and in Trinity,
has been named in the Best Companies
to Work list, has launched a search to
recruit a world-class team with vacancies
covering various roles in the venue,
from management to kitchen and front
of house.
The new Herringbone will open
this spring.
Ash Bairstow, Operations Director at
Herringbone, said: “We cannot wait to
welcome guests to this outstanding new
Herringbone bar and restaurant in
Edinburgh, which we believe will be a
great asset to the local community.
“As we further expand the Herringbone
brand, we’re proud to progress as part of
the Buzzworks family and create more
opportunities for those keen to work with
an award-winning Scottish hospitality
employer that is consistently known for
supporting its employees throughout
every step of their career.
“We’d love to hear from anyone who is
interested in becoming part of the team at
Herringbone during this new exciting
chapter in our story.”Jobs on offer at
Abbeyhill bar
and restaurant
By PHYLLIS STEPHENRECORD STORE DAY is on 22 April this year- the day when independent record shops in the
UK celebrate their unique culture with live
music and special vinyl releases. We asked some
people to recall the first record they bought...
SIR RICHARD BRANSON
Sir Richard Branson was in town to officially
open the first Virgin hotel outside the US. Virgin
has a long history with Edinburgh with one of
the first Virgin Record Stores opened here. When
asked which was the record he first bought Sir
Richard laughed and said: “Oh, it will be terribly
embarrassing and unhip. It was Cliff Richard’s
Summer Holiday. As the owner of a very credible
record company since I will be absolutely
castigated by everybody who has anything to do
with Virgin Records. Of course Tubular Bells
then made us and then Simple Minds.”BRUCE FINDLAY
Edinburgh resident Bruce Findlay is a well kent
face in the music world. Red bags with “I Found
It at Bruce’s” were all over the city when he had
his shop on Rose Street.
He said: “My mum managed a record shop
when I was a schoolboy in the 1950s and then
of course I had my own record shop(s)...so...
records were readily available. I have different
recollections of the first record I ‘got’, possibly
‘Tom Dooley’ Lonnie Donegan, or when I was
10 Petula Clark’s ‘The Shoemaker’s Shop’...”
And then Bruce went on to manage Simple
Minds and the rest, as they say, is history.
As he himself would say “Smile”.KEVIN BUCKLE
Kevin Buckle owner of Avalanche Records in
Waverley Market was shy of admitting that he
bought Chuck Berry’s novelty record, My Ding
A Ling, and was quick to point out that he did
not necessarily get all the connotations of it.
The record cost less than £1 in a wee record
shop in Walton Liverpool where he grew up. He
said: “It had a big long high street that had everypossible shop you would want including a
record shop.” Avalanche do not make a big fuss
about Record Store Day. Kevin explained that he
does not believe in opening at 8am on the day.
(“That’s just not a right time for a record shop.”)
They will open at a more sedate 9am.ANGUS ROBERTSON
Angus Robertson, Minister for the Constitution,
External Affairs and Culture, told us he bought
Ace of Spades by Motörhead in 1980 from
Woolworths in Stockbridge. Woolies was a big
outlet for records where you could listen before
buying the latest releases, and was formerly in
the store that became Scotmid in Raeburn Place.CLLR VAL WALKER
Cllr Val Walker who is the Culture and
Communities Convener on The City of
Edinburgh Council developed a lifelong love of
dance after buying her first record.
She bought Sweet Little Sixteen by NeilSedaka. She recalled: “It was a 45 rpm single and
cost around six shillings in old money. She said:
“It hooked me on dance music and wanting to
be 16 as I was about 14 at the time.”MARK THORNE
Mark Thorne of Thorne Records on Bruntsfield
Place said: “I didn’t grow up in the vinyl era so the
first ‘record’ I ever bought was a cassette reissue of
‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ by Monty
Python from John Menzies, Stirling in 1991.
“Once I went to uni in Dundee I started
collecting records and bought my first one in the
legendary second hand emporium, Grouchos.
On RSD this year we will be open from 8am -
8pm and will have all the releases folk want along
with a huge party atmosphere and... BEER!”
Voxbox on St Stephen Street have hired St
Vincent’s Chapel for the day. There will be ten
performances all from artists on independent
Scottish labels from 8am to 6.30 with free entry.
recordstoreday.co.ukBy BUSINESS REPORTERTHE NEW CHAIR of Anderson
Strathern, one of Edinburgh’s oldest
law firms, says that the firm will
continue to earn strong revenue and
grow its profit, but has “No ambitions
to join up with any UK or international
practices - we will remain fully
independent”.
Fraser Geddes has been with the
firm for just over 12 years says that the
focus will be on growth however. He
said: ““I see the firm continuing togrow its income from south of the
Border and overseas – as well as
within Scotland - in a legal
marketplace that is more focussed on
offering value for money than at any
other time in my career. The public
and private sectors and corporate
clients are all fighting ongoing
inflationary pressures.”
The firm is about to move into new
premises in Capital Square in the
Exchange District and looks forward to
trong financial results. Geddes said:
“The economy remains challenging,certainly but I don’t expect the current
recessionary clouds to linger as long
as many people have feared.”
There have been many changes in
the legal profession during his career.
He said: “It’s modernising, engaging
with the very latest technology to
better serve clients. We have moved
from being consulted only when
something needs verified or a
statutory process completed, or when
a client is in trouble – to a place where
a lawyer must be infinitely more
proactive in leading honestconversations about how best they
can meet and hopefully exceed client
expectations, on all fronts.
“Today, legal expertise is a given;
the letter of the law will be taken care
of. The difference between good and
great lawyers, is being able to develop
and nurture relationships.
“If the property industry is about
‘location, location, location,’ the legal
profession in 2023 is about
‘relationships, relationships,
relationships’ - and Anderson
Strathern is very good at that.”Ash Bairstow, Operations
Director at Herringbone