Hey! Nashy here 👋
Welcome to your weekly Thriving Newsletter!
Keeping you up to date with what’s happening in the city, highlighting local businesses, events and being your ‘boots on the ground’ telling Edinburgh stories and finding hidden gems.
First things first. Thank you. 🧡
To everyone who takes the time to message, stop me in the street, or share kind words about what Abby and I are building with KET, thank you.
The community growing around this is genuinely wholesome, welcoming, and something we’re incredibly proud to be part of. We’re fully here for it.
Please keep sharing your personal highlights and recommendations, we love hearing them.
At some point, I’ll need to monetise what I’m building and I’m hopeful that the Thriving Card will be what makes that possible.
It would mean I can keep doing what I love while continuing to support local and independent businesses across Edinburgh and the Lothians
Hope you all had a brilliant Easter! Four seasons in one day on Sunday was very on brand for Edinburgh. 😅
Lots happening around the city and some incredible festivals on the horizon. The longer days and brighter evenings are doing wonders for the mood. Spring is here!
This week's newsletter includes:
🔥New business SHOUT OUT!
🏪 Local business highlights
❓Can you name that street?
📅 Festival dates and events for your diary
Let's get into it! 👇
THERE’S A NEW SPOT IN TOWN!
🚀 Pop & Petal Blooms - Edinburgh's own flower grower
Meet Ronda. She grows every single stem herself, right here in Edinburgh.
I haven’t been out to meet Ronda in her garden but she did come and see me last week at my Pop Up event at Stoodio. It was great to hear all about her new business.
Locally grown, hand picked, seasonal flowers bursting with personality and grown with genuine care.
Pop & Petal Blooms is launching its spring subscription this April. Sign up and collect a fresh bouquet each week during the growing season. Limited spaces so don't hang about.
You can also find Ronda at Edinburgh Farmers Market from Saturday 25th April. Her first stall of the season. Go and say hello. 🧡
The kind of small independent business that deserves every bit of support. Local, sustainable and genuinely joyful.
🔥The Queen Street Art Studio
🎨Underground art in the heart of the city
I popped in on Saturday en route to an Edinburgh Capitals match at Murrayfield.
What an awesome wee underground studio I found!
Abby and the kids met street artist, Sleek and contemporary artist, Rob Stevenson last week at a live art demo event they were hosting at Duke of West Barns in Dunbar. They are in residence at this brilliant working studio and gallery on Queen Street.
Two talented artists, two very different styles that blend magnificently to create punchy, eye catching one off art pieces hidden right in the heart of Edinburgh's New Town.
You can walk in off the street, watch them work, browse the art and pick up something genuinely special. The kind of place you stumble across and tell everyone about.
Open Saturday’s and Sunday’s 12-5pm. Other times by appointment. Check out their website for future workshops and some festival pop up action.
Check out my tour on our Instagram page and then go and visit them in person next time you are in town. Great lads who deserve our support.🧡
Can you guess the street?
Edinburgh has so many great streets packed with many independent businesses?
Which street has the following?
🦊 Fox & Co
🍸 Voyage of Buck
💍 Jewellery by Liam Ross
is it…
Did you guess right? Let us know and please recommend other great streets with local spots that I can go and visit.
☕The Cobbled Roastery on Thistle Street
☕ Mad Vlad's Coffee World
I went in for a tour and came out a fan.
I visited the Cobbled Roastery last week when I was stationed at Stoodio Pop Up for the day.
Run by the brilliant Mad Vlad. He’s one of those people who just lives and breathes their craft.
Speciality coffee, ethically sourced from some of the world's best growing regions and roasted right here in the shop. Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Peru, Yemen. The man knows his beans.
A trendy spot, great energy and the kind of place that makes you realise there is a whole world of difference between a great coffee and everything else you've been drinking.
You can order online or check out the wholesale and business roasting options if you're a café owner or hospitality business looking for something special.
Watch our tour on Instagram and then go and find Vlad for a quality coffee. ☕🧡
📣 WORTH SHOUTING ABOUT: Festival Dates & Events For Your Diary
Five years in and East Lothian's brilliant community food festival just keeps getting better. Farm tours, wine tastings, a hot wings challenge, kids pizza making and the brilliant Artisan Producers Market wrapping up the weekend. Small batch chocolate, baked goods, charcuterie, farm produce, gelato and locally distilled drinks. A proper celebration of the county's food and drink scene.
Thursday 9th to Saturday 11th April.
Artisan Market, Saturday 11th April, 10am-5pm.
🆓 Most events free. Check website for further details.
A relaxing watercolour workshop using flowers as inspiration at the lovely Stòr Coffee on Broughton Street. No experience needed. All materials provided and your ticket includes coffee, cake or a pastry, your completed artwork and a flower posy to take home. Flowers by Aspen Florals. A really lovely morning out. 🌸
Friday 11th April, 9:30am-12pm.🎟️ £75. Book ahead.
Edinburgh's yarn festival is back. Knitters, crocheters, weavers, spinners and fibre lovers all under one roof at Edinburgh Academy in Stockbridge. Marketplace, workshops, talks, food, music and good company. A genuinely brilliant community event and something a bit different!
Friday 17th April, 9:30am-5pm, & Saturday 18th April, 11am-5pm. 🎟️ Book ahead.
A converted farm steading 10 minutes from the Edinburgh bypass home to artists, potter Ella Fletcher, Jump Ship Brewery, a coffee roaster, Common Coffee and a botanical skincare company, Seilich. Their quarterly markets bring together artisan makers and local food and drink in one of the most unique settings in the Lothians. Brewery tours, wildflower meadow walks and family friendly throughout. Never been, worth a visit!
Sunday 26th April. Keep an eye on their website for up to date times.🆓 Free entry.
A monthly makers market inside a stunning 1842 village hall with a roaring log fire and views across the Lammermuir Hills. Local artisans, original artwork, jewellery, ceramics, candles and food. Visit the market then head to the beach. Perfect Sunday out in East Lothian.🧡
Sunday 26th April & Sunday 31st May, 11am-4pm. 🆓 Free entry.
Last Sunday of every month.
Over 50 years old and still one of Edinburgh's favourite free weekends. Live music across multiple stages, the city's biggest outdoor market, kids activities, dog show, yoga, food and drink and the kind of atmosphere only Edinburgh can create.
Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th June, 10am-6pm.🆓 Free entry.
Free live jazz and blues spilling out of the bars and pubs across Leith all weekend. Local, national and international artists. Acoustic sets, big band performances and late night sessions. One of Edinburgh's best kept secrets.
Friday 5th, Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th June 2026.🆓 Free entry.
That's your lot for this week! 🧡
Abby and I genuinely love putting this together for you every week. The fact that you read it, share it and support it means the world to both of us.
Our Newsletter is a place to shine a spotlight on the many brilliant local businesses on our doorstep and to keep you in the loop on local events and what’s happening in and around Edinburgh.
Know a business deserving a shout out? Reply to this email and tell us their story.
Are you a local business owner and would like to join our Thriving Card? It’s FREE and to register it take 2 minutes.
See you Monday for Thriving Life. Have a good one!
Nashy & Abs