Edinburgh Council to spend £1.2m over two years winding and maintaining public clocks

Edinburgh will spend up to £1.2m over the next two years to wind and maintain clocks around the city.

Some 27 public clocks are in place around the Capital, with some well-known ones at Haymarket, the end of Cowgate and Morningside.

The city is seeking providers to take on the task for the next two years, with responsibilities also including the winding and maintenance of 25 clocks in the City Chambers complex.

The contract would also set out terms for future contracts between providers and six other Scottish councils.

Labour councillor and Culture and Communities Committee convener Margaret Graham said: “The city’s public clocks are as much part of its heritage and character as the architecture.

“They are sorely missed when in storage as the Tollcross clock is at present. It’s essential that we ensure they are well maintained and this contract framework is about achieving that.”

It is understood that the contract is not likely to cover the refurbishment and reinstatement of three currently out-of-service clocks.

Those clocks, at Portobello Town Hall, Tollcross and Fountainbridge are currently in storage.

Edinburgh Council removed the clock at Tollcross in 2022 over ‘health and safety concerns’.

It came as cracks were discovered at the base of the clock, despite it being ‘properly maintained’.

And the Portobello clock was taken down from the Baptist church there in 2003 for repairs, but has stayed down for over two decades for a variety of reasons.

These include a historic dispute over ownership between the council and the Portobello Baptist Church.

Both insisted for years that the clock belonged to the other party, but extensive archival research concluded in 2019 found it belonged to the council.

However, since this discovery, the clock has not been restored to its position. As of 2012, the estimated cost for repairs was close to £100,000.

The city’s clocks are often more than timepieces. The clock at Haymarket serves as part of a war memorial commemorating Hearts players who died in the First World War.