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All the United Kingdom Scotland Edinburgh Quality Yard
AO Edited

Quality Yard

Enter this small nook and you'll be surrounded by 360 degrees of street art.

Edinburgh, Scotland

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On an outside wall.   alittlebrowndog / Atlas Obscura User
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Equality Yard in July 2021.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
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There are murals on the outside walls of the yard as well.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
Entrance to 20 Maritime Lane.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
Quality Yard.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
Quality Yard.   linkogecko / Atlas Obscura User
May 22, 2023   alittlebrowndog / Atlas Obscura User
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About

With its combination of niche interests and pop art expressions, Quality Yard represents the modern-day identity of a gentrifying Leith.

The building is home to a few institutions that might make for an odd combination. One of them is the 1958-founded Scottish Mineral and Lapidary Club, the other is a series of four studios for leading Edinburgh street artists.

Quality Yard has new street art typically two or three times a year. In 2024, they held a Palestine Solidarity Jam to raise funds, a Leith Festival Pride Jam, and in August will once again open up the yard for their 360-degree Street Art Exhibition as Venue 470 in the Edinburgh Fringe.

Previously eight artists spearheaded an initiative for the 2018 Leith Festival that saw all walls that line the central court of this building, as well as its entrance and some outer walls, transformed with street art to create a full-surround experience of color.

The building itself is representative of the industrial architecture of traditionally working-class Leith. The original artwork of Quality Yard followed the style of a continuous mural, where color threads and elements connect the pieces of eight artists and collectives (Ursula Cheng, Colour Therapy Unit, Elph, Shona Hardie, Duncan Peace, PurshOne, Surface Noise and TrenchOne).

A new set of artwork was put up in time for the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe and Leith Festival, in this case showcasing 11 female artists from Scotland and abroad. This iteration is more individualized, with the pieces appearing next to each other and unconnected. The only repeat artist from the 2018 version is Shona Hardie.

Related Tags

Street Art Murals Art Gentrification Festivals

Know Before You Go

While the Quality Yard is publicly accessible during the Mineral Club opening hours, the studios and Mineral Club are not. The Mineral Club has been open for visits by non-members during occasions like Open Door Days and the Leith festival while the artists’ studios will have sporadic exhibits and host events, specially during the Edinburgh Fringe and Leith Festivals.

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linkogecko

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davidorganuk, SEANETTA, alittlebrowndog, monikaorlinska

  • davidorganuk
  • SEANETTA
  • alittlebrowndog
  • monikaorlinska

Published

October 22, 2019

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Quality Yard
20 Maritime Ln
Leith
Edinburgh, Scotland, EH6 6RZ
United Kingdom
55.974761, -3.168167
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