Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations, which include a street party and fireworks, were cancelled due to safety concerns.
With midnight approaching, small crowds began gathering on Princes Street within sight of Edinburgh Castle.
As the minutes ticked down, they watched small intermittent bursts of fireworks go off near the castle, some filming on phones or giving ironic cheers.
With 10 seconds to go, a ragged countdown broke out among the crowd, followed by cheers, hugs and bursts of Auld Lang Syne when the hour came.
People on the near deserted Princes Street in Edinburgh on Hogmanay (Image: ANDY BUCHANAN) The revellers were then treated to a small fireworks display from somewhere to the west of Princes Street, which lasted for about a minute, before they began to disperse.
Tourists who travelled to Edinburgh in the hope of experiencing the Hogmanay fireworks have described having to quickly find other ways to celebrate the new year.
Elisa Dorris, who is originally from Spain but now lives in Dublin, flew to Edinburgh with friends in order to see the fireworks.
The 23-year-old shop assistant described having to ask around for suggestions as to what she and her friends can do to celebrate the new year.
“We are very disappointed … but we will try to have fun here in the Christmas market,” she said.
“We will try our best to have fun this night.
“So we have been asking people about what we can do, and they say that they have pubs in Victoria Street, and the people are going to go out, because it’s a lot of people in the same situation.
“So we think that we are going to do that, stay in the streets, in the pubs.”
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David Liew, a 59-year-old lawyer from Singapore who came to Edinburgh for New Year during a three-week holiday in the UK, said he was just going to “walk around.”
“We’ll just walk around, you know, we see a lot of lights, a lot of stores.
“We’ll just walk around, take some pictures and hopefully make the best use of our time.”
Mr Liew added that he could understand the decision to call off the fireworks, but said they should have been put back on after the weather had turned out better than expected.
“We are pretty disappointed. We were just informed, I think, this morning, but I think it’s due to the weather.
“But when I look around now, I think the weather is fine, and I think the celebrations should resume.”
Small crowds did gather in Edinburgh on Hogmanay (Image: ANDY BUCHANAN)
This was echoed by Silvana Sgro, from Melbourne in Australia, who “reconfigured” a three-week holiday in Europe so that she and her children could be in Edinburgh on Hogmanay.
The 54-year-old said: “Apparently we get a refund, but it doesn’t change what we do this evening.
“I am not sure what we’ll be doing at midnight.
“We booked accommodation that was very central and more expensive so that we could see it all, and now don’t have anything to look at, just looking at each other I guess.
“This is a lovely evening, but it’s not the same.
“We did think about going back to London, because apparently the fireworks are on in London, but couldn’t get tickets.”
The street party and fireworks display over Edinburgh Castle were cancelled on Monday afternoon due to a Met Office yellow weather warning, which at the time covered most of Scotland throughout Hogmanay before the warning area was cut back to the Highlands and Moray.
A yellow weather warning for wind covered central and southern Scotland and northern England until 11pm on Hogmanay, with winds predicted to reach up to 70mph.
Organisers Unique Assembly said on Monday the weather at the time meant it was not possible to do the preparations.
A spokesman for Unique Assembl said: “We were thrilled to be able to keep the party going indoors this year, despite the adverse weather conditions and cancellations facing Edinburgh’s Hogmanay outdoor events.
“It’s been a challenging week for everyone involved – from tourists and locals who planned to ring in the New Year at the famous Street Party, and staff who have been working hard to ensure events can still take place.
“Thanks to the support of our event partners across the city, we were still able to host celebrations indoors, from ceilidhs to Hot Dub’s non-stop party.”
“There’s no better place to ring in the New Year and we’re proud to show the world you can’t stop the party where Edinburgh is concerned.”
Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, Jane Meagher, said: “I’d like to wish everyone in the Capital a great start to 2025.
“While this year’s Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations were a little different from usual, with the outdoor events sadly cancelled, it has been a memorable one for local people and visitors to the city alike.
“A huge amount of work has gone into the planning of this year’s programme, and I would like to thank council staff, Unique Assembly, the emergency services, and all our other partners for the huge effort, especially over the last few days in very challenging circumstances.”