Newington is the best place to live in Edinburgh

It’s the start of second semester. The period of time when the flat panic begins. For freshers who have no idea what’s to come and for the rest of us whose flat families are falling apart, it’s time to join the flat hunt – and some are willing to go to crazy lengths to do so.

Some comedians have desperately tried to make the argument that Marchmont, or even New Town is the best place to live. They’re wrong. Despite the bad rep it sometimes gets, it’s time to accept the fact that, as a student, Newington is obviously the place to be.

How’s the view of Arthur’s Seat from Marchmont?

First off, while you New Town and Marchmont bitches are rushing out of bed, missing breakfast and running through the Meadows, or fighting through Princes Street, to get to lectures, those of us who live in Newington are waking up refreshed, casually meeting the day with a full breakfast, and then maybe thinking about making the FIVE minute walk to Uni. And forget about having to stay in the library between lectures and tutorials because it takes too long to get home – we can come and go as we please. Life is good.

And it’s not just DHT and Appleton Tower that it takes 5 minutes to get to – Potterow? Forget having to pre on VK’s and sit around awkwardly talking to others in the bright light before everyone heads upstairs. We can stroll over at 9:25, have a stamp by 10pm and be back enjoying our Glen’s for a good hour before we head back.

Newington’s back garden

As well as this, unless you’re opting for a George Street club, you will never have to spend a penny on a taxi. If you’re going to Hive, Cab Vol or anywhere near Cowgate, walking is actually an option. And if you’re going to the gym, your workout isn’t finished before you even get there – unlike if you’ve walked from New Town aka Russia.

Newington also has every shop you’d ever need and an endless supply of restaurants and cute coffee shops to try. It even has Edinburgh Bargain Stores – the shop that has every item you ever need in it. Why live anywhere else?

You’ll also never feel lonely in Newington. Being 5 minutes from campus it’s a proper student village, with super close proximity to loads of your mates. And forget about those noise complaints – you’re flat is almost guaranteed to be next to other students. Lets all make a prayer circle for those poor people in Marchmont next to middle-aged Sandra who has to get the kids up at 8am tomorrow, or those in New Town with a complaint from the diplomat above them.

Nicholson Street is at the end of the rainbow x

Yes it may get a bad rep, and Newington is noisy as fuck, but it’s a place that never sleeps – and there’s something comforting about that. There’s always something going on, whether that’s a drunk man singing the words to Jerusalem outside the Grapes at 2am, or being able to walk home from a night out in relative safety and with the knowledge that there are always people about.

Plus there’s the perfectly placed Palmyra Pizza for a late night snack, and Mosque Kitchen for a budget curry whenever you want.

Newington is also secretly beautiful: we have the Meadows as our front garden, and Holyrood Park as our back. We have the high ceilings, the cobbled streets, and stunning old buildings, but we’re not pretentious. Our flats don’t cost the earth like New Town and they’re not freezing and damp like those in Marchmont.

Ultimately, Newington is how you should be living as a student. Our flats may be a lil shabby, and the area we’re living in a bit questionable, but it’s cheap, cheerful, pretty, fun, and close to our mates. In the end, we don’t have to worry about getting caviar on the carpet, and who wants a chandelier in their flat anyway?