Scottish Storytelling Centre

I keep forgetting that I’ve been here… that’s how few and far between I have reason to visit, which is a shame, because I really do love the space. I recently attended the Loud Poets Fringe show and it was the perfect vibe for a small and feisty evening of slam poetry.
The theatre is tiny, maybe 150 seats total? But it makes for a rather intimate feel. Plus, i’m short, so any time I go see a show and don’t have to peer over someones head: happiness!
The other commendable thing about the space from an event perspective is how well their sound/​light system is set up for such a tiny theatre. I once ran a stage that size and I did not have half of the sound quality these folks do. That stuff costs a fair amount of money, so I tip the hat that they’ve invested in it.
I’ve never had cause to try the café, but the little boutique store is a place i’ve wandered through a few times. I come from a family of bibliophiles, so it’s a great place to pick up something unique for the literary loonies back home. Again — all points that make me wish I kept up with more of the shows here.
Consider that my post-​Fringe mission!

Inscribed on the outside of the building is a quote from Alasdair Gray:
«Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.»
Back home, this is where we would drop the microphone.

The John Knox House within the Scottish Storytelling Centre was great. We went during the Edinburgh Open Doors weekend event in September and were thus able to get in free of charge (look out for it each year!), but it is normally only £4.25 for adults and is really fascinating. The old house is quaint and provides so many things to see and information boards to read that it keeps you busy for a while soaking in all of the history. It was really interesting to learn more about John Knox, James Mossman, and Mary Queen of Scots.
This is a fantastic place that is tucked away on the Royal Mile and is really worth it to venture inside. The café looks nice, and the bookshop has a great selection of books on Edinburgh’s past and present.

The following is a review specifically on the John Knox House museum which is a part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre (last line edited for clarity and understanding)
Historical Place
A Spritful Atmosphere
Stuart opposing

You can’t really go wrong with the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Tucked into the Royal Mile with a modern façade, you could probably walk right past it in the hunt for more tourist-​tastic places to visit, but the Centre is well worth a stop. It has a shop, a café, an exhibition space and a theatre.
The latter two have a varied and eclectic programme on, so keep an eye on the website for some of the more interesting events taking place. The café not only sells cakes, but alcoholic options are readily available. Cake and wine. What’s not to like?!

I have walked past the Storytelling Centre umpteen times and have always thought that would be a lovely café to sit in and watch the world go by in. It has a massive windowed front looking right onto the Royal Mile. Perfect for drifting off and staring into the distance.
So, I decided one day I would give it a go. It was fine when I arrived, although I had barely sat down and was asked what I wanted. I felt a little rushed, especially when the waiter stood there whilst I had a look through the menu. To be fair to him I should have just said I wasn’t ready, but I ended up going for a cappuccino and a piece of millionaires shortbread. The coffee was perfectly pleasant, and the millionaires shortbread was sweet, crumbly and pretty nice. Almost as good as my mums but not quite.
Where this café fell down was the image I had in my head, and what it turned out to be. This may sound awful to some, but there ain’t any point in beating about the bush. I came here for a quiet half an hour chillax. Did I get this? No. Why not?
Kids. When I first walked in there were about two families, that was fine. After sitting for about 10 minutes I swear the place being swamped by screaming, crying, shouting kids, and their mothers who were decidedly unimpressed at the lack of high chairs. I think I turned up just after/​before some book reading for them. Needless to say I did not stay long after that, my head was starting to hurt.
Moral of the story, next time I will double check what is going on in the actual centre before I turn up. The cake selection is wide, and very tempting. Good specials on the board and a fairly solid menu.

Stories are magical doors into other cultures and lives. The Storytelling Centre quite literally has magical doors into stories. Children love the little doors in the café area which they can open to reveal clips of stories, little dioramas, pictures and artefacts. Then even more magically, the whole wall is a door revealing a storytelling space. The centre offers regular storytelling sessions for all ages and tastes, get their programme and you’re sure to find something that piques your interest. Want to tell stories yourself? There’s lots of training opportunities here too.

While I have been through the Storytelling Centre, I write specifically about the John Knox House attached to and also operated by the Centre. I have been to the House a number of times and it is truly a gem of history (political and intellectual) specifically focused on Scotland’s and particularly Edinburgh’s turbulent Reformation era. Its curator, Dr. Donald Smith, is a treasure house of knowledge about the religio-​political currents of that time and if you have any desire to dig beneath the surface of the history of that time in depth I encourage you to arrange a tour with him.
The House and Centre are real gems that the city is lucky to have.

The often missed Scottish Storytelling Museum is a great little gem. As pointed out in the last review, it is attached to another mini-​museum, John Knox’s house (but I do care about «Scotch» history so watch out for a review in the near future!).
This museum isn’t so much of a museum but a centre for various activities and events to be held around the theme of storytelling. You can check out their website or pop in to see upcoming events. At the time of writing, there is a very entertaining small display of primary school projects to create and design big open books.
The centre has a nice shop selling a good selection of story and history books for adults and (perhaps all importantly) for children. These are more often than not around a Scottish theme. Also worth investigating is the café. It’s a spacious café with a modern aesthetic. It’s more suited to hot drink but they do serve some good soup. The staff are very pleasant.
Great for a family day of activities or just a peek around!

This small museum is attached to another called John Knox House. I don’t really care about Scotch history so I’m not entirely sure who he was, but he lived or was born here or something.
Anyway, there seems to be little distinction in here between what’s the shrine to old Knoxy and The Storytelling Museum, resulting in the often amusing spectacle of befuddled looking tourists loitering around, not really sure what they’re meant to be appreciating.
Whilst the museum was a bit yawnsome, there was a fascinating book on sale about the streets built under Edinburgh. I’m quite looking forward to my visit to Mary King’s close next week and this book further whetted my appetite, even if it’s claim that underneath the city lies a «metropolis» is maybe a bit optimistic.
The café looked quite nice, but I was on my lunch break and it looked the type of place I’d find just that bit too awkward to sit alone. I might risk social leprosy and try it soon though.

The Centre is adjacent to the famous John Knox House on the Royal mile. Opened in 2006, it incorporates a Café, Theatre, Storytelling Court and Library. The rich cultural programme offers a bit for everyone but the little ones are with special privilege here. Children love visiting because of all the exciting events that are offered to them and because most of all they do love the stories the talented storytellers involved in various projects present in front of them.

Attended a course here recently, I have walked up the Royal Mile many times and have never noticed this place before.
It’s an interesting venue — there is a nice little café at the front that seems to serve a good range of meals and snacks. Behind this is a larger space that is used for events and has lots of pictures around the walls and a wall full of boxes with stories attached.
We were downstairs in the small Theatre which was a good venue for the type of course I was attending.
They have lots of events and it looks like they work with children and schools mostly. In January they have a range of Burns related events to celebrate his birthday — think it 200 or 250 years next year.
Couple of downsides for this venue — first is that they struggled to get the temp right in the theatre — freezing on stage and roasting in the back row. 2^nd is that the lunch was a bit rubbish — nice soup but the rest of it was a bit disappointing.