Bristo Square

Skateboarders hangout…
Full of student activist…
Little character…

Bristo Square is a pretty cool Square, as far as Squares go. Although I’m not sure if its precisely square-​shaped?
As Julia S has mentioned, it’s a Jekyll and Hyde personality for one month of the year –in August, during the Festival. Suddenly there’s an upside down inflatable cow, fake grass, the faint smell of raw chicken and mouldy beer, and it’s open till 3am. Fun times.
The other 11 months of the year it tends to attract the homeless people from the soup kitchen on the corner, skaters practicing their sic slides, and um… not much else.
Oh and then there’s graduation when the McEwan Hall next to it is filled with gowned graduates. It’s a very pretty place to take your photo in after. (Although I’d still wager the Clositers at Glasgow University are prettier… Just sayin’.)
As something I need to walk past, or by, Bristo Square is completely inoffensive. It’s a shame it’s not used more to eat lunch on the steps, for example. But then there’s the Meadows just round the corner, and grass is far more comfortable than stone.

Bristo Square is one thing during the festival, and a completely different thing outside the festival. During the festival it houses the Udderbelly. Throughout the rest of the year, be there rain or snow or the kind of wind that bites you to the bone, Bristo Square is where the skaters go, as well as those kids who ride those really small bikes. Possibly BMXs? You also get people doing parcour there. It’s really quite fun just to sit around and watch people either a) succeeding in their tricks, or b) falling hilariously (without any ambulances, nae worries, I’m not that sadistic).
Bristo Square is smack in the middle of a load of student buildings: McEwan Hall, Teviot, Potterrow and the Dugald Stewart Building. So, even throughout the academic year, you can expect to get flyered around there. And also, if you actually decide to walk through the middle of the square, make sure you’re not on anyone’s bmx/​skate trajectory, ’cause it could end both hilariously and painfully.

Built in the last century, Bristo Square still compliments the elaborate 19^th century McEwan Hall next to it, with its wide open space with a decorative outlining.
Bristo Square is owned by the University of Edinburgh and being next to several uni buildings, it is usually a popular gathering point for students, and on sunny days makes a nice eating area. At weekends it attracts a lot of skaters and rollerbladers, and crossing the Square can become a touch precarious. At all times it also seems to attract more colourful, jolly visitors (some might call them drunks). Though the juxtaposition with these two groups is often amusing. At weekends it can also fill up with students from nearby student union Teviot, or other nearby pubs. But don’t be put off! With McEwan Hall nearby this is an easy tourist spot to just drop by.
During the summer it becomes a festival venue and as Matthew mentions, it houses the every popular E4 sponsered Underbelly tent.

Bristo Square is an area I frequently walk past, and is always buzzing with student activity. It is the one of the main squares within the central campus of the University of Edinburgh. It has McEwan Hall, Teviot Row Union and the Potterrow union all in its vicinity. It is always full of people dotting about to these popular places.
During Freshers’ Week this square is always busy with fun fairs or acting as meeting points for student guided events or tours. Also, during this time, students create a large slithering queue in Bristo Square for the student nights in Potterrow.
Furthermore, Bristo Square is used by many newly graduated students as the place to take photos with their families or just with them posing with their certificates in front of McEwan hall.
Also, during the festival the Underbelly is located here and is one of the hot spots of the Festival!
During the year the square is frequently visited by skaters and by people with BMX bikes. And sadly also by groups of drinkers as well at times!
Bristo Square is always thriving and is a great feature of the University of Edinburgh!

great place for bmxers, boarders or rollarbladers. only realy much use for grinds though. awesome place in the middle of the city though. During the festival there is normally a play/​gig/​theatre here. There is sometimes wood to use for a ramp and lots of other friendly people but dont leave things along or they will get stolen!

Bristo Square is Edinburgh’s unofficial skate park. It has absolutely no facilities whatsoever, it’s just a paving-​stoned square with walls that are good for doing tricks on. I’m not exactly sure why all the cool skate kids choose to hang about here, except that I think the nearest real skate park is in Musselburgh, but they do. Always. You’d think the almost-​constant stream of students (it’s part of the university campus) or the scary drunks that sit at the edge would put them off, but it doesn’t. It is THE place to skate, or to set up bmx jumps, or to sit moodily watching. I should imagine it’s a great place for skater-​types to meet like-​minded folk. However, it’s also a place of great entertainment value for the students wandering around: «Look, look, he’s gonna fall, he’s gonna fall –oh — ooooooow Nice.» Ah, the happy /​sadistic sport of guess-​the-​broken-​bone. Thankfully, the university medical centre is just next door.