Mile of shame

I don't believe it! Don't tell me that at long last councillors and those responsible for maintaining Edinburgh's high profile as a major tourist attraction are realising the damage done by the proliferation of those ghastly Tartan tat shops in The Royal Mile (your report, 10 March).

It beggars belief that vast sums can be spent on the VisitScotland campaign only to be negated as soon as visitors are confronted with a contradiction of what they had always considered fine about Edinburgh .

I know of many visitors from UK and overseas who have been at first puzzled, disappointed and then disgusted by these catchpenny shops, and never return.

The saddest travesty is the annual grand finale of the Edinburgh Tattoo when the proud pipers and bands march down from the castle in a blaze of Scottish glory and then within a few steps sink straight into the incongruous degradation that now envelops a large part of The Royal Mile.

LEONARD STUCKEY

Greenhill Terrace

Edinburgh