George Clooney mobbed on whirlwind visit to Edinburgh

Clooney is visiting the Social Bite sandwich shop in the city centre ahead of speaking at the Scottish Business Awards this evening.  More follows

The star tucked into a sandwich from Social Bite and a five-course lunch at Tigerlily on his visit to the capital.

Hundreds of fans gathered outside the cafe on Rose Street to catch a glimpse of the actor. After arriving in a red Jaguar, Clooney wasted no time greeting fans and many were lucky enough to get a selfie with the Hollywood A-lister.

Kirsten Pringle, 22, and mother Sandi, from Portobello was ecstatic to have snatched a selfie with the heart-throb.

She said: “We’ve been waiting since 7:30am this morning to get a selfie with him and I’m just so happy. We got his attention and he asked me how long we were waiting. He said we must be freezing and then he held my hand.

“My mum will say she’s a bigger fan but I love him too.”

Clooney, 54, was greeted by Josh Littlejohn, 29, co-founder of Social Bite, who invited him to Edinburgh to meet staff at his cafe.

Hollywood A-lister George Clooney takes a selfie when he visited the not-for-profit sandwich shop Social Bite in Edinburgh.

Josh said: “We never expected this when we were getting up at five in the morning to make sandwiches when we first started out.

“George is an incredible guy, someone who has achieved real global fame but thinks nothing of attending a sandwich shop to chat to the workers and discuss the issue of homelessness.

“It is awesome and it brings a lot of awareness to the issue of homelessness.”

READ MORE: George Clooney’s lunch date says it was surreal

Hollywood A-lister George Clooney(L) with owners Josh Littlejohn(R) and Alice Thompson when he visited the not-for-profit sandwich shop Social Bite in Edinburgh.

After leaving a donation of $1,000 (£650), Clooney visited the People’s Postcode Lottery offices in George Street to pick up a cheque for £175,000 for his own charity, Not on Our Watch.

Afterwards, he was chauffeured to Tigerlily for a Scottish-themed five-course lunch including salt-aged Inverurie beef carpaccio, pan-fried Scrabster cod and Scottish cheeses.

He was joined by 25 guests, including Heather McGowan, 32, a wedding planner from Glasgow, who won a charity competition to dine with him. She said: “It still seems a bit surreal. Now that it’s over, I can try to absorb all the little bits of the day. Getting a kiss on the cheek from him was absolutely brilliant – he was the most charming man.”

Cameron Ross, 24, from Edinburgh, was going to celebrate his mother Lynda’s birthday when he found out the A-list actor was just yards away. He waited for Clooney to emerge from the People’s Postcode Lottery offices and was picked out by the star, who signed his card wishing his mother a happy birthday.

Clooney is speaking at the Scottish Business Awards tonight.

To finish off his visit, the actor presented the Scottish Business Awards at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, alongside First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and other VIPs including Welsh comic Rob Brydon, and cycling hero Sir Chris Hoy.

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