Eric Milligan: Party that has reached industrial scale is losing its original spirit

THE old tradition on Hogmanay in Edinburgh used to be to head down the Royal Mile to the Tron with your friends in the hope of a kiss from the girls.

The city didn’t have a proper celebration until the early 1990s, when it was decided to put on a major event for everyone, as they did in Times Square in New York.

Within a few years it had become a huge event and the police have been nervous about it ever since it became ticketed before the millennium, when we had a whole week-long festival in the city.

Since then I have felt that the event has been in some kind of retreat. Health and safety concerns have taken priority, the costs have risen, the capacity has come down and I get the feeling that it has been diluted from what it used to be.

I think the audience profile has narrowed, and it is now dominated by pop and rock bands. It’s moved away from being an event that people of all ages could enjoy.

I was always against the move to charge for tickets, as I felt it would change the nature of the event. It didn’t feel right to charge the people of Edinburgh to walk down the street.

At the beginning we were told it would be a token charge, but of course it has risen and risen and now costs £15, which I do think is just too high.

• Eric Milligan is a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh