A couple of weeks ago I went to the barber to get my hair cut. I know, this probably isn't the start to this blog that you expected.
I used to go to the same barber for the past 3 years but he moved away from Edinburgh and so I've been hunting for a new barber for a while now.
Out of the blue, on Instagram, a post came up for a barber shop in Stockbridge.
Stockbridge is a district of Edinburgh, located north of the city centre, bounded by the New Town and by Comely Bank. The name is Scots stock brig from Anglic stocc brycg, meaning a timber bridge. Originally a small outlying village, it was incorporated into the City of Edinburgh in the 19th century. The current "Stock Bridge", built in 1801, is a stone structure spanning the Water of Leith.
The shop is called Blank. and when I went, I got chatting with my barber, Dan. He was super friendly and gave a fantastic cut. While he was cutting, he mentioned that the shop was trying to be more than just a barber shop. They are trying to grow a community around the shop. They are doing this by organising social runs. 5k at a nice easy pace and also cycles.
The runs have grown from a handful of people turning up, to 30+ regulars. The group is mostly guys, presumably clients of Blank. but everyone is welcome.
The runs usually start and finish at the shop and they usually have coffee at the end. It sounded great.
The shop has a Strava group where they organise the events. I had a look and said I would attend the next run. The run was starting in a different place this time as Blank. were doing a collab with another store.
The run was going to start from SMI on Thistle Street. SMI is a clothing store with brands that I've never heard of but the store has some amazing looking stuff in it. I love something a bit different and this store ticked those boxes.
The store was only 1.5 miles from the house so I took a steady run up to the store and arrived at 8:45am.
As the numbers started to increase, we were all within the store, a lot of chatter and people looking around the store. I spotted a number of things I'd like to try on but I'll need to pop back another time. Trying on the stuff when sweaty didn't feel right.
Everything looked to be an amazing quality and sure, it comes at a price, but as I've learnt with my running kit, you pay for quality!
We had a group photo in front of SMI store and headed off just after 9am.
We headed off in a group and soon settled in to different paced groups. I was running along with the front group and enjoyed running with others. The weather was chilly but ideal for the run. I had my gloves on and my arm sleeves along with my Fallain Tshirt and it was perfect.
The 5k flew by and before we knew it we were back at SMI.
Before we headed off on the run, the guys from Blank. had taken our coffee orders and when we got back, the coffee shop just along Thistle Street, The Cobbled Roastery, had all our coffees made fresh for us arriving back along with some amazing looking pastries!
The coffee was really good but I gave the pastries a miss as I still had to run home and had breakfast waiting.
The whole event was really friendly and inclusive. It was also a really great way to see a shop I may have walked past previously. Thistle Street isn't a street I go down very often but now I know there is a great clothing shop and a really nice coffee shop. I'll be back!
I'll also head along to future Blank. Training Club runs too. It was a great way to start a Sunday.