From Bad to Worst... The Vaults
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Since Edinburgh was a very small and closed town, all space would sell at premium prices. As a matter of fact, land in Edinburgh was more expensive than anywhere else in Europe at the time. Shops were being built on top of the South Bridge shortly after its construction, and therefore, vaults were built underneath and used as storage and workshops for shop owners. However, tight budgets during construction meant no waterproofing of materials was done. The vaults were leaking and very damp, which meant storage and workshop owners moved out since it damaged their wares. The vaults were shortly completely abandoned and left out to rot.
Punishments at the time were extremely violent, even for the homeless (since homelessness was considered a crime). Various torture instruments were used depending on the crime and public executions were not rare. They were actually quite an attraction for the common folk. Because these spaces were abandoned and forgotten, the vaults became quite the criminal gathering. It gave them a place to stay away from the local “police” and a shelter to sleep in. Some of the vaults were even used as illegal pubs and brothels. The other vaults were
generally used for sleeping, it wouldn’t be uncommon to have forty criminals and homeless sleep in one of the small vaults with only one bucket for “sanitary” reasons. Since so many criminals stayed there, there were obviously crimes going on. Rapes, murders and body snatchings were very much not uncommon. It is for these reasons that the vaults are believed to be haunted today still.
Bannerman's is a pub that has renovated a vault to showcase various venues.
Rightly so, the council decided to close off the vaults for obvious reasons between 1835 and 1875 (the date is very unsure) by pouring rubble to close of access. They were then found again during the 1980’s by Norrie Rowan. Since then, they have been renovated into pubs and clubs. Only a couple are not renovated and can be toured today.