Let me paint you a picture.
Edinburgh. 3:30am. It’s the middle of March, it’s cold. You stumble away from the club and up the cobbled streets, nodding to your friend as she tells you to text her when you’re home safely. You wrap your jacket tighter as a bitter wind pierces straight through the cut-outs in your top. You falter for a moment, wondering how you’ll make it back to your abode in such conditions. You’re about to give up but then – they appear. Like an oasis in the Sahara, a promise that you will survive; the Night Czar is here.
If you’re wondering what a ‘night czar’ is, you’re not alone. The less flashy title is ‘night time coordinator’, a position devised in an effort to improve the safety of those out past dark. Bristol, London and Manchester have had their own coordinators for a few years, and have found them pretty beneficial in encouraging businesses within the nightlife industry to prioritise the safety of their customers, particularly girls and women.
London’s Night Czar, Amy Lamé, who was appointed in 2016, has seen some success in her role, which aims to ensure ‘London thrives as a 24 hour city’. More than 20,000 businesses and groups having signed up to the cause of ‘actively working to help women and girls feel safer’. She also said that in her tenure there have been ‘incredible increases in footfall and spend’ and that she thinks Edinburgh ‘has everything to gain’ from instating someone with the position.
Hiring a Night Czar is a move popular with local businesses too, who feel ‘separated and underrepresented by the council’, according to the events manager at Three Sisters, a popular bar and events space in the centre of the city.
Street Assist Edinburgh, the charity who has spearheaded the campaign to get the city a night time representative, believes it is crucial to the safety of not just women, but everyone. According to Amelia Waspe, the charity’s marketing manager, the Czar would encourage coordination between businesses, organisations, and the council, and allow for things like lighting and transport to be improved across the board.
Maybe when you stumble home from Hiving till 5 at the Fringe this Summer, there will be a hero awaiting, ready to ensure you get home without a scratch. Who needs Batman in a city with its very own Czar of the night?
Edinburgh in the news
The Scottish capital always has a lot going on, and we keep up to date on it. Did you see that Edinburgh is the worst city in the UK for commuters? Or that this controversial Edi landmark might be getting renamed? The city is also getting a brand new £2 billion tram route- but not everyone is happy about it.
Did you see which UK airports won't be getting new security technology this year?
Plus: This glam hotel has been named the most romantic in the UK.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.