Tomorrow in Edinburgh's City Chambers a key decision is being taken. The Capital's best-known tour company, Mercat Tours led by Des Brogan, has lodged a licensing objection with the council against the new kid on the block - Oor Tours - Edinburgh's first musical guided walking tours startup, run by Graeme E Pearson.

The controversy surrounds the choice of the starting point for the new musical tours.  City councillors met tomorrow to discuss the application for a street trader's licence of Scotsin member, legendary cult pub entertainer, Graeme Pearson.

Graeme, 42 from South Queensferry, started Oor Tours in May and hasamassed a solid following of supporters and walkers alike. His newoffering takes paid-up tourists and locals on a magical musical touraround Edinburgh's historic old town. En-route the tartan trouserwearing minstrel sings traditional Scottish verse and plays musicalinstruments while visiting local hostelries telling tales of halyconand not so halycon Edinburgh days gone by. Graeme believe his toursoffer "something different" and do not offer direct competition withlarger companies.

Recently, Oor Tours have been meeting at 2pm beside the Mercat Cross, with the Mercat Tours starting at 2.15pm at the same venue. Graeme said "Originally, I wanted to start at the three red telephone boxes outside the Fringe office on the Royal Mile, but the Fringe is responsible for managing this section of the street during the Festival between 11am and 9pm. The 9.30pm tour would still start here, but I looked at the Mercat Cross for the afternoon tour, and wanted to start at 2pm, because the Mercat Tours begin at 2.15pm. But I do undertstand their point of view".  

We spoke to Des Brogan, the founder and inspiration behind Mercat Tours. He said "We know how busy the Mercat Cross gets. If you keep allowing groups to met at Mercat Cross it's going to get over-crowded. We are a five star tourist badge company. The council have to do something to help us in order to maintain our service to our customers". He continued, "this has nothing to do with competition. Tours starting at the Blue telephone boxes are absolutely fine".

A alternative meetup venue is now being sought by Oor Tours, likely to be the police box up from The Tron. We wish Graeme every success today and hope the decision goes his way and an amicable agreement is reached between all parties concerned.  We also wish continued success to Mercat Tours but ask them to remember that one day in the past they too were the new kid on the block with a fresh idea!

Statement from Graeme E Pearson:

I have applied for a street traders licence on The Royal Mile to run OOR Tours - History and stories with songs and entertainment from Edinburgh native Graeme E. Pearson. And one of the big tour companies - Mercat Tours - objected, which I can understand. The Edinburgh Evening News reporter, Alan Roden, was looking through the council papers, as he is entitled to do, and contacted me. The article was favourable towards me because I resisted the temptation to get nasty with Mercat tours. I kept the moral high ground. An example of failing to do this can be found at The Battle of Dunbar in 1650. The Scots held the high ground but descended down and were defeated by Cromwell and his New Model Army. The moral of the story: If you have the high ground (moral or otherwise) keep it. Hopefully, we will all know the answer to the application tomorrow. I have been overwhelmed by support from all over the world. Thank you. Even though much of it has been ripping the p*ss out of me. Graeme.

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