Exactly 20 years ago tonight the Cowgate fire broke out, leaving a gaping wound in Edinburgh's historic heart that would take more than a decade to fill.
Just after 8pm on December 7, 2002, smoke began billowing out from the vicinity of Hastie's Close and within hours a raging inferno would engulf the entire block, much of which dated back to the 18th century. The cause, it later emerged, was a single spark from a faulty fuse box.
The premises of multiple businesses, including the original La Belle Angele nightclub, Leisureland amusements, and iconic comedy venue the Gilded Balloon, were lost to the blaze which took firefighters more than two days to extinguish. Edinburgh University's entire artificial intelligence archive, which was stored in the informatics building at South Bridge, was also destroyed.
