summer since 2013, and the Promathom most New Year's Days since 1987. A weekly Park Run every Saturday in Figgate Park provoked press-reported controversy and exhibitionism in 2018. Town halls As an independent burgh, Portobello had aspirations for a town hall, the town council having first met in rooms in Brighton Place and then in Rosefield House. The first purpose-built hall (now the Baptist Church in the High Street) was designed by David Bryce and erected in 1862. This proved inadequate for the purpose and was replaced in 1877 by a building designed by Robert Paterson, which is now the Police Station. The Edinburgh Extension Act 1895, which amalgamated Portobello with Edinburgh, gave effect to a number of undertakings, including extension of the Promenade, building of the Baths, surfacing various streets, providing drainage, extending the trams, providing a public park and a new town hall for public meetings. The new Portobello Town Hall was intended to hold at least 800 people and was built on the site of Inverey House to a design by the City Architect, James A. Williamson, opening in 1914. In June 2019, the town hall was closed by the city council after the masonry and plasterwork were found to be in poor condition. The city council put the building on the market for lease in February 2020, and, following a competitive process, it agreed to enter into exclusive talks with a local community organisation known as Portobello Central in May 2021. The city council confirmed, in June 2021, that it had allocated £350,000 of capital investment to the town hall project, money provided by the Scottish Government under its Place Based Investment Programme. Portobello Central indicated that it hoped the funding would enable it to re-open the building by April 2022. Notable people In birth order: Alexander Laing (1752–1823), architect based in Portobello, where he died The Misses Corbett, Grace (c. 1765/1770–1843) and Walterina (died 1837), poets and authors from Portobello Dr David Laing LLD (1792–1878), librarian to the Signet Library and noted archaeologist, lived at 12 James Street Mackintosh MacKay (1793–1873), compiler of a Gaelic dictionary and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, died in Portobello Rear Admiral Thomas Fraser (1796–1870), hero of the First Anglo-Burmese War Hugh Miller (1802–1856), a founding father of geology, lived in the tower in Tower Street. Alan Stevenson (1806–1865), lighthouse engineer, lived his final