'We live on one of UK's prettiest streets - tourists doing selfies drive us mad'
Residents on one of the UK's most 'Instagrammable streets' are spending more and more time dodging selfie-hunting tourists.
The iconic cobbled road in Edinburgh, Scotland, has become a hot-spot for people to head to and take social media snaps.
Christopher Sleigh operates his tourism business Sleigh Scotland from a property on popular Circus Lane.
Telling EdinburghLive he's seen it all in his three years on the street, he explained that the number of visitors is forever increasing - but they are usually very respectful.
But others say they can't walk out of their front doors without seeing smart phones everywhere.
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Circus Lane's social media fame has seen the area busy with tourists (Daily Record)The 32-year-old said: "It's a lovely street, really nice. We do sometimes feel like we're in a giant fishbowl with people peering in to see what we're up to.
"But it's great, nobody disturbs us really.
"There are people passing every day. We've seen people getting wedding photos taken, we've seen swimwear shoots, we've seen fancy cars stopped on the road and photos being taken off them. I've been here three years now and you see it all.
"Ultimately, we're a tourism business so we've had people asking for the best restaurants and pubs, and I'm always happy to give people tips."
In little over 50-minutes on the road, Edinburgh Live encountered four different groups of selfie-hunters in hot pursuit their latest Instragram upload.
The incredible road is a selfie hot spot (Getty Images)Resident Tara Laidlaw lives in the area with her parents, and she described the street as "super busy" even in lockdown times.
However she doesn't see its popularity as a huge problem, even if it does throw up the odd surreal moment.
The 24-year-old said: "There have been times where there are people all over the street. I've had people sitting on my doorstep, and I've had to squeeze past them when I want to leave the house.
"I think part of it is fuelled by the fact there's nothing really open right now, but it has been busy.
"I've seen people coming down here with proper equipment – cameras and even flashing lights. I've been sitting watching the TV at night before and there have been flashing lights outside, I'm wondering what's going on."
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Residents say it's a constant battle to get out of the door (Daily Record)
Christopher Sleigh with his dog Kumi know how popular it is (Daily Record)Other residents, who asked not to be named, agreed things can get a bit strange at times but, like Tara, say it doesn't tend to intrude on their privacy too much.
One told how she often enjoys people-watching from inside her homes as visitors spend time trying to stage the perfect shot.
It's not just residents on the street aware of its popularity. Brother and sister Blair and Hannah Thomson regularly walk their sausage dog Penny along the Stockbridge lane and they can understand the appeal the area has to visitors, having seen first-hand how many people people stop to get their photos taken.
Blair said: "It's probably the one street that best sums up Edinburgh. We come here with the dog quite a lot but there have been people visiting from all over the world.
Tourists are usually respectful, locals say (Getty Images/iStockphoto)"You've obviously got Princes Street, which is different, but this paints a really nice picture of the city."
And what of the selfie-hunters? Well, we managed to grab a quick chat with one or two of them who, to be fair, were going about their business in a respectful, non-intrusive way, on Tuesday.
Rafael and Joanna Turowski, both 30, were spending an afternoon in the area taking selfies and posed photos of one another for their Instagram pages.
When asked what attracted them to Circus Lane, Rafael said: "It is a beautiful street. We are here for the panorama.
"The old buildings are unlike anything you see anywhere. It's totally different. The pictures we're taking will be for Instagram."
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