Been on a tour? Got a view on any manifestation of Trainspotting – the book, the play, the film? Got attitude or questions about my book?
Just fill in your comments below. It would be good to hear from you!
104 entries.
If you want to get a real touch of the history of Leith just call Tim.
He \'ll guide you into an interesting trip around this place and you we\'ll have the opportunity to discover everything about Trainspotting, both the book and the movie.I highly recommend it and i think every Welsh fun would have to join.
It is also very useful for those who wants to understand more about drugs addiction, a plague that really afflicted Leith during 80\'s.
We\'ll have a great time during our tour!!
Today we had our Trainspottig Tour with Tim. What a great way to start 2018 for big Trainspotting fans like us.
Tim knows EVERYTHING about Irvine‘s books, the Movie and the history of Leith.
We had a very great time and it was a pleasure for us meeting Tim.
We recommend every Trainspotting Fan this tour - its DOPE. 🙂
Greetings from Austria,
Marina & Dominik
I’d like to thank Tim for providing myself and my friend with a great walking tour round Leith. As a massive Trainspotting and Irvine Welsh fan I’d looked on line for a tour and Tim was kind enough to arrange one for us for the weekend we were visiting. We met with Tim and a small group on the Saturday morning and spent over 2 hours following the book round the streets of Leith. It was very interesting to hear about Leith, the history and the interpretations of the books. We all got involved reading passages from the book and the film script. We both really enjoyed it and thank Tim for his enthusiasm and insight. Highly recommended.
Went to Edinburgh on the weekend of the 6th October for my stag . Tim did a tour on Saturday 7th in the afternoon. Was a brilliant tour and very funny indeed. Tim was obviously very knowledgeable of Irvine welsh’s Work and it’s connection with leiths culture. A nice touch was when he let us read excerpts from the book and he took us to an old school working men’s club. He really was absorbed in making us happy and entertained and we did a perfect rendition of Lou Reed’s Perfect day , which it was for us
I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Leith with Tim. What an insightful guide he was and a brilliant tour overall it was. The insight he provided into the ‘junk’ affliction that gripped Edinburgh in the 1980s was thoroughly superb. Would do it again if I got chance and would highly recommend. Thanks, Tim!
Myself and my byofriend Leon did a tour with Tim during our recent trip to Edinburgh. The day we wanted to go, Tim didn\'t have any other guests, so instead of rescheduling us, instead he tailored the tour to exactly what we wanted! I asked a lot of questions and Tim had the answers to all and more! We had great fun reciting passages from the books and screenplays, and also getting to visit the Dockers Club. Because we were visiting from Ireland, Tim also taught us a bit about the historical Irish connection to Leith which was a really nice touch.
Thank you so much for your time, Tim. I\'ve been telling everyone about this tour since I\'ve been home! And I\'m really looking forward to reading your book when it comes out next year!
I booked Tim\'s trainspotting tour a few months ago on request of my mate (the groom and a massive trainspotting fan) as part of his stag do in Edinburgh. The stag do was last weekend and we finally had the pleasure of Tim\'s tour on Saturday afternoon. Tim has a great deal of knowledge on the history of Leith and the work of Irvine Welsh. The tour was fantastic and anyone with an interest in Leith &, in particular, trainspotting and Irvine Welsh will not be disappointed. Tim\'s tour became the talking point of the whole weekend. Tim is a very funny individual and although he brought a lot of humour to the tour he remained respectful to the content of the book and the area of Leith on the whole. Reciting passages from the book during our visit to the Dockers was brilliant Thanks Tim.. You are a class act!!!
We went on tour last Friday and it was truly excellent! Loved getting historical insights into leith and reading from the books and screen play.for fans of Irvine Welsh highly recommended. Tim is so knowledgeable and interesting!
Tim is a very polite and kind person. I would have preferred to visit a bit more but all the information were truly interesting. He told us not only about Trainspotting and Porno/T2, but about the block, the sociological and historical situation of when the book was written. It is also an interactive tour and very funny when we were asked to read some lines of the screenplay.
The tour was great fun, informative for all Trainspotting fans and, to top it off, got a drink in the Dockers Club on the way. Seriously, I really recommend it, not to be missed, essential Leith/ Edinburgh/Scotland/Trainspotting/Irvine Welsh background, historical and social information and explanation of some of the terms and politics of the times.
A fantastic tour by Tim Bell- interesting, insightful, funny and full of analysis. The tour is anchored in Trainspotting. Tim, with great verve, illustrates in glorious technicolor, the anger, rage and brilliance of Welsh, contained in his central metaphor: Leith\'s inexorable, engineered decline at the hands of the rapacious municipal monster that was and is The Corporate Theme Park formerly known as the City of Edinburgh. And the inevitable and dreadful social consequences of such policies that were visited on Leith. The tour is a must for anyone who appreciates Trainspotting and wishes to more fully understand the social, economic and political context of the novel. Our visit to Leith Docker\'s Club-an oasis of working class values and solidarity in an encroaching desert of gentrification- was evocative and very moving. And just one of the many highlights of the tour. Not to be missed!
Many thanks for the very interesting tour Tim.
I suspect that what you don\'t know about the Trainspotting scene isn\'t worth knowing. Having only seen the films so far it greatly inspires me to read the books
I also look forward to reading your book on the subject.
Thank you for the tour on Thursday, Tim. I learned so much and am thirsting for more. I was entertained and occasionally humbled by your stories and perspectives on Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, Leith, Edinburgh, drugs and drug taking. I now have a fuller understanding and appreciation of ALL of this. Vin Arthey (an Edinburgh resident who didn\'t realise how little he knew about it!)
Young Mr Bell took a party of us on his Trainspotting walking tour of Leith earlier this week. The man is a fount of knowledge, with rich political and social perspectives on the book and its location, as well as insightful critical views of both book and film. It was all good thought-provoking stuff, and Tim has so many angles on Trainspotting that I\'m sure if we did the walk again tomorrow we\'d have an evening of entirely new material to chew over. Many thanks, Tim
Hi Tim,
many thanks for the excellent tour, bringing trainspotting to life courtesy of your good self (and of course your latest deputy in the shape of Bill Crombie)...having watched the T1 film just the previous day, your tour drew out the messages emanating from the film into stark reality.
All the best !!
Thanks for a great tour yesterday, Tim. I highly recommend this informative, entertaining tour. We visited some fascinating and contrasting places (highlight for me was the Leith Dockers Social Club - was just how I had imagined it). Tim does a great job bringing the various scenes to vivid life. And, now I know why the Banana Flats are called the Banana Flats - what more could you ask for ?!
Tim,
Great tour yesterday, really enjoyed it. So much about Leith and T1 & T2, that I didn\'t know.
I would recommend this tour to anyone
With plenty of sunshine on Leith
Cheers
Walking around and talking with Tim for this tour is an ABSOLUTE must for trainspotting fans, and Edinburgh visitors alike. Not only does Tim share his insight \'on location\' for various dialogues from both the books and movies, but he also paints a vivid picture of the socio-historical context- an analytical perspective more than 20 years in the making.
We didn\'t read the books before the tour, only saw the films. We will now read the books with a deep appreciation and understanding of the Leith setting, the characters, and heroine addiction. We cannot wait to read Tim\'s book ‘A Trainspotter’s Guide’ as soon as it is published.
We also had a unique, unexpected encounter during our tour with one of Leith\'s most colorful residents- Mary Moriarity, former owner of Port O\'Leith bar, which Irvine Welsh frequented and used in his stories.
Cheers!
Tim\'s tour is everything you would hope for. It didn\'t just cover the book trainspotting it gave a great working class overview of life in Leith. I particularly enjoyed our visit to the Leith Dockers Club. I am a union organiser in Australia and it was both affirming and tragic to hear that casualisation has ripped the heart out of the Leith working class in the same way it has impacted workers in Australia. Don\'t mourn organise!
My husband, daughter & myself did the Trainspotting Tour of Leith with Tim at the end of June. What an unexpected pleasure! Tim was affable, knowledgeable, and humorous. It was a great afternoon, well-spent and definitely a highlight of our short visit to Edinburgh. Tim gave us great insight into the social history and architecture of this area as a background to Trainspotting - both the film (which we\'d seen) and the books (now on my \"must read\" list). I look forward to reading Tim\'s forthcoming book.