Notorious past of one of Scotland's most expensive streets

Local resident Carol Allison says Danube Street has changed a lot in the past 50 years

Danube Street is on the list of Scotland's most expensive streets, with house prices averaging almost £1.5m, but for many years it was a place most wanted to avoid.

For more than three decades, the Georgian townhouse at number 17 was the most notorious address in Edinburgh.

It was home to a huge and successful brothel, run by Scotland's best known madam, Dora Noyce.

Her neighbours said her illegal business brought down the price of their homes but Mrs Noyce did not hide her activities.

She once told journalists writing about one of her many prosecutions: "In my profession there is no such thing as bad publicity, so do make sure you print the correct address in your newspaper."

Now, about 45 years after the brothel closed, Danube Street is 4th on the list of Scotland's most expensive streets.

It is home to young families, successful restaurateurs and even a very well known Scottish crime writer.

Sought-after street

Local resident Carol Allison, 75, told BBC Scotland how the street had changed into one of Scotland's most sought-after streets.

She said: "My grandmother lived in Northumberland Street in the New Town but would shop in Stockbridge, which was rather daring of her in those days.

"Stockbridge is a very nice area now but it has not always been that way and was actually a bit rough.

"Danube Street wasn't an expensive street when I moved here. I knew the local doctor and he would look after the girls in the brothel and make sure they didn't have any diseases.

"The girls would change quite a bit, I think they were moved about from other cities. I thought the brothel brought down the price of the homes in Danube Street."

Mrs Allison said Mrs Noyce died in 1977 and the brothel continued for a short while before it finally closed down.

Dora Noyce

Dora Noyce (L) was was charged 47 times for living off immoral earnings, but instantly paid the fine (sometimes up to £250)

Born Georgie Hunter Rae in Rose Street in Edinburgh, she was the youngest of five children by parents Alexander Rae, a cutler, and his wife Mary Hunter.

The poverty of her upbringing led Rae to prostitution and she was working in the occupation before she became a madam.

Although not her first offence, she did not receive her first conviction for living off immoral earnings until 1934.

Mrs Noyce had a daughter Violet, who was born in 1923, and took the surname of her child's official father, Ernest Noyce, to use as a pseudonym - although there is no record of any marriage.

Mrs Noyce bought 17 Danube Street in Stockbridge in 1943 for just over £4,000 and ran it as a brothel until she died 34 years later.

There were 15 resident prostitutes but Mrs Noyce was able to draw on up to 25 other women in busy periods.

She could call on a contact in Glasgow and additional women would arrive in taxis.

Immoral earnings

Mrs Noyce once claimed in an interview that demand for her services was particularly high during the Edinburgh Festival, and at its zenith each year when the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was in session at the Mound.

In 1970 when the aircraft carrier USS John F Kennedy was docked at Leith it was reported that the queue of American sailors snaked right round the block to neighbouring Ann Street - now the most expensive street in Scotland to live.

Mrs Noyce was charged 47 times for living off immoral earnings, but instantly paid the fine (sometimes up to £250).

She would lay low for a few days and then carry on again.

Ann Street, parallel to Danube Street is now the most expensive Scottish street to live in with house prices reaching an average of almost £1.7m

Valerie Forsyth, editor of Scotland's History, told BBC Scotland that although Mrs Noyce ran what was considered a house of ill repute she tried to remain respectable.

She said: "She became a high-class madam and even had the accent to match. When she was younger she taught herself to speak in the upmarket Morningside brogue and for the rest of her life she insisted on speaking that way.

"She would always be seen in a fur coat, twinset and pearls, having an air of respectability about her."

But Mrs Noyce's job landed her in jail several times including a four-month spell five years before she died.

Ms Forsyth said the top floor of the townhouse was kept for those in prestigious jobs while the lower floor was for ordinary punters.

She said: "Dora was a shrewd businesswoman. She made a deal with the local constabulary that they could raid her premises every six months and in return she would give them intelligence about Edinburgh's criminal underworld.

"As time went on 17 Danube Street became infamous and was also the place to go."

This was much to the upset of her neighbours.

17 Danube Street is currently being renovated after being sold in 2020

Ms Forsyth said: "One neighbour, Mairi Macbeath, ran a respectable guest house and wasn't too happy that there was a brothel next door.

"She would take her camera and photograph the men coming and going from the premises then threatened to tell their wives.

"However, it was believed the camera never had any film in it."

After Dora Noyce's death, the building was redeveloped into flats. It was then bought by a well-known Scottish restaurateur in 2020 for more than £1.5m and it is currently one of three houses on the street undergoing major refurbishment.

So how has it changed so much in 50 years?

Mrs Allison said: "After the war, buildings in Stockbridge were in bad condition.

"While a lot of the buildings were being pulled down, others appreciated the area and the pioneers moved in.

"This paved the way for the creative types such as the artists and then the establishment moved in.

"Now it's become really trendy and these people have followed its rising reputation."

She added: "There are still some of the original Stockarees living here but there is also now a much wider range of people from when I was young, which makes it a dynamic and active place."