Yelp Edinburgh’s Prohibition Spring Fling @ The Old Waverley Hotel!

'Just think what heaven is gonna be, if you will Charleston, Charleston with me'. Julie Andrews sang it, Susan M called it, and the Yelpers danced it at March’s Elite Event! As Brockmans snuck the bootleg liquor in the backdoor, the dapper and delightful Edinburgh Yelpers put on their glad rags for Yelp Edinburgh’s Prohibition Spring Fling at The Old Waverley Hotel! And what a fling it was. 50 fine and fancy Yelpers looking the Cat’s Meow; Brockmans gin and Flyright Dance Company putting on the Ritz; the gin didn’t stop flowing and toes didn’t stop tapping all night.
The Old Waverley Hotel ballroom was the perfect parlour for an evening of 1920s glitz, imbibing and Charlestoning. Hidden in plain view in the centre of Princes Street, with corner views over the Castle, the only thing more beautiful than the ballroom were the yelpers themselves.
If you tell Yelpers to come dressed for an occasion, they won’t let you down. Looking dapper, flapper, and dolled up to the nines, they lit the room up in their finery, frocks, feathers and dancing shoes. If only there were a reason to wear fedoras and feathers in our hair every day…
The good times were flowing as soon as yelpers arrived, with Grant from Brockmans pouring the generous gin measures all night. ‘The Brockmans Gin was as smooth and fruity as the dancing, with the ginger ale & bramble gin drink being a wonderfully refreshing tipple for the hot stepper of an evening.’ Quite so Ian D!
There’s nothing like a tipsy tipple to get the toes tapping. Step to the floor Susan and Gary from the Flyright Dance Company. ‘Step, tap, step, tap . . . teenwolf! Err, I mean scarecrow’ recalls Jason M. ‘I think we were all relieved to discover that learning to dance was quite easy and not as scary as it sounds. Step, tap, step, tap.’ From a tap to a step to a walk and a spin, everyone got into the swing. Alex R admits ‘I never thought I'd say this but I'm giving charlston-ing some serious consideration’ and Morven R is looking to get a regular group of yelpers down for a dance class or three!
After the gin, and then the dancing, there was more gin and dancing. Ian D thinks that ‘with everyone getting their Charelston on this really was a tip-top event that has left many, including me with a strong desire to keep on dancing. And gin. Keep on Ginning’.
It was Claire C's ‘favourite Yelp Elite event’ so far and Dug W thinks all the ‘excellent outfits, an ample supply of excellent G&Ts and best of all some sharp moves from our very own 1920s dance experts’ made it  ‘another outstanding Yelp event and another reason why anyone reading this should get involved with the next one.’
As ever, the biggest of thank yous to The Old Waverley Hotel and Caroline of The Edinburgh Collection for hosting such a swell evening; to Grant and Brockmans for keeping the Yelpers topped up all night; to Susan and Gary at Flyright Dance Company for keeping the toes tapping and teaching us a move or three; Katie N for all her help, and Robin Mair for the fabulous photies of everyone in their finery! And, as Luke D so succinctly puts it, 'thank you review-writing shuffle-stepping gin-sipping Yelp-banter-mongers!’ Without the Yelpers there'd be no Yelp party, so thanks to everyone who came dressed in their finest and gave the Charleston and gin-imbibing their all!

Read more about the evening from the guys and dolls themselves here; experience the glamour in full with the rest of the photies here; and find out more about the Yelp Elite squad and meet the rest of the Yelp Edinburgh community online!

Until next time, keep a swing in your step!

Jenny L
Yelp Edinburgh Community Manager