Celebrating 41 Years of Family Business

While this year may not be a milestone birthday like last year, we can’t let July slip away without blowing out some imaginary birthday candles. 

2026 marks 41 years of Mercat: 41 years of stories, of family business, of turning tourism into a community partnership. 

As our 41st birthday month draws to a close, we're looking back at some of the things that make Mercat different. 

 

Our Stories, Your City 

Launched in 2022, this community project began with the idea that stories are powerful things. They can make connections between people, places and the past. 

There are vulnerable communities in Edinburgh that can often feel cut off from their city and their stories. Dislocation from this culture can be caused by lack of money, confidence or opportunity. 

Our Stories, Your City partners with the Grassmarket Community Project, The Welcoming and local schools to give those cut off from Edinburgh as warm welcome to, or back into, their museums, their palace, their castle, their stories and their city. 

Since its inception, this project has helped over 1500 people reconnect with Edinburgh. 

 

Inspiring Future Storytellers 

Since 2016, A Day in Edinburgh has welcomed hundreds of pupils behind the scenes of Edinburgh's tourism sector, helping them discover their city, build confidence and explore future career opportunities. 

© Tony Marsh

Kat Brogan, Managing Director of Mercat, says that it’s “more than an educational day out—it’s about igniting pride, ambition, and curiosity in young people while showcasing the vibrant, rewarding and diverse careers available in tourism. This initiative embodies what Mercat Tours stands for: connecting people to their past while inspiring their future.” 

Beyond this project, Mercat Storytellers often visit schools, sharing Edinburgh's history in ways that challenge assumptions, spark curiosity and encourage critical thinking. 

 

What Makes Mercat, Mercat? 

Looking after our people. That’s the Mercat Deal. 

Looking after our team, our visitors and the locals of Edinburgh’s Old Town. 

Storytelling is good for your wellbeing. Walking is good for both you and the environment:  safe, healthy and low impact. Our ethical, Living Wage family business is good for our team and community. 

To put it simply, choosing Mercat Tours for your visit or your job means supporting a responsible employer rooted in our local community. 

 

Mercat Tours, Established 1985 

We're proud to be Edinburgh's original walking tour company, but it's not only our age that defines us. It's also our values. 

 

Our birthday celebrations last year © Tony Marsh

It's supporting community tourism through Our Stories, Your City. 

It's opening doors for young people through Developing the Young Workforce, Building Pathways and A Day in Edinburgh. 

It's bringing history into classrooms and creating opportunities for future generations. 

It's being a Living Wage and Living Hours employer, a Certified B Corp, Fair Tax Mark holder and Green Tourism Gold business. 

And it's the Mercat Deal: our promise of quality, reliability, exclusivity and ethical tourism, backed by 40 years of experience. 

The stories may change, but the reason we tell them remains the same: to connect people, places and the past. Thank you to everyone who's been part of our story so far.