By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
29 October 2009
IT is one of Edinburgh's most famous tales, but the story of Greyfriars Bobby has just got a little darker.
A free city map distributed in the city's hotels, train stations and visitor attractions has accidentally branded the statue of the famous terrier "Blackfriar's Bobby".
A total of 600,000 maps with Bobby's new name have been distributed around the Capital and the Lothians, leading to dozens of complaints - including one from Greyfriars Kirk.
As well as renaming the legendary loyal dog, the map mistakenly labels the churchyard where he watched over his master's grave as the site of "Blackfriar's Kirk".
The map's creator today held up his hands to the mistakes - which also include showing Broughton Street and Union Street in the wrong place - and said they would be corrected when it is reprinted.
Peter Todhunter, who holds the licence to distribute the maps in the UK on behalf of Canadian company Skycorp Maps Ltd, said: "Greyfriars Kirk did call to complain about the error on the map, which was due to a mix-up during the production stage. I actually produce two maps, one for Edinburgh and one for St Andrews.
"The St Andrews map has a guide to Blackfriars Tours, which does guided walks around the town offering 'twisted tales of St Andrews'. When it came to producing the Edinburgh map I mixed up Greyfriars Bobby and Kirk with Blackfriars tours.
"I also accept there are a few spelling mistakes, and that Broughton Street and Union Street are in the wrong place.
"I've been aware of these errors for quite some time and I do tell people that there are a few mistakes in there when I'm distributing the maps. I'd like to assure everyone that all of these errors will be corrected in the next edition of the map, in April."
Other mistakes include King's Stables Road appearing alternately with and without an apostrophe at the east and west end of the street, a missing apostrophe on Queen's Drive and Spittal Street with a missing "t".
The Evening News found the map in several prominent city hotels and tourists spots, including the Sheraton Hotel in Festival Square, the Carlton Hotel on North Bridge and the bureau de change on the High Street.
The lastminute.com hotel kiosk in Waverley Station also distributed copies - despite the adjacent Waverley Bridge being spelled without an "e" in the map.
The Radisson Hotel on High Street and the Balmoral on Princes Street also admitted stocking the maps, but only provided them as alternatives when stocks of their more authoritative maps ran out.
The Scotsman Hotel on North Bridge said it had received several copies, but put them straight in the recycling bin.
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