“People come to Edinburgh because it’s ‘nice’, not because it’s exciting. But I think the city is tantalisingly close to solving this problem.”  That was Rupert Thomson programme director of Summerhall talking to The List about Edinburgh’s chronic shortage of live music venues last year.

Some things have changed for the better since then. But while  Summerhall undoubtedly buzzes with excitement, live music is still a fragile part of the capital city’s cultural scene. The centre seems to be reviving. The newly reopened Bongo Club rocks the Cowgate and La Belle Angele is set to return almost eleven years since the devastating Old Town fire.  But further off the beaten track one of Edinburgh’s ‘best kept musical secrets’ is under threat.

The small but very charismatic House 42 is one of those Edinburgh surprises that make the city an exciting place to live outside the festival season. Sadly, the  enterprising owner of 42 Royal Park Terrace  has been fighting a battle with Edinburgh City Council Planning Department.  The incorrigible Douglas Robertson is not giving up.  The freelance photographer has been organising gigs in his home for almost ten years and he sees no reason to stop.  Even if the Planning Department has recently rejected his application for a Certificate of Lawfulness.

Equally important, friends and supporters do not want him to stop the music.  House 42, a converted Co-op in a tenement terrace on the edge of Holyrood park, has long connections with local musicians. Before conversion, the basement was used by practising bands such as Salsa Celtica and Shooglenifty and now bands come from far and wide to play in the living room.

The House Concerts gig list is long and eclectic, the atmosphere intimate and welcoming: a speakeasy in residential Edinburgh. Performances of music, poetry and drama pack the front room with friendly audiences happy to squeeze on to sofas, floor cushions and old speakers for events which take place perhaps twice a week. Donations are paid to performers.  In almost a decade one neighbour has complained. Clearly not the one enjoying the show we saw a month ago.

“We have an audience of friends and supporters willing to come and hear excellent music,” writes Douglas in his latest newsletter, “and struggling performers willing to play in return for donations from the audience, while the Planning Department, who seem to answer to no one but themselves, are determined to stop this happening.”

Douglas is urging his supporters to write to City of Edinburgh Council leader Andrew Burns (andrew.burns@edinburgh.gov.uk ) and local councillors “whose constituents keep them in touch with reality”  to put pressure on the planning department and make the case for events providing vital support to musicians. And essential diversity to Edinburgh’s cultural life.

“House concerts in the USA, Canada and elsewhere are an important and welcome part of the music scene. Life for musicians in the UK has become increasingly difficult with a huge reduction in CD sales and disappearing venues.”

For now anyway, the music continues. See the Soundhouse website for gigs past, present and – we hope – still to come.