'Don't turn the New Town into Britain's biggest building site'

George Street transformation may coincide with major work on Princes Street

It’s late on a breezy April morning and George Street is starting to kick into life.

The pace on the Capital’s widest street can be quite leisurely early in the day, but as lunchtime approaches the pavement starts to get busy.  

There are suited and booted business people heading for lunch appointments, office workers picking up supermarket meal deals and tourists plotting their sightseeing route around James Craig’s historic New Town.

This isn’t a city centre on its uppers. Far from it. The rows of boarded-up shops predicted for the street in the wake of the £1bn St James Quarter opening have not materialised. The names above a few of the shops have changed and there are some new eating places to check out - but this is a place that is thriving.

If the twin shocks of the pandemic and the shift to online shopping have ravaged high streets up and down the country - and they have - then there is no sign of it here.

Walking up and down the street, I only spotted the old Hollister building sitting empty. With luxury brands like Whistles, Jigsaw, Jaeger and Anthropologie nearby, you wouldn’t bet on it staying that way for long.

Not only are big name retailers still keen to move in, selling agents say George Street rents - never for the fainthearted - are on the rise, by as much as 25%, showing how high demand remains.

There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful on George Street.