Shops reopen, but stretch of Princes St will stay shut for "foreseeable future"
Plus: Major wild fire on Salisbury Crags; Josh Kerr sets sights on more records; and homes plan for Scottish Water offices
City centre ‘open for business’ as it faces several weeks of disruption
The stretch of Princes St outside the Debenhams fire site will remain closed for “the foreseeable future” as work continues to make the building safe and determine how much of its historic fabric can be saved.
Plans to support businesses affected by the closure and keep public transport moving as smoothly as possible, including during major events such as the August festivals, are being put in place.
The section of Princes St between Frederick St and South Charlotte St is expected to remain closed for several weeks, while “complex and time-consuming” work is carried out to make the building safe and preserve as much as possible of the historic building.
The businesses forced to close on Rose St reopened over the weekend and the council is sending out a message that the city centre is “open for business”.
In the meantime, trams are stopping at Shandwick Place, leaving Leith and Newhaven without a service, and buses are being diverted mainly down George St.
Appeal to Scottish Government: Council leader Jane Meagher has written to the Scottish Government to ask for help dealing with the costs of the recovery from the fire. It provided up to £10 million to support businesses affected by the Union Street fire in Glasgow (largely through rates relief) and subsequent disruption as well as another £1 million towards demolition costs. The scale of disruption in Glasgow - 71 businesses were forced to shut compared to six on Princes St and Rose St - means the sums involved are likely to be much smaller here.
£2k a day rates lost: Rates are automatically waived for businesses forced to shut by such emergencies. That has cost £2,000 a day in lost revenue to the Scottish Government, although the reopening of five stores on Rose St at the weekend means that figure drops to £1,400 a day (the daily business rates bill for Boots). However, many businesses outside the cordon may have faced significant disruption and could qualify for discretionary relief on their rates.
Unpaid rates raid: The gift shops operating in the building which burned down were raided by enforcement officers within the last month and stock seized in lieu of unpaid rates, The Herald reports.
Mixed trading fortunes: Some city centre businesses have reported a huge drop in trade, with the Mor Bakehouse on Princes St close to the fire scene telling The Sun it had been forced to cut staff hours it was so quiet, but the Day-Today Express store finding itself busier than usual due to extra footfall on Castle Street.
Buses and trams: The council are working with Edinburgh trams to see how quickly it can resume even a partial service beyond Shandwick Place, with the potential for the south side of Princes Street to open before the north carriageway.
‘Quieter’ Leith: Some businesses in Leith, including the Diggers Leith bar, are reporting being a lot quieter than usual as a result of local tram services being off, with calls being made for extra buses to help ease the problem.
Get on your bike: An extra 200 e-bikes are being made available to hire through the Voi on-street scheme by the ed of the week, taking the total fleet up to 1,000. There will be extra bike parking in the city centre to help people cycling in from Leith and Newhaven.
Improvised plans: The council is looking at tailored plans around major events to minimise the disruption, with the Edinburgh Festival Carnival adapting its parade route at the weekend and Shandwick Place being closed to traffic for much of Saturday to accommodate extra tram passengers boarding there for the rugby at Murrayfield.
Official updates: You can get updates on the council’s plans on a dedicated web page here.
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
SMASHED IT! Josh Kerr didn’t just beat the world record for the mile, he smashed it, in front of a raucous 60,000-strong crowd at London’s Olympic Park on Saturday. The Edinburgh runner knocked around half a second off the 27-year-old world record. He had been targeting the record as part of what he called Project 222 which he announced in March. That included wearing a specially designed black running suit and spikes. Afterwards, he said he was setting his sights on the 1,500m world record and winning the London Marathon. Before that, he runs for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games.
CRAGS WILD FIRE: Six fire crews spent the night tackling a large blaze on the slopes beneath Salisbury Crags. Emergency crews were called out shortly after 6.30pm last night. It was the second major blaze in Holyrood Park in little more than a month.
TAX TIME: The so-called tourist tax comes into effect on Friday with overnight visitors required to pay a 5% levy on overnight stays. The Visitor Levy is expected to raise £50 million a year once it is up and running, but some accommodation providers have warned of potential hitches from starting to impose the charge a week before the launch of the Fringe.
OPEN HOUSE: The beloved 200-year-old palm houses at the Botanics will reopen in October following a five-year restoration programme. The £20m refit included installing 5,000 new panes of glass and an upgraded heating system. The hothouse doors will reopen on a ticketed basis from 2 October.
WATER OFFICES HOMES PLAN: Scottish Water has applied for permission in principle to demolish its offices at Fairmilehead to make way for housing. The building is underused following the rise of working from home since the Covid pandemic and considered unsalvageable due to severe problems with RAAC, the so-called crumbling concrete. Scottish Water is moving to offices within the city council’s Waverley Court complex.
‘THE SCRATCHER’ ARRESTED: Police Scotland have announced the arrest of a 25-year-old man, who they say is known as “The Scratcher”, following a spate of vandalism to cars across Edinburgh.
COMMUNITY FAIR PROTEST: The organisers of the Corstorphine Fair have launched a national petition calling for a Scottish Government review of the licensing, regulatory and financial burdens placed on volunteer-run community fairs and gala days. The community fair in Corstorphine went ahead successfully this year only after facing significant last-minute licensing and administrative difficulties, despite extensive early engagement with the local authorities.
GOLF HUT: The community golf hut on the historic 36-hole short course on Bruntsfield Links has been refurbished for the benefit of the thousands who used the free course each year. The refurbishment was sponsored by Dubai-based JA Resorts which owns the four-star Bruntsfield Hotel overlooking the Links.
ROADS RELIEF: There has been some good news on road closures with Scottish Water confirming that the 6-month closure of part of Gorgie Road for essential work will finish as planned on Friday, 31 July.
FROM CURRIE TO THE WORLD: Currie Boys Football Club were famously presented with a bag of new footballs as a thank you when he first signed for Hearts as a schoolboy. Now he is being hailed as one of Scotland’s greatest ever keepers after announcing his retirement at the age of 43. His 25-year career included many highs and lows including a £9m then British record transfer for a goalkeeper, comebacks from potentially career-ending injuries, and 84 caps for Scotland.
Pic of the week
THE BUSINESS
Edinburgh syndicate wins top investor award
The Edinburgh angel investment institution which has backed city and Scottish businesses has been crowned as the Angel Group of the Year at the UK Business Angels Awards.
Archangels, which claims to be the world’s first angel investment syndicate, has leveraged almost £18 million in Scottish businesses in the first six months of this year alone - £7.2 million directly via its members’ funds and an additional £10.7 million of co-investment.
Archangels has more than 100 member investors, and typically invests more than £10 million in Scottish businesses each year – in particular in technology and life sciences.
In the first half of the year, that included University of Edinburgh spin-outs Biocaptiva and Bioliberty.
David Ovens, Joint Managing Director at Archangels, said: “Scotland’s early-stage ecosystem continues to punch well above its weight, and while the macroeconomic backdrop remains uncertain, the pipeline of innovative companies coming through gives us real confidence going into the second half of the year. Archangels has been backing Scotland’s best founders for over 30 years, and the ambition and quality we are seeing today is as strong as it has ever been.”
HEALTHY BOOST: Regenerus Laboratories, an Edinburgh-based diagnostic health testing company, has secured £8 million of investment, with £5m equity from private equity company Foresight and a £3 million research and development grant from Scottish Enterprise, reports Daily Business.
EVENT WINS: A series of event wins for Edinburgh International Conference Centre will bring estimated £50 million in future economic benefit for Edinburgh. The EICC has released the figures after securing 91 new events in the first half of this year, with an expected 54,000 delegates expected over the years through to 2031.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
DRESSING THE STARS: Celebrating 60 years of one of Britain’s most celebrated costume designers, Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop takes you inside the world of cinema period dramas. The cast which the company has dressed includes Helena Bonham Carter in A Room with a View, Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and Leslie Manville in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. The exhibition runs until 16 January at the Dovecot Studios.
FOOD ‘N’ FOLK: The Edinburgh Folk and Food Festival returns for a second year of mixing its foodie roots with top music acts including Mercury Prize nominee Seth Lakeman and Scottish folk stars Breabach. The action gets underway in George Square Gardens from Friday until 2 August.
BYRNE-ING DOWN THE HOUSE: If you don’t already have tickets, then you’re too late, but Talking Heads founder David Byrne brings his Who is the Sky? tour to the Playhouse for three sold-out nights from tonight.
QUICK BITES
IT’S GELATO, PETAL: Iconic Italian gelato arrived in Edinburgh at the weekend with the opening by the Vittoria Group of the first sore for luxury brand Amorino at 27 North Bridge. The flower-shaped “petal gelato” comes in authentic flavours including tiramisu, stracciatella, pistachio, and amarena.
SUCCESS ON A PLATE: Four Edinburgh eateries have been named in the list of Britain’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2026 by the Good Food Guide – Ardfern in Bonnington Road, The Palmerston at Palmerston Place, Barry Fish in Leith and Bruntsfield’s Leftfield. The list honours the UK’s best neighbourhood restaurants.