Retail shift
New Look move paves way for Princes St transition
More rooms at the inn
Edinburgh Princes Street’s transition from retail to hospitality looks likely to move ahead with plans to convert the New Look store into a restaurant and hotel.
A number of retailers are expected to relocate from the city’s traditional shopping street to the £1 billion St James development which is due to open in October.
New Look is vacating its modern unit built just a few years ago at the western end of the street and Whitbread wants to expand its neighbouring Premier Inn hotel into the unit to create 59 rooms and a 387 sqm ground floor restaurant.
A statement to the city planners says: “There is a perceived anticipation of further contraction of occupier demand for Princes Street, which could well be further exacerbated by the opening of the completed St James Centre.”
