THE closure of Princes Street in Edinburgh following a blaze at a former department store has seen shops in neighbouring streets enjoy a surge in footfall, the head of a business group has said.
A section of the capital’s central thoroughfare has been closed to all vehicles and pedestrians since July 9, when the old Debenhams building was gutted by fire.
The street is due to remain closed until at least late August while the remaining structure is made safe.
But Roddy Smith, chief executive of business group Essential Edinburgh, said the closure has changed the way people traverse the city centre – and that one neighbouring street had seen footfall more than quadruple.
“We’ve not seen overall a massive decrease in footfall,” he told the Press Association.
“But what we have seen is people are traversing the city differently because they simply have to, and that that’s obviously affected some shops positively, and some shops shops negatively.
“Rose Street, for example, is up over 300% in terms of its footfall.”
He said the change in Rose Street was most apparent at its western end, which he said has seen a “significant” uptick in pedestrians.
George Street has also seen more pedestrians, with Smith saying it has become “very busy” as a result of the number of buses being diverted onto it.
Scotland's Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth announced £5 million in support earlier this month which will be administered by the council for those impacted by the Princes Street disruptions as well as helping to secure the site.
Some shops on Princes Street had to close their doors for a week or two in the immediate aftermath of the fire, but these have now reopened.
Smith said: “In terms of the city centre, the impact has been significant, but it has not been terrible.
“It’s nothing like the fire (on Union Corner) in Glasgow at all.
“I think the people that have been hardest hit are probably more down in Leith, because the tram can’t go down there.”
Smith said retail sales data will not be available for another two or three weeks – but that there is “no doubt” some businesses will have lost out from the changes in footfall, while others will have benefitted.
Rachel Walsh, who works at the furniture and homewares shop Anta, at the western end of Rose Street, said in the immediate aftermath of the fire the street was the busiest she had ever seen it.
“There were hundreds of people walking past the shop. Everyone was just getting redirected straight through here,” she said.
“It was devastation, but it was quite good for Rose Street.”
She said this increased footfall has continued and that “a lot more tourists” are now coming to the western end of the street.
“I think we can we can get a little bit lost down here because we’re right at the tail end (of the street),” she explained.
“But I would say because they got redirected, we were getting a lot more tourists, a lot more people that would have never known about the company.”
She added that it would be “amazing” if people who have been using Rose Street over recent weeks decide to make it their “new normal” to do so, even after Princes Street reopens.
Brendon Bement, who works at Viking Optical Centre on Rose Street, said it had been “incredibly busy” since the fire.
“I had an instance the other day where I was going out for lunch, and I hit a crowd just right here going onto Frederick Street,” he said.
“There were so many people that you had to wait for everyone to funnel out, which I’ve never experienced before.”
He said there had also been an increase in people coming into the shop – including a lot of people asking for directions.
“There’s more footfall. There’s been more people in the shop. There’s been more people even just asking for directions and things like that,” he said.
“So just an overall increase in everything”.
He added: “We’ve definitely had a lot more new customers – I think just people noticing the shop as they’re passing by.”
