|
Location Information:
Princes Street is one of the major
thoroughfares in central Edinburgh,
Scotland, and its main shopping
street. It is the southernmost
street of Edinburgh's New Town,
stretching around 1 mile (1.6 km)
from Lothian Road in the west to
Leith Street in the east. The street
is mostly closed to private cars,
with public transport given
priority. The street has virtually
no buildings on the south side,
allowing views of the Old Town,
Edinburgh Castle, and the valley
between.
Several UK high street brands are
located along Princes Street. Bhs,
Debenhams, House of Fraser, Marks &
Spencer, Topman and Topshop
department stores can be found at
the west end. Jenners (Now owned by
House of Fraser) department store
was an Edinburgh institution,
surviving the disappearance of many
other local department stores, such
as Patrick Thompson's. There has
been controversy over buildings from
the later half of the 20th century
on Princes Street. This has prompted
plans to demolish the Bhs and the
Marks & Spencer buildings, in an
effort to improve the status of the
street.
Another problem has been that upper
floors are often used for storage,
rather than as office, retail or
living space. At an early stage in
post-World War II designs for the
street, a "high level walkway" was
planned, as a further shopping
frontage for the first floor level,
in lieu of the other side of the
street. However the walkway as built
was never more than a number of
isolated balconies and in practice
the Royal Bank of Scotland was the
only business to maintain a frontage
at this level for any length of
time; that branch of the bank closed
early in the 21st century, leaving
the upper walkway largely forgotten.
Local
Weather:
|
