Jenners: Amazing pictures show Jenners throughout the years as owners reveal plan to return building to its 'original glory and quality'Jenners: Amazing pictures show Jenners throughout the years as owners reveal plan to return building to its 'original glory and quality'
Jenners: Amazing pictures show Jenners throughout the years as owners reveal plan to return building to its 'original glory and quality'

Jenners: Amazing pictures show Edinburgh's Jenners store through the years as new owners reveal plan to return building to its 'original glory and quality' after Mike Ashley row

Owners of iconic department store Jenners have released plans to restore the building to its ‘original glory’.

Danish businessman, Anders Holch Povlsen who owns the building, will be starting a project to revive the department store while adapting the current unused floors into a hotel.

A spokesperson from Povlsen’s company, AAA United, said: “The project is first and foremost about helping to preserve a unique historic building in Edinburgh.

"We are pursuing the project because we have a passion for architecture and historical buildings.

"Already when we acquired the building, we knew that it came with a great deal of responsibility. Jenners is an iconic building in Edinburgh, and we take the responsibility of renovating it very seriously.

"We will have to work very hard and dedicated to honour this Building”

The plans to work on the building had been put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, but now the company are preparing to get started and have reiterated their commitment to restoring Jenners to the grand department store it once was.

Included in the project is the renovation of the 1960s front of the building on the Princes Street side to ‘respect’ the Victorian character of the rest of the structure.

A new roof-top bar overlooking St Andrew Square will be added, and new cafes and restaurants will join the hotel and department store.

The spokesperson continued: “Our plans are all about strengthening the Jenners building.

"The iconic Jenners building will always stay and is the very DNA of our plans.

"In the same way as the department store is a vital future part of the project.

“The starting point is renovation and development of the fantastic buildings with the aim of creating the best possible framework for future users and safeguard the future of the buildings’ outstanding heritage.”

The architect working on the project is company David Chipperfield Architects, and they have provided images showing Jenners throughout the years as shown below.

Jenners is one of the world’s oldest department stores, founded in 1838. It was an independent company up until 2005 when Mike Ashley’s company Frasers Group took the lease.

They hit the headlines recently after they removed the golden Jenners lettering from the side of the building, drawing criticism and condemnation from both the owners and Edinburgh council, who ordered them to restore it.

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