Edinburgh's 'Harry Potter cafe' Elephant House to re-open next year, reveals owner

Edinburgh Bridges cafe set to re-open in “late spring/ early summer” following 2021 fire

The cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote much of her bestselling Harry Potter books is set to re-open next year, after it was closed by a fire in August, 2021.

The Elephant House Cafe on George IV Bridge became a tourist attraction after it was revealed that some of the series of books about the famous boy wizard were written at the Edinburgh cafe. However, the cafe has been closed since the fire more than two years ago, which is believed to have started in the Patisserie Valerie cafe next door to the Elephant Cafe. Family-run Tonstate Group, who previously owned a section of the building which contained the Elephant House cafe, went into liquidation shortly after the blaze in 2021, holding up the re-opening of the city centre cafe.

Now, the cafe’s owner has revealed that he hopes to re-open in late spring/ early summer 2024.

The Elephant House cafe on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, pictured before the fire in August 2021.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, David Taylor, who has owned and run the cafe for more than 28 years, said work on the property could not go ahead until the structure was made safe.

He said: “I’m feeling unimaginable relief. If the liquidator is as good as their word then the renovations can happen quite quickly once the structural work has been completed. We are talking late spring/ early summer for its reopening.

"It has been a terrible few years and I could have walked away with the insurance money but I would never have done that as I want to see it thriving again. I would always stand by my cafe."

The desk where Rowling wrote parts of the iconic series was restored after being damaged in the fire, and now sits in the second Elephant House Cafe at Victoria Street.

Firefighters attending the fire on George IV Bridge on August 24, 2021. Photo by Lisa Ferguson.

The original Elephant House cafe, that called itself ‘The Birthplace of Harry Potter’ was not actually visited by the author JK Rowling, until after she had been writing the books for a few years.

Responding to a fan who queried the cafe’s claim, Ms Rowling said: “I was thinking of putting a section on my website about all the alleged inspirations and birthplaces of Potter. I’d been writing Potter for several years before I ever set foot in this cafe, so it’s not the birthplace, but I *did* write in there so we’ll let them off!”