Edinburgh hotels: Plans for luxury hotel and tea room near Princes Street to be approved

The hotel will offer a bespoke apartment-style destination.

Plans for a new luxury hotel and 1920s tearoom on the corner of Princes Street and Hanover Street are set to be given the go-ahead this week.

Under proposals by property developer RRH Hanover A Limited, five buildings between Princes Street, the east side of Hanover Street and Rose Street will be repurposed into a hotel offering a "boutique stay in a prime location, but without the fuss of a busy city centre hotel." 

Features will include rooftop terraces with skyline views, a fitness studio and guest lounge overlooking the Mound and Princes Street Gardens.

Property developers RRH Hanover A Ltd, who lodged their application in October, say their plans to restore a series of B and C listed buildings will bring a new lease of life to five under-used buildings in the city centre.

But heritage chiefs have said they are 'surprised' that the council backed by Historic Environment Scotland look set to agree to the plans, which will see a listed building demolished in the World Heritage site.

Plans submitted show upper floors across five buildings earmarked for conversion from retail storage to a 61-bedroom hotel, with associated guest amenities and ancillary areas. Shops and a café/restaurant will be retained at the basement, ground and mezzanine floor level and a large tearoom for hotel guest and public use will be formed at first floor level on Hanover Street.

The luxury hotel near Princes Street has been recommended for approval.

Under the proposals a C-listed building at 40 Rose Street will be demolished. Currently occupied by a bookmaker, the building is believed to date back to the first New Town. It has seen significant rebuilding and numerous alterations which have left "little original fabric and a disfigured profile to the building".

Sharing the plans on X, formerly Twitter the Cockburn Association said: "Surprised that the Council with the support of Historic Environment Scotland are willing to agree to the demolition of a listed building in the World Heritage Site to facilitate even more tourist accommodation in the heart of the City. If the occupant was a jeweller or patisserie rather than a bookie, would the assessment have been different?"

Director Terry Levinthal told the Evening News: "The Report of Handling makes clear that no assessment of the viability of retention of the listed building has been made, which is contradictory to national and local heritage policies.  We accept that this building on Rose Street has been much altered, but given that it is likely to be first-generation New Town, many of which have been lost already we would have hoped greater effort by both CEC and HES would have been made in seeking its retention. 

"There is no doubt this structure gets in the way of a more profitable hotel, but should not be the driver here.  There are positive elements to the proposals, and we have no objection in principle to hotel use in this location.

Developers RRH Hanover A Limited said the proposed development will "result in the re-use of four listed buildings in sustainable, longer-term uses, with appropriate levels of adaptation and intervention."

A report will be considered by the development management sub-committee on Wednesday, due to the plans being of significant public interest.

Planning officers have recommended it be approved, saying the proposals will deliver a sustainable and well-designed hotel development.