These days, it seems like hardly a day passes without hearing about the closure of a well-liked restaurant, and despite the expansion of independent chains, small coffee shops are also closing.
Though it’s a different story for their retailers, the St. James Quarter is still reporting impressive numbers, so it’s not all bad news for anyone serving food and drink. Since the closures are happening all over Edinburgh, the problem isn’t localised; rather, it’s a sign that people no longer view restaurants in particular as the appropriate place to celebrate significant life events.
Taxi drivers will tell you the same story, saying that during the week, they no longer receive the same amount of business from people celebrating birthdays.
For the simple reason that, although tourists seem to be less interested in finding a nice restaurant, the idea of going out to celebrate with a nice meal has completely collapsed among locals, the market is undoubtedly shrinking more noticeably among locals than among visitors.
Uncomfortably, a lot of the newly constructed and opened hotels have included a successful restaurant in their calculations. I can’t even begin to count how many of them claim to have a view of the castle.
When French rugby fans visited Waverley Market recently, they made a point of shopping in addition to visiting the newly branded Food Station. In contrast, English rugby fans were also eager to be fed and hydrated, but they made it clear that they were not planning to go shopping. This created an interesting contrast.
It brought to mind the day a young man asked if there was any way I could stay open a little bit longer at Avalanche’s shop door in the Grassmarket five minutes before it closed.
He told me he was employed by a Paris-based finance company that had rented a private jet to travel to the rugby. It’s amazing that he didn’t even like rugby and had only come on the jaunt to visit the shop. I had no choice but to accept his story, and to be fair, he made me want to stay open for an additional forty minutes.
Although it is unlikely that restaurant patronage will increase anytime soon, Edinburgh seems to have fully recovered from the pandemic and may see an increase in tourists. One thing is certain, though: they will need to eat, so it’s not all lost for the right food outlets.
Quite who will be successful is not clear though it does look like Edinburgh city centre definitely has enough coffee shops especially with the addition of Black Sheep and Starbucks to Princes Street.
Personally I think there is room for more chip shops and I would love one to open in the Waverley Market but I’m told that the extraction fans needed would be an issue for the building.
Though I believe it will be some time before we see one on Princes Street, I am amazed at how popular the bubble tea stand is in the centre. It is definitely one for kids and at least makes a change from all the coffee shops.
