Princes St fire caused £2m damage to store

THE fire that destroyed part of a historic Princes Street store caused around £2 million worth of damage, it emerged today.

Romanes & Paterson is expected to remain shut for several months while repairs are carried out on the building, which has been described as "the gem of Princes Street".

An electrical fault in the upper floors is thought to have started the blaze.

A fire sale of damaged stock is due to be held on the building's ground floor later this week - on a date yet to be arranged - to get rid of smoke-damaged kilts, whisky, shortbread, jewellery and cashmere scarves.

Martin Clarke, regional manager of the shop's owners, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, said engineers are still investigating the exact cost of the repairs after the fire destroyed the roof.

The repair bill, though, is expected to be in the region of 2m because of the historic nature of the building.

Despite the scale of the fire, most of the stock was saved from the flames.

Mr Clarke said: "There is a lot of stock that sustained a bit of smoke damage which will be part of a sale at the middle or end of next week.

"It will probably be the biggest fire sale Princes Street has ever seen and I imagine it will be pretty packed out.

"It was a choice between that or just dumping the stuff in a skip and filing it all through insurance, but we thought it would be better if people got the chance to buy it.

"Some people have the perception of Romanes & Paterson having tacky stock but there is a lot of quality, including some cashmere scarves, excellent jewellery, and some bottles of genuine smoked malt whisky - nothing to do with the fire.

"The progress being made is actually remarkable, and on the ground floor all you notice is some patches of water and a smell of smoke."

The fire had a minimal impact on neighbouring stores Marks & Spencer and British Home Stores, which only sustained smoke damage to some stock.

Firefighters were on the scene within four minutes when they got the call to attend the distinctive white building on Friday, August 3, just before 7am.

A section of Princes Street was immediately closed to traffic and hordes of tourists and commuters looked on as smoke seeped from the roof.

But within a couple of hours the blaze had worsened and the entire roof was in flames.

Police evacuated people from Jenners to The Mound and firefighters tackled the blaze from underneath and from an aerial position.

It later emerged that the B-listed building was not fitted with a sprinkler system which fire safety experts said would almost certainly have extinguished the flames.

The fire broke out on the third floor of the business, which has traded on Princes Street since 1808.

Mr Clarke added: "The fire service did a magnificent job in rescuing as much as they did and stopping the fire from spreading.

"The rebuilding is going to take some time and the fire sale will only take place on the ground floor.

"The rest of the building is open to the elements because of the roof situation and it will be a good few months before we are able to reopen."

Staff at Romanes & Paterson, some of whom have worked there for over two decades, have either been re-deployed to other Edinburgh Woollen Mill outlets or are working at the premises in a security capacity.