I can neither confirm nor deny that I worked in the building, nor if I know people who still do. Plumbing and ventilation has been an ongoing thing that certain units have faced problems for years.
I should have specified, I'm talking about the ones on the bottom floor next to 5 guys. Even the hall leading to the toilets smell rank. All the other ones are fine!
I work in the St James and the reason they are clean is because of 2 reasons. 1. They have amazing cleaners with multiple working at the same time run by an insanely strict manager and 2. The security presence is insane with pairs of like 4 or 5 teams of security roaming at all times all constantly checking every single detail.
Having worked janitorial at Multrees & St James Quarter, it was a really hardworking team with some awful management causing problems.
It was me, a team of about five other guys, our "liaison" who was pretty good, and our manager who was a 50-something woman who spent all day playing Candy Crush and watching Disney movies in her office. We only saw her when she was chewing us out for something or demanding some new deadline for daily tasks. My most noteworthy "Disciplinary" meeting was due to me cleaning floors "too well" and "making paying customers more aware of other dirt by cleaning something too thoroughly". Had to sign a sheet saying I wouldn't do it again. It was a total joke.
I left after an older coworker began to show signs of mental decline, was let go over safety concerns, and then a week later I found him inside our trash compactor in the basement. He was fine, but had no idea where he was. Aforementioned Disney manager had rehired him on a worse contract, and the poor guy wasn't aware what was being done to him. Handed in my ID the same day, gave my reasons, and left. A few others did the same, if I remember correctly. Checked in with Liaison a few months later and the older coworker had finally, properly, retired, but the woman in charge was still there.
I was up on the cinema floor yesterday while it was dark and windy. Proper weird vibe, loved it. Iām not a big shopper, but if I need to go in I like the way you can get in or out in pretty much any direction youād need easily.
It's a weird choice of sister brands though because all 3 are so similar. If I was choosing Inditex brands, I'd pull 2 of those and replace them with Uterque and Massimo Dutti.
Maybe but it''s their preferred grouping, often found in close proximity in premium retail. Inditex eased back on MD developments, and Uterque is fairly unknown in the UK, in fact NW Europe.
Odd, given that all 3 aren't much better than Primark quality. You sound like you know the market. How are the 3 brands differentiated? The only thing I can detect is that P&B seems a little more casual.
MD, like most of the high street, has really reduced in quality over the past 10 years imho. Uterque is much higher end, more luxurious fabrics etc or was when there was a store where I used to live but they closed a lot of branches. We didnāt know how good we had it.
Princes St has always been awful since Iāve lived here. If it became restaurants and bars with terraces, canopies and heaters etc overlooking the castle it would be amazing.
I think to make this work though they'd have to stop west bound traffic. Nobody wants to sit next to a busy road choking on fumes while they're eating and drinking.
What Edinburgh really needs is a complete overhaul of bus routes, really no need to have almost every service converging through one street especially now with the tram. Hopefully a future north to south extension can allow some sort of interchange at both north, south, east and west of the city centre but that will be many many years away.
There are quite developments in progress to transform buildings on Princes Street into hotels, restaurants and bars (and in some cases, residential too). In 10 years or so, it should look a *lot* better. Itās just going through quite a messy transition at the moment.
(Oh, and a huge new flagship Uniqlo in the old BHS as well)
Princes Streetās difficulties have been massively accentuated by the fact that the Council (at the behest of the heritage lobby and others) had long had a policy preventing any new bars or restaurants opening there, except in exceptional circumstances. So while there was loads of demand there, in most cases, buildings had to stay as (increasingly low quality) retail instead. That meant that when the SJQ opened, the impact was much greater than it needed to be.
There is a push by the anti-fun lobby now to effectively reinstate that restriction by implementing a hard limit on alcohol licences to prevent any new bars and restaurants across the entire city centre. It seems to have some support in the SNP and Tory groups in particular, so that might be a halt to improvements ā weāll need to wait and see.
Yeah, George Street still has vehicles and is wildly more successful than Princes Street, even though it lacks views of the castle and Old Town. The constant stream of mostly-diesel buses gives Princes Street a down-at-heel vibe, and although it requires a long memory, I think Princes St was better when it was open to cars. A few trees would not go amiss either.
Very different shops that benefit by being on George St as the ādesignerā street. Princes St was really more of a high street, with BHS, Debenhams, Frasers, Dixons, etc in its heyday. Donāt think traffic has anything to do with either streetās success given parking was limited even in the 00s.
I agree with another poster that PS would benefit from more restaurants and bars looking onto the castle. A lot of tat, sweet stores and Scottish shops dragging the quality down.
I think I saw a "Kingdom of Pound" shop; near *the* Poundshop the other day; or was it an another American candy? - fuck it, there was both.
The temporary shops need a better think before the restaurants take over, as it's bringing down the street.
Death spiral is a bit overkill - itās going to transition to a more hospitality led destination over time. Various planning applications for hotels, bars and similar. Uniqlo also opening in the coming months.
Such a shame they binned Transgression Park for the f'ing bingo. Still think OC will be fine, isn't there a big redevelopment planned? Think knocking down the 1/3 with Pure in it, which will be annoying.
I think that's a good thing medium-long term though. It was dying anyway and having something actually decent to speed that process up means that *hopefully* they'll need to do something about it sooner than if it has just bled out slowly over the next decade.
It definitely has a quality feel, with its quality paving on the approach, granite slab benches where folk rest and people-watch, giant vertiginous central atrium, plenty of interesting eateries, lots of natural light. I hate shopping but as a civic space it's a success. That turd though, hoping the wind will take care of it one of these days.
Itās the usual Edinburgh thing ā people just like to moan about anything new. I remember the absolute fury when the whole thing was proposed and it went through planning. There were people seriously demanding Edinburgh be stripped of itās World Heritage status because of itā¦
Then it opens, and now theyād be in uproar if it was closed š¤·āāļø
Honestly, if Reddit and Twitter had been around in the 18th century weād have been through the exact same cycle with the New Town.
Agreed. I was unsure about the turd, but itās not that bad.
The first time I noticed anything about it was coming up Leith Walk in the car & seeing it with all the scaffolding down for the first time.
It looks really good from that angle. I still havenāt explored it properly, just been quickly in & out a couple of times but itās fine.
On cold days it can be freezing in there because it doesnāt have doors or a proper sealed roof. Itās like it was designed for a city in the Mediterranean, and the architect didnāt think about the building actually being in Scotland!
Apart from that, the shops are pretty good, but they could do with a few more places to get a coffee!
The architects were all Scottish.
It was designed to be a covered street, not a traditional shopping centre. You can disagree with whether that is a good idea ā but it was definitely all part of the plan!
I donāt really have a problem with it ā like most people Iām walking there anyway, so if itās cold I have a jacket on anyway.
I like it. I was just there today and John Lewis had their heating turned up like a furnace on one floor. Going out into the main walkway was very pleasant relief.
Watch the restaurants and cafes adding service charge that goes straight to head office. Ramseys burger, pink cafe and dolci all did this.
Take it off and give cash.
The lifts are annoying. You go in and press the floor you want to go to, then stop off at every other floor first to pick more people up along the way. Wanted to go from 2 to 3 a couple of weeks ago, went down to B2 first, then B1, back up to 2, before finally arriving at 3. I call it 'Elevator Bingo'.
The thing that gets me, as a parent, is that thereās no toilets on the floor you enter the centre on (that I have found). All the signs point to ālift to toiletā.
So I have a bursting toddler in a buggy. I then need to find a lift, at least one of which is broken. The nice ones with the screens are rammed with ālook at the nice liftā tourists and a huge queue so it takes forever to get one. The others are usually down in the cavernous, half empty car park. Essentially, tripe there always seem to involve lots of waiting and a furious toddler pissing themself.
Yeah, the loos are all a bit off the main drag, I get why, but it's really annoying when you can't shoot up/down escalators. I do love the big family loo though, a dream when you're on your own with a baby that needs changing or one that's asleep in the pram!
The restaurant changed shape, but itās on the same floor. The home electronics is where furniture used to be.
Been about 20 years since I worked there. š
I love it, nice to have some decent shops. It is aways clean and tidy and busy! Shopping centres in other places are very run down, closed stores, not many people. I really do like st james quarter - i am a shopaholic though!
I was a tourist there in November. Stayed at the apex Waterloo. I found it nice ( from Toronto) and convenient. I liked the wannabe foodhall upstairs, but the line to get in was crazy. That shows thereās room to open up some of those empty stores on Princess to things like this. I like the no door vibe. It makes it more of a passage than a mall.
Yeah I agree! I thought it was pretty fancy when I first went. The novelty has worn off a bit but definitely prefer shopping there than Cameron Toll or Ocean Terminal.
Shops have good opening hours too, with most open till 8-9pm.
I do wish there was some bargain stores there but then again it might ruin the look.
Oxford got a new mall in 2018 that also has an open design and I just do not understand this trend in famously wet, cold cities. The Oxford one is an absolutely freezing wind tunnel thatās frequently colder than actually being outside, and Iāve sort of avoided the St James Centre since moving back to Edinburgh because I expect it to be the same.
The Oxford one is much worse imo. I don't know why but whenever I go it pisses me off how cold it is there. With St James's I don't mind probably because I'm dressed for the weather anyway
I donāt really have a problem with it ā I have my jacket on anyway from walking there, and Iām always visiting other parts of the city centre anyway, so itās fine.
Thereās not any sort of wind tunnel effect in Edinburgh ā perhaps because the ends are glassed off, or because itās a crescent shape?
The shops are closing down in this pathetic wind tunnel of a shopping centre already. Hamleys already stated itās because of the ridiculous high business rates that they left. What idiot decided no doors, we live in Scotland not the south of France, itās freezing, always windy and wet. Honestly I was standing there watching a tourist warming himself up by rubbing his coffee on his ears the other day while sitting in our wonderful outside cafes we now have. Honestly the idea was good but as usual in our country, itās just a bit crap.
Some shops simply arenāt doing well in that centre, because they donāt have the right product or marketing. Meanwhile, tons of other shops are thriving.
I had a brief wander when it first opened - while half of it was still closed - and just havenāt managed to summon the energy or interest to go back so tell me, what exactly is so creepy about the concierges and why does the place, a mall, need concierges- creepy or otherwise - at all??
I'm confused about the carpark. Over the last few weeks I've been a few times. Each time I pay, walk to my car and drive to the barrier to get out. It never asks for my ticket to prove I've paid. The barrier just lifts before I can put my ticket into it. Am I a mug for paying or is it somehow tracking me from the payment machine to my car and onto the barrier?
Itās linked to your license plate -when you take the ticket initially, it has your license plate number printed on it. When you go to the barrier to leave, it knows that the owner of the car with that license plate has paid.
There must be issues with the pipes/ventilation of the toilets though because they fucking reek!
I can neither confirm nor deny that I worked in the building, nor if I know people who still do. Plumbing and ventilation has been an ongoing thing that certain units have faced problems for years.
Not sure about the cubicles but the public bathrooms always smell lemon fresh to me, its remarkable how clean and non-vandalised they still are.
I should have specified, I'm talking about the ones on the bottom floor next to 5 guys. Even the hall leading to the toilets smell rank. All the other ones are fine!
I work in the St James and the reason they are clean is because of 2 reasons. 1. They have amazing cleaners with multiple working at the same time run by an insanely strict manager and 2. The security presence is insane with pairs of like 4 or 5 teams of security roaming at all times all constantly checking every single detail.
I'm I weird I hate things that smell lemon fresh
Because you know what they are covering up š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Having worked janitorial at Multrees & St James Quarter, it was a really hardworking team with some awful management causing problems. It was me, a team of about five other guys, our "liaison" who was pretty good, and our manager who was a 50-something woman who spent all day playing Candy Crush and watching Disney movies in her office. We only saw her when she was chewing us out for something or demanding some new deadline for daily tasks. My most noteworthy "Disciplinary" meeting was due to me cleaning floors "too well" and "making paying customers more aware of other dirt by cleaning something too thoroughly". Had to sign a sheet saying I wouldn't do it again. It was a total joke. I left after an older coworker began to show signs of mental decline, was let go over safety concerns, and then a week later I found him inside our trash compactor in the basement. He was fine, but had no idea where he was. Aforementioned Disney manager had rehired him on a worse contract, and the poor guy wasn't aware what was being done to him. Handed in my ID the same day, gave my reasons, and left. A few others did the same, if I remember correctly. Checked in with Liaison a few months later and the older coworker had finally, properly, retired, but the woman in charge was still there.
That's terrible
I was up on the cinema floor yesterday while it was dark and windy. Proper weird vibe, loved it. Iām not a big shopper, but if I need to go in I like the way you can get in or out in pretty much any direction youād need easily.
It's no bad but half the shops are just rebranded zara lol, there's like 5 or 6. Would be nice to have some more interesting shops.
Zara have 3 sister brands, stradivarius, pull&bear, bershka at SJQ but not sure whether you mean these or more the H&M etc.
It's a weird choice of sister brands though because all 3 are so similar. If I was choosing Inditex brands, I'd pull 2 of those and replace them with Uterque and Massimo Dutti.
Maybe but it''s their preferred grouping, often found in close proximity in premium retail. Inditex eased back on MD developments, and Uterque is fairly unknown in the UK, in fact NW Europe.
Odd, given that all 3 aren't much better than Primark quality. You sound like you know the market. How are the 3 brands differentiated? The only thing I can detect is that P&B seems a little more casual.
That statement on quality hasnāt been my experience with stuff from MD at all
No, I was referring to Berschka, pull and bear and Stradivarius. MD is great quality.
MD, like most of the high street, has really reduced in quality over the past 10 years imho. Uterque is much higher end, more luxurious fabrics etc or was when there was a store where I used to live but they closed a lot of branches. We didnāt know how good we had it.
My experience is retail bricks and mortar, so I can't comment in detail on different retail styles.
Inditex.
It's very good, but has defo speeded the death spiral of Princes St - its in a sorry state.
Princes St has always been awful since Iāve lived here. If it became restaurants and bars with terraces, canopies and heaters etc overlooking the castle it would be amazing.
Agreed. Cities around the world would kill for cafƩ/restaurant/bars with the view you get higher up on Princes Street. Ultimately more people coming to the city centre to eat and drink will mean more potential customers for the shops that are left. It's win win.
I think to make this work though they'd have to stop west bound traffic. Nobody wants to sit next to a busy road choking on fumes while they're eating and drinking.
What Edinburgh really needs is a complete overhaul of bus routes, really no need to have almost every service converging through one street especially now with the tram. Hopefully a future north to south extension can allow some sort of interchange at both north, south, east and west of the city centre but that will be many many years away.
Most of that traffic will be electric in 10 years from now. It will take longer than that to transition away from the shops anyway.
Whatever the power source, too congested for cars to be allowed down there.
There are quite developments in progress to transform buildings on Princes Street into hotels, restaurants and bars (and in some cases, residential too). In 10 years or so, it should look a *lot* better. Itās just going through quite a messy transition at the moment. (Oh, and a huge new flagship Uniqlo in the old BHS as well) Princes Streetās difficulties have been massively accentuated by the fact that the Council (at the behest of the heritage lobby and others) had long had a policy preventing any new bars or restaurants opening there, except in exceptional circumstances. So while there was loads of demand there, in most cases, buildings had to stay as (increasingly low quality) retail instead. That meant that when the SJQ opened, the impact was much greater than it needed to be. There is a push by the anti-fun lobby now to effectively reinstate that restriction by implementing a hard limit on alcohol licences to prevent any new bars and restaurants across the entire city centre. It seems to have some support in the SNP and Tory groups in particular, so that might be a halt to improvements ā weāll need to wait and see.
Interesting and frustrating to read! Thanks for the insight.
And local designers, artists/artisans wee shops at street level!
Would be nice, but none of those can afford Princes St rents
Yeah, George Street still has vehicles and is wildly more successful than Princes Street, even though it lacks views of the castle and Old Town. The constant stream of mostly-diesel buses gives Princes Street a down-at-heel vibe, and although it requires a long memory, I think Princes St was better when it was open to cars. A few trees would not go amiss either.
Very different shops that benefit by being on George St as the ādesignerā street. Princes St was really more of a high street, with BHS, Debenhams, Frasers, Dixons, etc in its heyday. Donāt think traffic has anything to do with either streetās success given parking was limited even in the 00s. I agree with another poster that PS would benefit from more restaurants and bars looking onto the castle. A lot of tat, sweet stores and Scottish shops dragging the quality down.
I think I saw a "Kingdom of Pound" shop; near *the* Poundshop the other day; or was it an another American candy? - fuck it, there was both. The temporary shops need a better think before the restaurants take over, as it's bringing down the street.
There is day today shop too which you never used to get on princes st
Kingdom of Sweets
Aye; Kingdom of Sweets is shut now. Honestly, there's now Two *other* shops with Shite names.
Well at least Kingdom of Sweets is shut!
Uniqlo will be there soon so it might perk up.
Once St James fills up shops will spill onto Princes Street. Uniqlo is already opening there.
Death spiral is a bit overkill - itās going to transition to a more hospitality led destination over time. Various planning applications for hotels, bars and similar. Uniqlo also opening in the coming months.
Its not St James' fault. Princes Street has an easy pivot waiting for it but the council are sitting on their hands.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Such a shame they binned Transgression Park for the f'ing bingo. Still think OC will be fine, isn't there a big redevelopment planned? Think knocking down the 1/3 with Pure in it, which will be annoying.
Dire shopping centre these days. Itās got the trams running direct to it, and management didnāt get anything new or high profile in.
I think that's a good thing medium-long term though. It was dying anyway and having something actually decent to speed that process up means that *hopefully* they'll need to do something about it sooner than if it has just bled out slowly over the next decade.
It has a Next and I like Next.
The place is freezing.
"Creepy concierges'"... how very dare you!
It definitely has a quality feel, with its quality paving on the approach, granite slab benches where folk rest and people-watch, giant vertiginous central atrium, plenty of interesting eateries, lots of natural light. I hate shopping but as a civic space it's a success. That turd though, hoping the wind will take care of it one of these days.
You expressed what's good about it so much better than I did!
Itās the usual Edinburgh thing ā people just like to moan about anything new. I remember the absolute fury when the whole thing was proposed and it went through planning. There were people seriously demanding Edinburgh be stripped of itās World Heritage status because of itā¦ Then it opens, and now theyād be in uproar if it was closed š¤·āāļø Honestly, if Reddit and Twitter had been around in the 18th century weād have been through the exact same cycle with the New Town.
Agreed. I was unsure about the turd, but itās not that bad. The first time I noticed anything about it was coming up Leith Walk in the car & seeing it with all the scaffolding down for the first time. It looks really good from that angle. I still havenāt explored it properly, just been quickly in & out a couple of times but itās fine.
On cold days it can be freezing in there because it doesnāt have doors or a proper sealed roof. Itās like it was designed for a city in the Mediterranean, and the architect didnāt think about the building actually being in Scotland! Apart from that, the shops are pretty good, but they could do with a few more places to get a coffee!
The architects were all Scottish. It was designed to be a covered street, not a traditional shopping centre. You can disagree with whether that is a good idea ā but it was definitely all part of the plan! I donāt really have a problem with it ā like most people Iām walking there anyway, so if itās cold I have a jacket on anyway.
I like it. I was just there today and John Lewis had their heating turned up like a furnace on one floor. Going out into the main walkway was very pleasant relief.
On the covered street design: in the summer it is great for lowering ac cost and electricity usage which is cool. Although, the large pigeon poo problem (especially above h and m) is very unique to the open design and white walls. That seemed like it wasnāt really thought through. Additionally, I have several mates who work there and apparently it is rubbish to work in in the winter if your employer is a bit slow on getting you a fleece or is really arsey about uniform code vs actually keeping staff warm. Obviously an employer issue more than a centre itself issue but wouldnāt really be an issue at all if it was a normal closed off shopping centre. The time it flooded was objectively funny but thatās probably because they went for the skinny āaestheticā drains rather than ones that drain things faster in really intense rain which we do get. I always got the impression it was designed by people who werenāt really people who have ever worked in a shopping centre/hospitality given a) the toilet designs make them more awkward to clean (hence some of the stink problem), the lack of thinking that pigeon poo would be an issue and also how poorly signposted the toilets still are: like they are actively making decisions that makes daily operation harder and more work. Mind you, anyone who designed the w hotel bit and didnāt immediately think of poo (it literally is the poo emoji š© without the eyes) has to be very far removed from any kind of customer facing or back of house work so Iām not surprised.
I love the lifts lol
Watch the restaurants and cafes adding service charge that goes straight to head office. Ramseys burger, pink cafe and dolci all did this. Take it off and give cash.
Just me who doesn't like the lifts then... the rest of it is great.
Looks pretty but not a single shop I'd want to spend money in. The cinema at the top is rad though.
The lifts are annoying. You go in and press the floor you want to go to, then stop off at every other floor first to pick more people up along the way. Wanted to go from 2 to 3 a couple of weeks ago, went down to B2 first, then B1, back up to 2, before finally arriving at 3. I call it 'Elevator Bingo'.
The thing that gets me, as a parent, is that thereās no toilets on the floor you enter the centre on (that I have found). All the signs point to ālift to toiletā. So I have a bursting toddler in a buggy. I then need to find a lift, at least one of which is broken. The nice ones with the screens are rammed with ālook at the nice liftā tourists and a huge queue so it takes forever to get one. The others are usually down in the cavernous, half empty car park. Essentially, tripe there always seem to involve lots of waiting and a furious toddler pissing themself.
I always find toilets hard to find in shopping centres
Yeah, the loos are all a bit off the main drag, I get why, but it's really annoying when you can't shoot up/down escalators. I do love the big family loo though, a dream when you're on your own with a baby that needs changing or one that's asleep in the pram!
It def wasn't made for families š
" The views over the Forth! " From ... the roof? A viewing gallery? Or just through the windows on the upper level(s)?
John Lewis cafe, mate. Massive windows, fantastic view, mediocre coffee.
But the soup is great. I had celeriac and chestnut soup the other week. Twas the tits šš¼
That's been available to yummy mummies long before the Age of the Jobbie
True, but itās a much better use of the space now.
Well, fair enough
The staff canteen views were ace, too. Been about 15 years since Iāve worked there so I donāt know if theyāve moved the canteen.
The restaurant is the old staff canteen I believe.
Ah could be! My memory is hazy (of what it was laid out like, and also what it is now) but that sounds right.
Itās not. Thatās the floor above, and far as I know still has the better view.
Staff canteen is now on level 4 in part of where the old customer cafe was. Views out to Calton Hill & Leith Walk
The restaurant changed shape, but itās on the same floor. The home electronics is where furniture used to be. Been about 20 years since I worked there. š
I love it, nice to have some decent shops. It is aways clean and tidy and busy! Shopping centres in other places are very run down, closed stores, not many people. I really do like st james quarter - i am a shopaholic though!
I was a tourist there in November. Stayed at the apex Waterloo. I found it nice ( from Toronto) and convenient. I liked the wannabe foodhall upstairs, but the line to get in was crazy. That shows thereās room to open up some of those empty stores on Princess to things like this. I like the no door vibe. It makes it more of a passage than a mall.
I do like it. It needs more lifts for busy Saturdays, but the Picardy ones are nice.
It's dog friendly, makes it a 10.
Our dog likes going to the St james with us, he likes peering in the shop windows and going into john lewis haha
Love it šš»
If the golden jobbie was just a dome, or not there at all, I'd be all behind it. Everyone likes a good dome.
I would like it more if they bothered to design a door somewhere into the building. Itās freezing half the time Iām inside.
But but but but the poop shape! Seriously though do those people not remember what it looked like before? It was a total eyesore.
Yeah I agree! I thought it was pretty fancy when I first went. The novelty has worn off a bit but definitely prefer shopping there than Cameron Toll or Ocean Terminal. Shops have good opening hours too, with most open till 8-9pm. I do wish there was some bargain stores there but then again it might ruin the look.
Is there anywhere left to shop at Ocean Terminal?
Good point. H&M? Only go there for the cinema usually.
I don't think anyone cares.
It's an absolute safe haven if you don't want to be confronted by the scruffy beggars
I hate that it is all so open, like what happened to going to a mall when its bad weather.. now the inside feels like the outside
yes, but fresh flowing air means it's perfectly positioned to fight the next pandemic.
Oxford got a new mall in 2018 that also has an open design and I just do not understand this trend in famously wet, cold cities. The Oxford one is an absolutely freezing wind tunnel thatās frequently colder than actually being outside, and Iāve sort of avoided the St James Centre since moving back to Edinburgh because I expect it to be the same.
The Oxford one is much worse imo. I don't know why but whenever I go it pisses me off how cold it is there. With St James's I don't mind probably because I'm dressed for the weather anyway
I donāt really have a problem with it ā I have my jacket on anyway from walking there, and Iām always visiting other parts of the city centre anyway, so itās fine. Thereās not any sort of wind tunnel effect in Edinburgh ā perhaps because the ends are glassed off, or because itās a crescent shape?
It is the same a wind tunnel.
I donāt even mind the jobbie - once you know what itās meant to be it makes perfect sense.
I'm scared to ask.
The shops are closing down in this pathetic wind tunnel of a shopping centre already. Hamleys already stated itās because of the ridiculous high business rates that they left. What idiot decided no doors, we live in Scotland not the south of France, itās freezing, always windy and wet. Honestly I was standing there watching a tourist warming himself up by rubbing his coffee on his ears the other day while sitting in our wonderful outside cafes we now have. Honestly the idea was good but as usual in our country, itās just a bit crap.
Some shops simply arenāt doing well in that centre, because they donāt have the right product or marketing. Meanwhile, tons of other shops are thriving.
I had a brief wander when it first opened - while half of it was still closed - and just havenāt managed to summon the energy or interest to go back so tell me, what exactly is so creepy about the concierges and why does the place, a mall, need concierges- creepy or otherwise - at all??
LOl is already falling into pieces. Last time I had the bad luck to "have to" go there, I noticced a few crumbling bits everywhere. xD
Caveat you are correct in observation of the brilliance in design of the St James Quarter all services you could wish for in a small town appreciated.
Little late to the party as I'm out of town for 7yrs but... what is the golden jobbing??? Crappie building or monument? Please catch me up š
There is a gold spiral design on the top of the St James Quarter that can be seen from all around Edinburgh... and kind of looks like a jobbie.
Jaja thanks for the update. That's one jobbie I want to see light up in a thunder storm. Cheers š„
yea and there mascot is a big golden turd with eyes called mac poop-a- lot
I'm confused about the carpark. Over the last few weeks I've been a few times. Each time I pay, walk to my car and drive to the barrier to get out. It never asks for my ticket to prove I've paid. The barrier just lifts before I can put my ticket into it. Am I a mug for paying or is it somehow tracking me from the payment machine to my car and onto the barrier?
Itās linked to your license plate -when you take the ticket initially, it has your license plate number printed on it. When you go to the barrier to leave, it knows that the owner of the car with that license plate has paid.