Housing in store for Woolies

Published on Wednesday 18 March 2009 09:06

THE former Woolworths building at the foot of Leith Walk would be converted into affordable homes under plans being considered by housing chiefs.

The Port of Leith Housing Association (POLHA) has begun talks with the defunct retailer's liquidators about buying the four-storey building and turning it into flats.

The building – which is thought to date back to the 19th century – was formerly the Queen's Hotel and was popular with visitors using Leith Docks and the nearby Central Railway Station.

It is not clear at this stage if some of the ground floor would be retained for retail use but the upper floors of the Woolies building have only been used for storage in recent decades.

The move is one of a number of property deals being lined up by POLHA as the association has just been given the green light for a 2.9 million deal to build 35 flats in Coburg Street.

A site for 17 more homes has been also identified at West Granton Road, with work hopefully starting by the end of the year.

Mohanjit Singh, POLHA's managing director, said: "It is an exciting time for Port of Leith.

"The Woolworths idea is still very early days but we do have a lot of experience of bringing old buildings back to life so I think it would be possible.

"We shall have to see how the talks go.

"It is difficult times out there but there is still clearly the need for affordable housing in Leith so we need to look at all sorts of sites."

Dozens of workers were laid off when the Foot of the Walk Woolworths shut down in December last year, one of four Woollies across the Capital to close.

Leith historian John Arthur agreed housing would be a good use of the building.

He said: "From what I have read the Queen's Hotel used to be one of the big stops for people coming in from the docks.

"If they didn't stay at the two Ship hotels on the Shore then they would come up to the Queen's.

"It was meant to be reasonably fancy inside with marble staircases and the like and I believe it had one of the first revolving doors in Edinburgh.

"It would be great to see the building put back to use, especially the upper floors."

Local councillor Gordon Munro, who is also the city's Labour housing spokesman, added: "I actually tipped them off about the availability of this building and I hope it all comes off. It is an ideal location and it would bring some real life to the area.

"Obviously they have to see how practical it is in terms of what is required to convert the upper floors but given the dire need for affordable housing in Leith, then they will have to look at the ground floor as well."