Council may buy up shops in crackdown on capital's tartan tat

THE number of shops selling "tartan tat" on the Scottish capital's most famous streets could be controlled by using compulsory purchase orders, the city council has suggested.

The move comes as the man behind Edinburgh's world- famous Hogmanay celebrations warned that the city's international reputation is damaged hugely during the festival season by the shops that dominate the Royal Mile and Princes Street.

Pete Irvine said action must be taken against the proliferation of stores playing "ghastly music" and spilling "tacky merchandise" onto the pavements.

"You just cannot have this in a capital city and a World Heritage Site," he said. "They drag the city down at a time when it is buzzing with visitors.."

City of Edinburgh Council responded by suggesting it might be ready to act by looking at options such as compulsory purchase orders to buy up premises, and being more proactive in deciding which retail outlets open in its flagship streets.

Dave Anderson, director of city development, said it was in the process of producing a retail strategy that would look at some of the issues raised by the kind of shops criticised by Mr Irvine. "We have already looked at some aspects like taking down billboards, but it is difficult to regulate specifically against See You Jimmy hats hanging up outside shops or to do anything about the music unless the decibel levels are extremely high," Mr Anderson added.

"Even where we do own shops, we have to get best value from them, but we can look at putting in place restrictions or covenants on the types of shops in the context of the retail strategy. The council might need to get a bit braver to shape things and maybe look at compulsory purchase orders."

Mr Irvine, the author of the renowned Scotland The Best tourist guides, said: "Tartan tat is really letting us down. These shops are just pushing it and pushing it - they go further and further out into the street and their ghastly music gets louder and louder."

He described how he recently took an open-top bus tour of the city as part of a television series on the history of the travelguide being made for the BBC. "As I went down the Royal Mile, I saw all the tat made in China on the street. It is really, really letting Edinburgh down," he said.

"It doesn't just look bad, it is affecting those people trying to sell genuine Scottish produce in good-looking, pleasant shops.Something really has to be done."

Edinburgh council, which owns 35 Royal Mile shops outright and part-owns several more, suggested earlier this year that it might take some form of action against the proliferation of tartan tat shops.

In a new physical regeneration plan, it saidthere was"an opportunity to improve the retail offer on the Royal Mile, where the council as owner of many of the retail units could be more proactive in managing the look and product".

Ron Hewitt, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "As the owner of many shops on theRoyal Mile, the city council is best-placed to do something about this.

"We want them to act sooner rather than later and hope that for the Festival next year, we will see an improvement." lPete Irvine appears at a Book Festival event on the "Travel Guide Revolution" on Wednesday, 25 August.