Magic bid to mark Harry's roots

The granite plaque, which features a photo of author JK Rowling, is to be put up on the side of the restaurant on Nicolson Street.

The restaurant was formerly Nicolson's coffee shop, where Rowling famously went to work on her books while still a struggling single mother, as she couldn't afford to heat her flat.

And the plaque will create a "Writers Corner" in the heart of the Capital, with memorials to Robert Louis Stevenson and William McGonagall nearby.

Plans for the plaque have been put forward to the council by Robert Watt, a retired teacher, who was among the people who raised funds for a commemorative plaque to Stevenson on Drummond Street, home to the Rutherford bar where the writer was a regular.

He also helped to fund a plaque to the poet William McGonagall at the address in South College Street where he died.

And after speaking to the owners of the building on Nicolson Street, he was determined to see Rowling honoured in the same way.

He has since secured the support of the building's owners and has even been given some help by the author herself. Mr Watt approached Rowling to see if she could provide a photo for the plaque, which she was happy to do.

The last stumbling block for the plaque is planning permission, and if approved it will read: "JK Rowling wrote some of the early chapters of Harry Potter in the rooms on the first floor of this building."

The success of Harry Potter has gone on to make the author one of the most famous in the world, with publication, merchandising and film tie-ins earning her close to 500 million.

Mr Watt has never actually read one of her books, but said he could still see the importance of recognising where it all started.

He said: "After working on the other two plaques, I realised that the coffee shop where the Harry Potter books started was opposite the Stevenson plaque, and it just made it something of a writer's corner in the city.

"I am hoping to get some local youngsters to unveil it as well, as it would be a good way for them to get a bit closer to their favourite author."

Sophy Dale, of the team behind Edinburgh's Unesco World City of Literature status, said: "Anything that can help to raise awareness of the pieces of literary history within the streetscape is to be supported. T

hat area does seem to be something of a ley line for literature, so it is the ideal site."