One in 13 shops lies empty in Capital's city centre

ONE in every 13 shops in Edinburgh's city centre is lying empty as the economic downturn continues to bite.

New figures have revealed that 110 shops are now vacant across the city centre, compared with only 93 a year ago.

The west end has suffered the most, with 12 per cent of shops now empty. Traders in the area have blamed the prospect of tram work for putting off new businesses from investing.

The east end has proved to be the area most immune to the downturn and has the lowest vacancy rate, at 3.4 per cent.

Across the city centre, 7.8 per cent of shops are now empty, which is up 1.2 per cent on one year ago but well below the average vacancy rate for Scotland, which now stands at 12.6 per cent.

Michael Apter, chairman of the West End Association and director of Paper Tiger, said: "The tram works have left a lot of uncertainty and businesses are unsure whether to open up or not. If I was thinking about opening up a shop on Shandwick Place I would probably hold off until after the works have happened.

"But it's not just the tram work - the general economic conditions are affecting everyone across the UK."

The new data, compiled by the city council's planning information team, shows that the total number of empty premises is at the highest rate since 2006, when there were 138 empty shops.

The New Town has 36 empty shops, while there are 40 empty units in the Old Town, 29 in the west end and five in the east end. The data is collated every autumn, with the recent figures from autumn 2010.

Retail expert Bill Marley, a partner at property firm Ryden, said: "People are now trying to judge whether it will become more difficult.

"When the credit crunch hit there were more people looking to pull out than to set up in business but in the last six months we've noticed a big take-up in units, albeit on shorter leases. I would not say we have turned a corner but there has been an increase in confidence."

National data published yesterday showed that, across the UK, town centre vacancy rates rose from 12 per cent at the end of 2009 to 14.5 per cent at the end of 2010. Scotland had the lowest "regional" vacancy rate, at 12.6 per cent.

Shops lying empty on Princes Street, Edinburgh's main shopping thoroughfare, currently include the former Marks & Spencer ladieswear shop, which is now being developed into a Primark, the former Waterstone's on the east end of the street, which closed as part of a wider redevelopment of the block, and the former Gap store at the west end, which is also being developed.