Letter: Odeon bids

IN ITS announcement, "Odeon fails to find a buyer" (11 February), Duddingston House Properties claims the interest shown by potential buyers "falls well short of the requirements set by the (government] Reporter".

There is no evidence for this. In his report to ministers, the Reporter concluded "that every avenue be explored before demolition of a significant part of the building is permitted and the special quality of the building as a whole is lost".

Following the recent remarketing, at least three credible and fully financed bids were submitted, with one priced at exactly the value put on the building by a leading and respected firm of commercial property consultants (although not ones retained by DHP).

Yet DHP claims it has been unable to find a buyer. In truth, the problem is different: no-one can find a willing seller, a repeat of the situation in 2009 when the Reporter concluded: "not all possible alternatives to demolition have been explored. I recommend that listed building consent be refused." Two years on, the Reporter would have no reason to change his advice.

TOM PATE

Save the Odeon Campaign

c/o Bridge Road, Edinburgh