Shops hit by rent increase

BUSINESS leaders today hit out at sharp increases in rent forced on some Royal Mile traders by the city council.

The Evening News revealed on Friday that Bagpipes Galore and Scottish Soap Works were both having to leave the Canongate after rent hikes by the city council, which owns their shops.

Gordon Henderson, the Federation of Small Businesses’ regional organiser for the east of Scotland, said: “At a time when the economy is staring down a barrel of a recession, it it not the time to do this.”