Shoppers still flock into city centre despite tram upheaval

SHOPPERS are continuing to come into Edinburgh city centre despite the closure of Princes Street for tramworks, new figures have shown.

However, retailers yesterday warned it was too early to say how badly they would be affected by the disruption.

Footfall counters have revealed numbers of people visiting key areas in the first week the street was closed were generally higher than the average for the first six weeks of 2009.

Three out of four areas on Princes Street saw an increase in visitors for the week beginning 23 February, when all diversions and road closures were in place.

On George Street, where most buses have been diverted to, footfall rose between 86.3 and 99.2 per cent. On St Andrew Square it rose 34.5 per cent.

The most dramatic slump was recorded on South Bridge and was blamed by the council on building works.

Retailers admitted the number of shoppers had held up but said this may have been down to spring sales and people visiting the mock-up tram on Princes Street.

The capital's main business organisation said the priority for retailers was for the council to bring to an end a dispute with the main contractor for the Princes Street tramworks.

Princes Street saw a marginal drop in the number of visitors in the seven days before and after the diversions were introduced, although council officials insisted it was more accurate to compare with the average for the first six weeks of the year.

Cameras were put up at 18 locations across the city centre last year to help study retail trends. Other areas shown to have seen increases during the last week of February were the Grassmarket, the Royal Mile, Lothian Road, and Rose Street.

A council spokeswoman said: "George Street and St Andrew Square have been positively affected by the tram works. Princes Street saw footfall remain steady or increase."

Jenny Dawe, leader of the city council, said the figures showed the "open for business" message was working. She added: "The patience and co-operation of residents, businesses and visitors is appreciated."

George Bell, general manager of Jenners store, said: "We have benefited from having the tram outside our front door.

"Obviously more people are now getting off the bus on George Street or St Andrew Square, but the diversions do seem to be running smoothly and this past weekend was pretty buoyant for us. But it's very early days."

A senior member of staff at Debenhams said: "The first few days of the Princes Street closure were pretty quiet for us but things have picked up as people have got used to the diversions.

"We were really busy last week but a lot of that was probably down to the major sale we had. It's far too early to say what kind of impact retailers are seeing."

Graham Birse, deputy chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "Although there is some work going ahead on Princes Street, everyone is still waiting on a resolution of the dispute between the council and the contractor to see what the long-term impact on retailers will be."

Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said the figures were only one indicator, and added: "We're not going to pretend everything is rosy for retailers."