Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

The Scotsman Hotel

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Location
  
Edinburgh, Scotland

Management
  
G1 Group

Opening
  
2001

Floor count
  
10

The Scotsman Hotel

Coordinates
  
Entrance to The Scotsman Hotel

Owner
  
G1 Group Originally the reception to The Scotsman Newspaper, the new hotel retains many of the original features.

The Scotsman Hotel Edinburgh opened in 2001 in the Edwardian (1905) building which had housed The Scotsman newspaper for nearly a century. The hotel is located on North Bridge between the Royal Mile and Princes Street, thereby straddling Edinburgh’s Medieval Old Town and Georgian New Town.

Contents

Ownership

The Scotsman is part of JJW Hotels & Resorts and was purchased by Sheikh M.B.I Al Jaber for £63 million in 2006. In August 2007, JJW acquired The Eton Collection.

Building history

In the 1900s the North Bridge running between the New and Old Town's of Edinburgh was widened and as part of this expansion a 190 foot high tower was built, into which The Scotsman newspaper moved their offices. The building cost around £500,000 and after the rest of the North Bridge extension was completed teamed with the Carlton directly opposite, it formed an imposing entrance to the Old Town.

The direct access from Market Street to the building was an ideal distribution outlet for the papers to be packed directly onto the trains at Edinburgh Waverley Rail Station straight from the printing house that took up the entire basement. The middle floors of the building were originally used for the editorial offices. The current penthouse used to be the Pigeon lofts. The site now occupied by the North Bridge Brasserie originally held the reception and trading rooms where bartering over advertising took place.

In 2001 the Newspaper moved to their own purpose built offices in Holyrood and the building was renovated into The Scotsman Hotel

Ghosts

In a link to its time as former offices of the Edinburgh Evening News, the building is reported to be "haunted by a host of ghosts, including a phantom printer and a phantom forger."

Awards

  • Voted one of the top hotels in the world - Condé Nast Traveler, 2007
  • Voted one of the top hotels in the world - Departures Magazine
  • Nominated Hotel of the Year - The AA, 2002
  • One of the Top UK Business Hotels - Condé Nast Traveler, 2007
  • One of the Top 20 UK hotels - Tatler, 2004
  • Simon Fraser was awarded Rising Star Restaurant Manager of the Year - Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards 2008
  • Hotel is a member of The Preferred Hotel Group
  • The hotel's North Bridge Brasserie has been awarded 1 Rosette
  • References

    The Scotsman Hotel Wikipedia