St. James Centre

Advantages: High Street Names, Central
Disadvantages: see op

Confused?... Read On.... Situated at the East end on Edinburgh's famous Princes Street, below one of the most hideous buildings in Edinburgh, is the awful St James Shopping centre. It is underneath the Thistle Hotel, which is one of those concrete grey buildings, fashionable in the late 60's, but just look depressing now. Not a good first impression! It will soon look even work as a brand new leisure complex is being built, a mere stones throw ...
...likes of Boots, Allsports, Topman, Millie's Cookies (yummy!), Thorntons and many other High Street names. Reasonable I say - the centre is looking old and so are the shops - some are in bad need of a refit! The only thing which I think keeps is going is the Edinburgh Branch of John Lewis which is it's own (much nicer) building on the back of St James - with entrances in the centre. The decor inside the centre is reasonable, its mostly clean, and ... Read review

Advantages: Handy for busses
Disadvantages: with the exception of Jenners, nothing special

...Princes street became the main shopping centre for Edinburgh almost by accident. The architect James Craig won a competition in 1766 to lay out the plan for a 'new town' to be developed to the north of the overcrowded and unsanitary city (now known as the 'Old Town'). In it, he sought to lay out in physical form the embodiment of the British constitution - a central avenue running east/west, named 'George Street' after the King, which ran the length of the development. At each end, he placed a square - the eastern square was named after the Scottish Patron Saint, St Andrew, the other was due to be named after St George, but by that time, Edinburgh already had a George Square, so it was renamed 'Charlotte Square' after the queen. To the north of George Street, ran the parallel 'Queen Street' - with gardens on one side... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very Clean, Easy to get around, Lots of Space
Disadvantages: Too few shops,not on two levels,not that easy to get to

...The Gyle Shopping Centre in Edinburgh which opened in October 1993 is one of 4 main shopping centres in Edinburgh. The others are Cameron Toll, St James Centre, Waverley Market(Princes Mall) and Ocean Terminal. There is also Westside Plaza but this isn't exactly what you call a main shopping centre and Straiton park,Craigleith(The Quarry) and Fort Kinnaird are all Retail parks. The Gyle is a approx a 10 minute drive from Edinburgh International Airport by car/taxi. It is approx a 30 minute drive from the City Centre depending on the time of day and the route you take to get there as it is often very congested nearby due to it being directly opposite Edinburgh Park(Home to the RBOS headquarters and a whole host of big companies) .The area round the Gyle is mostly businesses and there is are many houses nearby within walking distance... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Friendly, buetiful, lots to do. cheep
Disadvantages: wether, very busy duing summer

...I lived in edinburgh for 18 years, and I must say it is a very beutiful place to stay or go to for a visit. TO STAY IN EDINBURGH Edinburgh is a great place to stay in, the best place to get a house or flat will be outside the the city centre, areas in the South or East of the city centre, there are many shopping complexes to get all of your household and personal needs, cameron toll, st james centre, the fort, will get you everything you need, as well a a big IKEA store just outside the south of the city. VISITING EDINBURGH With so much to do a weekend in edinburgh is not long enough, i would recomend at least a week there. Places recommend visiting the castle, dungons, witchery tour, scots monument, princes street gardens. as well as many resterunts and bars for which to take a break and get a bit to eat during your day... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful