Skip to content
Loading...

ExploreSt James Quarter

About Us

The Present
St James Quarter is a new retail led, lifestyle district that fully integrates into and enhances Edinburgh’s City Centre providing an inspiring, attractive, and vibrant destination for locals and visitors to live, shop, eat, sleep and play.  St James Quarter will house an enviable line up of  restaurants, cafés, bars, shops, public spaces and leisure venues covering 1.7 million square feet.  St James Quarter is set to become a welcoming cultural and lifestyle hub for art, culture and fashion that will complement the city’s world-renowned cultural offering and support its vibrant events calendar.

Many brands are debuting in Scotland for the first time at St James Quarter: The Alchemist, & Other Stories, Stradivarius, Bershka, and Pull&Bear to name a few. With these new additions as well as classic favourites and unique destinations like the one-of-a-kind Bonnie & Wild Food Hall, St James Quarter reinforces Edinburgh’s position as Scotland’s cosmopolitan lifestyle capital.

Our naturally ventilated, canopy-roofed Galleria unites Edinburgh’s shopping districts, creating a walkable circuit and linking the path to Leith for an easier throughway across the city. Easily accessible via public transit (including extended tram routes), by train or by car, St James Quarter is a brand-new, exciting hub created and curated for the people of Scotland.

St James Quarter Drone Footage on Vimeo.

The History
The New Town of Edinburgh, master planned in the 1700s by James Craig after he won a competition to design the area, possesses a distinct energy and an ongoing history of mixed-use spaces. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the New Town became a haven for writers, printers and publishers, and the W Edinburgh at St James Quarter references this legacy with its ribbon design that alludes to paper unspooling as it runs through the printing presses of times gone by.

More than 250 years after Craig designed the district which would become New Town, St James Quarter will continue the legacy he founded with new spaces for visitors to discover.

The Future
St James Quarter is a place where you can live, shop, explore and play, a continuation of the long heritage of the New Town’s role in Edinburgh’s development. The Quarter’s launch isn’t over,  exciting new shops, restaurants and more will continue to open throughout the coming months, meaning new experiences will await you every time you arrive at the Quarter.

These further developments will include a Roomzzz aparthotel where guests can stay for one night, one week, or even up to a year, as well as Edinburgh’s first boutique Everyman cinema, complete with delicious food and drinks available right at your seat. New Eidyn’s beautiful apartments will allow residents to experience St James Quarter on another level, with stunning views across the city and amenities galore. Scotland’s first W hotel, the stylish W Edinburgh, will complete the St James Quarter with its location at the heart of the Quarter.