Lights to go out at Lantern as city set to reject licence bid

A POPULAR city guest house is set to be shut down by the council after it emerged it had been operating without a licence.

As reported in the News last month, bosses at the Lantern Guest House, between Leith Walk and London Road, were told that they did not have permission to operate, despite opening more than a year earlier.

And now a retrospective application to use the A-listed building on Windsor Street as a guest house has been recommended for refusal by council officials, who say it is not acceptable to lose residential housing.

The move has stunned owner Michael Smith, who said he could not understand why the council was targeting a popular, well-run establishment.

And he said that the previous owners had used the building as a guest house since the 1960s.

Mr Smith also runs another guest house on Windsor Street, which is set to be approved for a licence following a separate retrospective application.

But he admitted he could not understand why the council was set to stop him running a guest house from 3 Windsor Street.

He said: "It doesn't make any sense to me, as we are generally well thought of, and we don't have any trouble with the local residents. If this were a guest house where there was lots of trouble or that people had complained about it would make more sense, but we operate very quietly.

"We bring in a fair amount of money to the local area as well, and if we do not get the licence then we will need to look at just letting out two of the rooms, and maybe even closing down another guest house we have nearby.

"When we bought the place we had no intention of running a guest house, but we started getting calls from people asking if we did Festival accommodation, and from people who had previously stayed there, so we thought we would give it a try."

He added that using the historic building, designed by architect William Playfair in 1822, ensured that it was kept in use and would remain in a good condition.

But there were a number of objections to the proposed change of use, with almost a dozen local residents saying the guest house was one commercial property too many for the area.

Heritage watchdog the Cockburn Association also objected, saying the use of the building as a guest house would "erode the residential character of Windsor Street".

Alan Henderson, the council's head of planning and strategy, said: "The loss of residential dwelling is contrary to the council's stated aims of preserving and enhancing the existing housing stock in the city. There has been no acceptable case made for the loss of the dwelling for a beneficial purpose, and as it is in a good state of repair and capable of residential occupation the change of use is unacceptable in policy terms."

The council's planning committee has been recommended to refuse the application, and to authorise enforcement action to ensure the owners stop trading as a guest house.

• www.lanternguesthouse.com
• www.edinburgh.gov.uk