[Source: BBC]
An Edinburgh cafe where JK Rowling wrote parts of her Harry Potter books is set to reopen three years after a devastating fire.
The Elephant House cafe was one of several properties badly damaged in a blaze on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh in August 2021.
Its reopening has been delayed because the building’s owner went into liquidation.
Cafe owner David Taylor said he hoped to reopen by summer 2024.
He cannot proceed with the work until the structure of the central Edinburgh block has been made safe – something that has been hindered by the landlord going into liquidation shortly after the fire.
Mr Taylor told BBC Scotland the refurbishment would cost about £1m with work starting soon.
He said: “I’m feeling unimaginable relief. If the liquidator is as good as their word then the renovations can happen quite quickly once the structural work has been completed.
“We are talking late spring early summer for its reopening.
“It has been a terrible few years and I could have walked away with the insurance money but I would never have done that as I want to see it thriving again.
“I would always stand by my cafe.”
Mr Taylor, who has owned the cafe for 28 years, has now opened a second Elephant House around the corner in Victoria Street selling Butterbeer – the drink Harry Potter enjoys in JK Rowling’s books.
The new cafe looks down into Victoria Street – considered by fans to be the inspiration for Rowling’s Diagon Alley.
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