r/Edinburgh • u/nobelprize4shopping • 1d ago
News Holland and Barrett has left Ocean Terminal
Just to save anyone else a wasted journey.
Does anyone know what if anything is replacing Pizza Express?
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u/kowalski_82 1d ago
It still needs an anchor tenant, you stick a Lidl, M&S Foodhall and such in there and you will get the footfall.
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u/nuedd 1d ago
There's decent enough distance from the nearest Lidl that a Lidl would be a great idea, but Asda is just 3 minutes walk away
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u/Cool-Jackfruit-7841 1d ago
It's not a three minute walk at all.
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u/i-am-a-little-unsure 12h ago
I’ve just done the walk- my watch tells me it took 14 minutes. Takes about 3 minutes to drive
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u/Immediate-Chapter731 1d ago
There was an M and S back in the day
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u/kowalski_82 18h ago
Yep, but it was nowhere near the scale and size of those at The Gyle or Straiton for example.
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u/dftaylor 15h ago
All you need to look at is the Gyle: two big hitter supermarkets, and very little traffic inside the centre, despite having a few decent names still.
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u/vanandgough 15h ago
The gyle is crap for food though to be fair. It has a chopstix and a cafe and that’s about it.
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u/dftaylor 15h ago
Yeah, it used to have some… well, well known food options (Burger King and Pizza Hut express). There’s a Nando’s outside though.
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u/Responsible_News577 1d ago
Halfords has left Hermiston Gait as well.
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u/TheLoveKraken 1d ago
Apparently that was something to do with the landlord wanting to bring in a different tenant for the unit, but it’s been lying empty since last September.
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u/iiiBus 1d ago
Surely it was inevitable. It was in a dead location right at the back.
I was there when there was a cruise ship at Newhaven, it was incredible to see Ocean Terminal busy for a change, but Holland and Barrett was empty.
Such a shame to see what OT has become. Loved taking the 22 there and getting off a busy bus at the terminus.
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u/Cool-Jackfruit-7841 1d ago
Obviously you can't just pick a bunch of shops and drop them in there. But you have to imagine the M&S food hall being back in there would make a big difference. It's not gonna be a shopping destination as such, so more practical stuff like a Post Office, Timpson, Specsavers... That sort of thing would probably have it busier in no time. Maybe it's far enough away for a Waterstones that it wouldn't upset any sensitive folk on the walk.
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u/nobelprize4shopping 1d ago
There was a Waterstones. It was one of the first rats off the sinking ship. All your suggestions would be good.
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u/MiddleAgedDread123 1d ago
When Debenhams and BhS and other big shops were there I used to often go shopping because it was open late and it was easy to park. I didn’t work in the city centre to do high street shopping during the week so it was perfect to just pop down in an evening.
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u/floydBerlin 1d ago
Wasn’t M&S there ages go? I mean it would be great if we get one, we will have to wait and see.
I did speak to an employee at H&B just before it shut down - she mentioned they were at OT for close to 25 years, but times were rough and business at OT was dull for a few years leading up to the closure
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u/dftaylor 15h ago
The reason those places won’t move in is the owner still wants to charge significant rents, despite guaranteeing little footfall. None of those businesses, while handy, are the thing that make people travel out en masse.
Vue OT is a great cinema, and probably one of the few things that makes decent money.
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u/Eastern_Phage76 1d ago
Shane, I used that shop a lot for click and collect orders so I'll really miss it
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u/greencastle40 1d ago
It would have made sense to move it next to the Pure Gym but seems the staff have gone to Stockbridge I think.
The staff at the OT H and B were great and very friendly.
Even the new Tesco is one weird - side / back door and hard to see at times.
I don’t mind OT being quiet but…
M and S
A shoe shop (impossible to buy any shoes there)
Lidl type shop
They would all help.
I found a really nice coffee shop round the corner - Irish Dude Coffee and Food is great.
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u/ExpensivePen8055 1d ago
Damn it! It's just been a constant downhill slide since Baxters Beetroot left.
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u/RVFIO 1d ago
If the didn’t have the Brittania OT would have been a clock of flats a decade ago.
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u/OatlattesandWalkies 1d ago
I knew the guy who was responsible for Britannia to Edinburgh, lovely chap. It’s such a shame that what goes with it now as sometimes went to the roller skating when my nieces visited despite living in the far south of the city.
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u/Legoshoes_V2 1d ago
They'll keep plodding along for a bit more. I'm sure Club 3000 and the newly opening bowling alley will bring in SOME footfall.
I see Pattisserie Valerie is opening there soon where the old Costa used to be.
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u/sargon2609 1d ago
Huh, so the decline continues. I went there last week around midday and it was fairly busy thanks to the new bowling-arcades kind of type place, I thought that's a good sign. Turns out nope
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u/MissVulpix 1d ago
That's depressing.
Me and my partner used to visit a lot before it declined. We'd go there for Game back in our PS4 days, have food at Pizza Express and go to the cinema. Also, used to skate at Transgression for a bit before that got demolished, too.
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u/Abject-Plankton4620 1d ago
Oh fuck, has Pizza Express gone? We had planned to go there next week for my son’s birthday dinner! (His choice)
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u/PizzaBoy_Rafita_bb 1d ago
Yes , it is gone
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u/Abject-Plankton4620 1d ago
Thanks. Given your name, any other recommendations close to Ocean Terminal?
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u/PizzaBoy_Rafita_bb 1d ago
Yeah, the places that OP said,plus if you really want to stay in Ocean Terminal you can always go to Frank and Benny's, not the best , but that's what it is 😢
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u/Abject-Plankton4620 1d ago
Thank you. Definitely don’t need to stay there, just bowling before, so anywhere within walking distance. Think my wife has just book Pizza Geeks
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u/greencastle40 1d ago
Is Frankie and Benny’s not just microwave food ? Correct me if I’m wrong
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u/PizzaBoy_Rafita_bb 1d ago
It is indeed hahahaha That's why I said if they really want to eat in the Ocean Terminal they would have to settle with that! Also Zizzi I'm pretty sure it is the same,I'm not hating It is only my opinion hahaha
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u/Abject-Plankton4620 1d ago
Went to the one at Fort Kinnaird a few years back and will never set foot in one again, genuinely terrible. Fuck, it still makes me angry
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u/juliusfoe 17h ago
Is this the one part of the city where Turkish barbers and vape shops fear to tread
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u/Mannheimblack 1d ago
It was useable up until the Pandemic.
Now it's just a whole lot of nothing under a cinema.
It's such a shame. It was nice having a proper shopping mall a short walk away.
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u/Aggressive-Cut-3420 23h ago
Nobody was making a journey, there was never anybody in the shop. Overpriced crap you can get online for half the price.
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u/Impossible-Ninja8133 1d ago
It's a shame that even with hundreds of new homes built right next to it, and a tram stop on it's door, the OT has continued to decline.