House of Fraser
The building from the Scott's Monument, a key part of today's tale!
Jenners was a former well-established department store in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on Princes Street. It was Scotland's oldest independent department store until the retail business was acquired by House of Fraser in 2005. It closed in December 2020 and was vacated by House of Fraser in May 2021. The building will eventually be restored. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenners
Visited a few months back with @jtza and Alex. Had this down as a backup with it seemingly unlikely with it's position on Princes Street. However, after Theo put too much air into our vessel and it popped just before we set sail, we found ourselves wandering around the impressive structure a couple hours later. What we've found with these retail properties, primarily malls and Debenhams,' the roof is always the best option, the high street always being too busy to catch a breather to try anything, and commonly, if we can get onto the roof, we will shortly be inside. At the former Jenners building, the roof was hardly viable and we spent a good while suspiciously walking around the premises, looking for any possible route upwards; walking into the back of a restaurant when a worker had the door open for a smoke break, ascending the hotel down the road and clambering over the different elevations until we reached House of Frasier's peak, a risky climb up the netted fire escape until we could squeeze around the top... four stories up. All were considered, but eventually, we found a slightly comical route instead. A matter of minutes later, we were inside the building, heading directly for the promising skylight you can visualise with satellite imagery.
We probably lasted about three minutes exploring, before triggering one of the loudest alarms I've ever heard. The sensors and cameras were absolutely everywhere, and it made sense after we saw the stunning atrium and all it's potential for an interested developer. With the building positioned in such a populated area of the city, we knew the response would be imminent, so spent the next 30 minutes charging around the complex trying to capture everything.
Entrance hall. Although construction has progressed since the 2021 closure date, you can still see many similarities with Manchester's Debenhams.
Into the atrium.
Looking up.
CCTV monitoring.
Empty floors as we made our way up briskly.
View from the top. The vaulted ceiling is incredible.
Following getting decent enough snaps of the interior, we decided not to take the piss and get out of there. After a dramatic, tiring escape, we were eventually back on street level and it was a good job. Genuinely about 10 seconds later, they arrived and proceeded to walk continuously around the premises, gazing up at it confused, before eventually going inside after another car pulled up. The only reason we know is because we went up in the Scott Monument across the road and watched them from above. It was a adrenaline-charged hour!
View over Edinburgh at the top of the Scott Monument whilst we camped out the police response.
Thanks for reading
The building from the Scott's Monument, a key part of today's tale!
Jenners was a former well-established department store in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on Princes Street. It was Scotland's oldest independent department store until the retail business was acquired by House of Fraser in 2005. It closed in December 2020 and was vacated by House of Fraser in May 2021. The building will eventually be restored. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenners
Visited a few months back with @jtza and Alex. Had this down as a backup with it seemingly unlikely with it's position on Princes Street. However, after Theo put too much air into our vessel and it popped just before we set sail, we found ourselves wandering around the impressive structure a couple hours later. What we've found with these retail properties, primarily malls and Debenhams,' the roof is always the best option, the high street always being too busy to catch a breather to try anything, and commonly, if we can get onto the roof, we will shortly be inside. At the former Jenners building, the roof was hardly viable and we spent a good while suspiciously walking around the premises, looking for any possible route upwards; walking into the back of a restaurant when a worker had the door open for a smoke break, ascending the hotel down the road and clambering over the different elevations until we reached House of Frasier's peak, a risky climb up the netted fire escape until we could squeeze around the top... four stories up. All were considered, but eventually, we found a slightly comical route instead. A matter of minutes later, we were inside the building, heading directly for the promising skylight you can visualise with satellite imagery.
We probably lasted about three minutes exploring, before triggering one of the loudest alarms I've ever heard. The sensors and cameras were absolutely everywhere, and it made sense after we saw the stunning atrium and all it's potential for an interested developer. With the building positioned in such a populated area of the city, we knew the response would be imminent, so spent the next 30 minutes charging around the complex trying to capture everything.
Entrance hall. Although construction has progressed since the 2021 closure date, you can still see many similarities with Manchester's Debenhams.
Into the atrium.
Looking up.
CCTV monitoring.
Empty floors as we made our way up briskly.
View from the top. The vaulted ceiling is incredible.
Following getting decent enough snaps of the interior, we decided not to take the piss and get out of there. After a dramatic, tiring escape, we were eventually back on street level and it was a good job. Genuinely about 10 seconds later, they arrived and proceeded to walk continuously around the premises, gazing up at it confused, before eventually going inside after another car pulled up. The only reason we know is because we went up in the Scott Monument across the road and watched them from above. It was a adrenaline-charged hour!
View over Edinburgh at the top of the Scott Monument whilst we camped out the police response.
Thanks for reading
