The Place Hotel which is made up of several townhouses on York Place has applied to The City of Edinburgh Council for permission to demolish the 19th century buildings behind the main building.
The 19th century buildings are situated on the corner of York Lane and Dublin Street Lane South.
Locals say these old buildings will be replaced with a “soulless three storey extension that will overwhelm the surrounding neighbourhood and erode its historic character”.
Local residents who live next to the proposed extension say that the application should be rejected on the basis that this lies in the UNESCO World Heritage site, and the proposed design will cause “unacceptable harm to the New Town Conservation area”.
Among other objections the residents say that any approval of this development would set a “harmful precedent within the sensitive conservation area”.
The demolition which is proposed includes not only a building but also a section of stone wall built around 1799.
Neighbours have also said that despite the fact that they live within five metres of the development they have not received any neighbour notification to which they believe they were entitled.
And others have said that this is not the first problem they have encountered with the hotel. One resident said: “Even without the ugly extension, the Place Hotel can still be a pretty awful neighbour. Many’s the time we’ve had to complain about the noise coming from their terrace bar. It’s meant to close at 10pm, but sometimes they ‘forget’.”
Another local said: “The design and the dimensions of this proposal are ridiculously out of scale and character for our small narrow lane.
“They will totally block out my views and light as well as windows looking directly into my lounge bedroom and roof terrace as well as 1b and 1c.
“Plus the knocking down of a wall on a world Heritage lane York lane
“Plus the size and shape of the design will ruin aesthetics of the whole area.”
The application reference is 26/01440/LBC and the last date for comments is imminent – 15 May 2026.
The link to the council planning website is here.
The New Town and Broughton Community Council is a statutory consulate and have been asked for comment.
