Heritage Portfolio opens permanent café at The Signet Library in Edinburgh

The company, which operates cafés at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, opened Gran Caffè, an Italian-inspired café within the building on Edinburgh's Parliament Square yesterday where it will serve coffee and pastries, lunch and afternoon tea. 

The Signet Library first opened in 1822 and is home to Scotland's independent association for lawyers the WS Society. Chief executive Robert Pirrie said it was hoped that opening a public space within the building would make it 'a vibrant hub on the Royal Mile'. 

“If you think about it, what would you normally expect on one of the most famous streets in the world, in the central square of a European capital, beside the cathedral and halfway between a castle and a palace?" he said. "Our new Gran Caffè will bring a classic, continental feel to one of the Edinburgh’s most impressive squares and we are pleased to have found a way to let others enjoy this beautiful building.”