We are delighted to announce the opening of a brand new store in Edinburgh! Situated in the heart of the city’s luxury shopping district, our George Street store offers an expertly crafted selection of fine foods including our renowned loose leaf teas, fine coffees, artisan biscuits, chocolates, gourmet preserves and condiments, as well as a wide range of accessories and gifts for the home.

Our latest development rekindles historic ties between The Company and Scotland as a significantly large proportion of The East India Company crew were Scotsmen. They came to work as writers, civil servants, traders, engineers and missionaries across parts of the world. To commemorate our shared heritage, the store has been fitted with a number of special design features:

 

  Sir Robert Fortune
Whilst in-store, you may notice the above illustration of Sir Robert Fortune, a Scottish botanist who was commissioned by The East India Company to obtain the finest tea plants and transport them to India. After undergoing many harrowing adventures, Fortune disguised himself as a Chinese man and entered the forbidden tea growing regions of China unnoticed. He secured over 20,000 plants and seedlings to take to the Himalayas, thereby establishing the tea industry in India.

Jute
Featured next to Robert Fortune is a popular plant known as Jute. The East India Company imported Jute to Britain in the 1800’s for use in textiles. The Scottish town of Dundee soon became famous for “Jute, Jam & Journalism” and had approximately 60 jute mills at its height in the late 1800s.

 

Paisley Patterned Ceiling
Look above and notice our floating ceiling which is decorated with the Kashmiri design, most commonly referred to by the British as “Paisley”. Shawls bearing this design were introduced to Britain during the 1800’s and became immensely fashionable after an East India Company officer gifted one to his wife. The industry for imitation Kashmiri shawls boomed in places such as Edinburgh, Norwich and the Scottish town of Paisley and continued to do so for the next seventy years.
 
Padlock
In addition to these features, you will find a padlock which has been brought over from India especially for our new store opening. Dating back to the 1800’s, this engraved padlock is representative of the locks used on tea chests and caddies during the time when tea was a highly rare and precious commodity.

We look forward to welcoming you into our new Edinburgh store. Our team will be more than happy to share the stories behind our products and offer you samples of our range of delectable fine foods.