(Image: Jane Barlow/PA)
Edinburgh council officers incorrectly claimed that information about unpaid business rates by businesses at the site of the Princes Street fire could not be disclosed on the grounds it would prejudice commercial interests.
Last month, The Herald appealed a decision to block the release of correspondence between the council, landlord Criterion Capital, and tenants Urban Emporium Ltd, Kitfox Ltd and Bwn Beverage Ltd via Freedom of Information legislation.
At the time, the local authority’s information compliance team told The Herald that documents would not be released because the “council cannot release commercially sensitive information relating to the landlord and tenant” and that “disclosure would be likely to harm their commercial interests”.
However, an internal review found the council was incorrect to use the exemption, as The Herald argued in its appeal.
The row of shops were not paying non-domestic rates, according to City of Edinburgh Council. (Image: Michael MacLeod/Edinburgh Minute)
“The council's response does not explain how disclosing the correspondence, which spans a two year period, would create a "significant probability" of "substantial prejudice" for the tenants at 109-112 Princes Street,” The Herald contended.
“In fact, two of the three tenants listed (Kitfox Ltd and Urban Emporium Ltd) have been dissolved according to Companies House. The third, Bwn Beverage Ltd, has yet to file its legally required accounts.
“How can there be substantial prejudice towards companies which no longer exist?”
Bwn Beverage Ltd’s current registered director, 30-year-old Rumi Chowdhury, is a Bangladeshi national whose Companies House address is in London.
The Herald has reported that the firm, which was occupying several temporary shopfronts at the former Debenhams department store when it burned down in July 2026, is liable for more than £300,000 in unpaid non-domestic rates.
In July, The Herald revealed that enforcement officers had raided the gift shops over the failure to pay legally required non-domestic rates.
At the time, council leader Jane Meagher said that “rogue businesses” like Bwn Beverage Ltd “were not welcome” in the city and pledged to “target and disrupt them using all the enforcement powers at our disposal”.
The internal review, conducted by the local authority’s information compliance officer, states: “Having investigated this matter, I have found that the council was not correct to rely on Section 33(1)(b) of FOISA as I have not been able to establish how disclosure of the information would substantially prejudice the commercial interests of a person.
Work to make the building safe forced Princes Street to close for seven weeks. (Image: City of Edinburgh Council)
However, the officer ruled that the documents could be withheld from the public under Section 30(c) of the Act, which exempts the release of information “likely to substantially prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs”.
"This is because as the information is correspondence between the council and a corporate landlord regarding council and relates to the council debt recovery processes we are of the view that disclosure is likely to substantially prejudice these processes,” the officer explained.
“This is because it would place into the public domain information about how the council manages this process, and this information would be exploited by those who seek to circumnavigate these processes.
“In addition, disclosure of these correspondences are likely to act as a deterrent and stop persons from engaging with the council as they seek to carry out debt recovery.”
Read more:
- Gift shops at Princes Street fire site liable for £300k in non-domestic rates
- Council refuses to name tax-avoiding firms trading on capital's retail streets
- Fire site gift shops excluded from FOI response over harm to 'commercial interests'
In September, The Herald reported that more than 3,000 businesses in Edinburgh failed to pay all of their non-domestic rates for the last financial year, while 2,300 firms face “formal recovery action” by council officers.
Despite this, The Herald revealed that no one in Edinburgh had been charged, prosecuted, or convicted under section 29 of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 since at least the 2024/25 financial year.
Section 29 criminalises the provision of false information to local authorities or the Scottish Assessors, with convictions carrying a fine of up to £1,000. It does not criminalise simple tax avoidance.
The Herald will appeal the council’s decision to the Scottish Information Commissioner.