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Repairs begin on fire-hit building in Edinburgh's Old Town

The Elephant House cafe is where JK Rowling wrote sections of the famous Harry Potter series

Repair work has begun on a six-storey historic building in Edinburgh where a huge fire damaged flats and businesses.

Floors and ceilings in a cafe, bakery, restaurant and bar are being fitted with structures to prop them up so it is safe for workers to enter.

The blaze is thought to have started at Patisserie Valerie and caused damage to a cafe with Harry Potter links.

George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row remain closed to traffic for "the foreseeable", police said.

Work to shore up the building is starting in The Oz Bar in Candlemaker Row as well as Merchants Restaurant and Bar in Merchant St, off Candlemaker Row.

David Taylor, owner of The Elephant House on George IV Bridge, where JK Rowling wrote sections of her Harry Potter books, said he was still unable to get inside his cafe.

Mr Taylor, who has owned the independent cafe for 25 years, told BBC Scotland: "They are shoring up each level from the bottom up. There are two floors below my cafe.

"So we haven't been able to start the salvage process yet or get loss adjusters in from our insurers as it's not safe to enter.

"I'm hoping to get in by the end of the week."

Fire
Last Tuesday's blaze is thought to have started at Patisserie Valerie

The Elephant House takes its name from hundreds of elephant paintings, chairs and object d'art.

It has more than 700 elephants, which Mr Taylor is hoping can be salvaged.

Tom Ponton, owner of the Oz Bar said he initially thought he would be closed for a week following the blaze.

However, he said he had now been told underpinning was needed before any work could begin.

"We will need a new ceiling and a new floor," he said. "We will be aiming to reopen again before Christmas. It's very upsetting."

At the height of the fire, more than 60 firefighters tackled the blaze, which affected a number of properties.

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At the height of the fire last Tuesday there were over 60 firefighters tackling the blaze on George IV Bridge

The Central Library in George IV Bridge has now reopened.

A cleaner at the Elephant House, next door to Patisserie Valerie, which also has a basement underneath the Elephant House, raised the alarm after noticing smoke rising up from the floorboards when she arrived early in the morning.

Last week Mr Taylor said: "Everyone has suffered over the last two years and we had been having a half decent festival, even although we were running at 50% so to have suffered this fire is terrible.

"Now we have to just wait to see when we can get in to start fixing it."

A pavement on the other side of George IV Bridge has now reopened to pedestrians.

A City of Edinburgh Council spokeswoman said floors and ceilings were being propped up so that premises in the building were safe for workers to go into.

Flats above the shops were also evacuated and remain empty.