Patrick Thomson was a department store located at the southern end of North Bridge in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. In 1952, its parent company the

Scottish Drapery Corporation Scottish Drapery Corporation was a holding company for a group of Scottish department stores and drapers. History In 1926 the Scottish Drapery Corporartion was created to take over the share capital of several Scottish businesses. They were Pett ...

was purchased by

House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

History

Patrick Thomson opened a small

haberdashery In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing, ...

and drapery shop on South Bridge in 1889. The shop became so popular they moved from the South Bridge site to a larger store at 15 North Bridge. This allowed the business to grow to become a larger department store expanding to 60 departments, competing with rivals

Jenners Jenners is a former well-established department store in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on Princes Street. It was Scotland's oldest independent department store until the retail business was acquired by House of Fraser in 2005. It closed in Dec ...

, R W Forsyth and Robert Maule & Son on Princes Street, J & R Allan and Peter Allan on South Bridge, Goldbergs on Tollcross and Parkers on Bristo Street. In 1926, the store was purchased by the newly formed holding company

, and Patrick Thomson's or PTs. as it was affectionally known marketed itself as ''The Shopping Centre of Scotland''. In 1952, the Scottish Drapery Corporation was purchased by

and Patrick Thomson continued to operate. However, with the re-organisation of House of Fraser in the 1970s to several operating brands, Patrick Thomson was closed and re-opened as an

Arnotts Arnotts can refer to; * Arnott's Biscuits, an Australian biscuit and salted snack food company * Arnotts (Ireland), a department store in Dublin, Ireland * Arnotts (Scotland) Arnotts was a department store in Glasgow, Scotland. It became part o ...

in 1976. The store continued to operate as an Arnotts until it was closed in 1982. In 1984 the building was re-opened as the Carlton Hotel.

References

Thomson Patrick Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1889 Thomson Patrick Department store buildings in the United Kingdom Retail companies disestablished in 1976 1889 establishments in Scotland 1976 disestablishments in Scotland British companies established in 1889 British companies disestablished in 1976 {{UK-retail-company-stub