Princes Street was part of the original Edinburgh New Town designed by James Craig in 1767 and was originally intended to be a residential street.
Named after the sons of King George III, it wasn’t the desirable area it is today – the proximity of the recently-drained Nor’ Loch, that took up much of the area where Princes Street Gardens is today, meant it was a initially a fairly smelly and dirty part of town.
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It wasn’t until Victorian times that shops, hotels and businesses started to move in and some of the most recognisable landmarks were added, including the Debenhams building that was built in 1884 as a Conservative Club and the former Jenners department store, built in 1895.
By the time of the 1950s and 1960s it was very much the place to be seen – and to shop – and was also used for an array of colourful marches and processions.
Here are 31 pictures to take you back to those days.
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9. Bargain hunters
Queues stretch down Princes Street for the Darlings department store sale in July 1963. | National World
10. Window shopping
The newly-opened Rankins' Flowers and Fruit shop at 80 Princes Street in March 1960. | National World
11. Everything you could want
The Jenners homeware department housed in a new extention to the Princes Street store in August 1967. | National World
12. Whisky galore
Lorries spill their load of Bell's whisky outside Binns department store at the West End of Princes Street in 1961. | TSPL