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

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. In 1952, its parent company the Scottish Drapery Corporation was purchased by

House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...

History

Patrick Thomson opened a small

haberdashery __NOTOC__ 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 men's clothing store ...

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 was a 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 December 2020 and was vacat ...

, 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 Scottish Drapery Corporation, 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 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