A table at The Elephant House Cafe where JK Rowling wrote sections of her Harry Potter books has been salvaged from a huge fire, which devastated the building.
The following written content by Angie Brown
The blaze on Edinburgh’s George IV Bridge last month badly damaged flats and businesses including The Elephant House cafe.
The cafe’s owner David Taylor said he was “immensely relieved” to find the table used by Rowling among the rubble.
He said the table had suffered water and smoke damage but would be restored.
The Elephant House cafe was one of two used regularly by Rowling when she was writing the stories of the boy wizard in the mid-90s.
She wrote in The Elephant House cafe in 1996 and 1997, after her first Harry Potter book was published, and often sat at the antique wooden table.
Year to reopen
The enduring popularity of the Harry Potter series has led to the Elephant House being a popular stop-off for fans of the series.
But Mr Taylor told BBC Scotland it will be about a year before he can reopen.
It is believed the fire started in the Patisserie Valerie cafe next door – which also has a basement that runs underneath The Elephant House cafe.
The alarm was raised shortly after 06:00 on 24 August by a cleaner at The Elephant House.
A firefighter was taken to hospital following the blaze, flats were evacuated and the street was closed for a week.
The front room of Elephant House was gutted in the blaze and the back room, which included Rowling’s table, was damaged by smoke and water.
Mr Taylor said he had only just been allowed to enter the cafe because temporary internal structural work was being constructed to make it safe to be inside.
He said: “Thankfully I’ve found JK Rowling’s table among the rubble and although it is water and smoke damaged it was in the back room so it can be saved. Read more from BBC.
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