Heritage Portfolio opens Italian cafe at Edinburgh's Signet Library

Edinburgh-based corporate hospitality and event caterer Heritage Portfolio has opened a new permanent café at the Signet Library.

The Italian-inspired Gran Caffè was launched yesterday following the recurring success of the Library's Pommery Champagne Café Bar during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The new café will serve coffee, pastries, lunches and afternoon teas, each taking inspiration from Italy and using high quality produce.

Opened in 1822, the Signet Library home to the WS Society, one of Scotland's oldest institutions.

Commenting on the Gran Caffè, WS Society chief executive Robert Pirrie said : "If you think about it, what would you normally expect on one of the most famous streets in the world, in the central square of a European capital, beside the cathedral and halfway between a castle and a palace?

"Our new Gran Caffè will bring a classic, continental feel to one of the Edinburgh's most impressive squares and we are pleased to have found a way to let others enjoy this beautiful building."

Gran Caffè will be operated at the Signet Library by Heritage Portfolio, under licence from the WS Society.