Rose Theatre Hotel

Edinburgh's City of Edinburgh Council approved plans in April 2026 to convert the Category B-listed Rose Theatre on Rose Street into a 43-room hotel with a rooftop café and bar, after an earlier, larger scheme was rejected for subdividing the building's historic sanctuary. Developer Morningbridge Ltd has not yet announced a hotel operator or a construction timeline.

The place

204 Rose Street, in Edinburgh's New Town, inside the Category B-listed Rose Theatre building.

The concept

The building first opened as a Baptist chapel with seating for 1,000 in 1912. It was listed in 1996, and after the congregation moved out and a proposed "super-pub" conversion was rejected, Danish dance impresario Peter Schaufuss bought it in 2016 and spent more than £1 million converting it into an events venue and theatre. Developer Morningbridge Ltd, working with architects ANTA Design, initially proposed subdividing the main sanctuary space into three hotel floors — a plan one councillor called "cultural vandalism" and that was rejected over the loss of the sanctuary as a cultural asset. A resubmitted, scaled-back scheme retained the sanctuary as a central communal space with rooms overlooking it, cutting the room count from 47 to 43 and losing the original balconies in the process; Edinburgh's Development Management Sub-Committee approved it in April 2026, with councillors describing the compromise as "generally acceptable" while regretting the loss of both the balconies and the city's only central performance venue of its kind. Council planners estimate the hotel could generate up to £800,000 a year for the local economy.

Dining & wellness

A rooftop café and bar is planned in the theatre's roof area; no operator has been named.