North British Hotel.

Fact of the day; Edinburgh is on the same latitude as Moscow.

Those who are familiar with Edinburgh will realise that the Balmoral (originally the North British Hotel) is the only building on the south side of Princes Street to rise above street level. This is because when the city fathers decided to expand Edinburgh by building on the flat piece of ground north of the Nor Loch, to preserve the view they put through an act of parliament to prevent any new building on the south side of Princes Street.

However the corner of North Bridge and Princes Street was already occupied by a warehouse. The owner soon saw an opportunity and sold his piece of land to the Railway who built a hotel on it.

The clock is traditionally kept two minutes fast.