Kleen Cleaners on St Mary’s Street, just a stone’s throw from the Royal Mile, was just one of two dry cleaners in the whole UK which held royal warrant awarded by HM The Queen – Master of the Household.
However, the small dry cleaning shop also shot to fame following its closure in 2017, when a 150-year-old wedding dress belonging to a new bride went missing from it.
The heirloom wedding dress that was lost after the Edinburgh business went bust was fortunately located after a massive media appeal to help the East Lothian woman to whom it belonged.
The dress was sent to be dry cleaned in September but the shop shut in October and was eventually found ‘in a crumpled heap’ in the closed shop.
Now, in plans submitted on Edinburgh Council’s planning portal, the dry cleaners with a colourful history could soon become a new cafe for the area.
According to an application form, the hope is to transform the existing dry cleaners into a ‘coffee and sandwich premises with limited cooking’.
If successful, cooking at the venue will be limited to ‘microwaves, soup tureen and baked potato oven’ and the restaurant itself will sit 28 people.
