GRASSMARKET traders say they are pleasantly surprised the early stages of the redevelopment of the area have had little effect on turnover.

Refurbishment work expected to take up to 14 months to complete got under way earlier this month.

Shop and bar owners had feared that the work would see the area turn into a "no-go zone".

But the strategy of contractors, who are tackling small parts of the historic area at a time, has been praised by traders.

Jos Bastiaensen, who is chairman of the Grassmarket Area Traders Association and owns the Helios Fountain gift shop, said: "They have started engineering work but it's not been too much of a nuisance. They seem to be getting on with it and working quite quickly.

"It hasn't had much of an effect on trade at all, we've been keeping an eye on that. There's certainly not been a collapse in turnover and that's probably helped by them taking it in sections."