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A Scots café linked to JK Rowling aims to exploit the Far East’s obsession with her Harry Potter books by launching a global expansion bid.
The Elephant House, where the author is said to have written part of her wizarding series, has announced plans to open a branch in China later this year.
The Edinburgh café’s co-owner, Andrew McRae, says eastern audiences want their own taste of the fabled spot, which has become a pilgrimage site for Potterheads from across the world.
Speaking at a launch party for the Suzhou café alongside Chinese consul general Zhang Biao, Mr McRae said: ‘The Elephant House has always been rooted in Edinburgh, but its story has travelled far beyond our city.
JK Rowling told of writing her early books at the Edinburgh cafe in the late 1990s
The Elephant House has announced plans to open a branch in China later this year
Thousands of Harry Potter enthusiasts have visited the cafe where Ms Rowling wrote her early books
‘China has been asking for this for years, and the demand from fans there has been extraordinary.’
Thousands of Hogwarts enthusiasts have flocked to the café, known as the ‘birthplace of Harry Potter’, on George IV Bridge since Ms Rowling told of writing her early books there in the late 1990s.
The room where the author used to sit now displays her portrait, while fans are invited to leave graffiti tributes to her books in the toilets.
Mr McRae said the new café in the tourist city of Suzhou will feel ‘deeply, unmistakably Edinburgh’.
It will showcase places across the capital that are thought to have influenced the Potter books, such as George Heriot’s School and Victoria Street.
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