CITY centre businesses have been counting the cost of Tuesday's security alert, with the total estimated loss running into tens of thousands of pounds.

Shops and offices at the top end of High Street, from Woolworths to the Elgar Statue, were evacuated mid-afternoon.

For retail firms, the scare could not have come at a worse time - with just six weeks to go before Christmas.

"We were really busy when the police came in and told us to evacuate," said Anna Thompson, head of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

"Tuesday is a good day for us, as we tend to have coaches bringing shoppers into the city. But, at this time of year, it is usually even better.

"We are not sure how much we lost, but we think it is at least a couple of hundred pounds, if not more. Like I said, the shop was heaving."

For the charity shop Oxfam, the monetary losses were not as high but, as manager Barbara Beard pointed out, they lost out in other ways.

"We would usually expect to take about £100 in the time the shop was closed, and when you are a charity every penny counts," she said.

"That money could have a made a difference to people's lives and it is very sad such incidents are becoming a part of today's society."

Jon's hairdressers had to cancel around 20 appointments at short notice, with an average £25 loss for each cut - or £500 in total.

The bigger stores such as Next, Woolworths and H&M said they would have expected their losses for the afternoon to be much higher than the smaller stores, running into thousands of pounds.