Ocean Terminal shopping centre does not open until 10.00 and on a day like this it is hard to imagine that it attracts some 30,000 shoppers from Scotland's capital city and the surrounding area every Saturday. Now it is almost deserted with most of the 85 or so stores, bars and restaurants firmly locked and shuttered. It is a surreal experience walking around an empty shopping scheme, seeing it as shoppers never do.

Ocean Terminal may not be a thing of beauty from the outside, resembling little more than a giant warehouse. Appropriate enough being situated on Edinburgh's waterfront, but monolithic, dominant and plain.

Inside, however, the spirit starts to lift. Firstly it is not freezing, but spotlessly clean and soaring, like looking up from the lower decks of a great liner with escalators cutting their way at angles through where the ceilings should and, in less well designed schemes, would be. But here, in the silence, the eyes move up towards the giant, circular, roof-top lights, reminiscent of huge portholes, and take in the rich mixture of tenants.

Yet little more than a decade ago Leith was so unfashionable it formed the backdrop to the 1993 novel 'Trainspotting', an everyday tale of Edinburgh's young drug-taking folk.

How times have changed. Now Leith is known amongst marketing people as Forthside, a new maritime for Edinburgh in a similar way that Docklands is to London and the Bay area to Cardiff. And just as Cardiff has attracted the Welsh Assembly and a battery of high-profile housing developers so Forthside has proved a magnet for the Scottish Executive and a similar coterie of new homes providers. This area is going to be cutting-edge fashionable. Malmaison opened its first ever hotel just around the corner, and if it's a Michelin starred restaurant you are looking for then just try Restaurant Martin Wishart, a few hundred yards away on The Shore.

The tenant mix in Ocean Terminal is far from your usual 'Clone Town' conglomeration. For sure, there are the greetings card providers, mobile phone sellers and jewellers that are drawn towards shopping malls, but there are some refreshingly different names among them.

While musing on this, centre manager Dennis Jones appears from the down escalator and suggests a trip upstairs to Starbuck's. Sipping a scalding cup of Espresso, the tall, bearded Pennsylvanian relates what makes Ocean Terminal different. Looking around, it is easy to spot one of the elements. The floor-to-ceiling windows of Zinc Bar & Grill flag up a name not normally seen in mall line-ups. But there is much, much more.

"To get these things to work it has got to be about lifestyle," enthuses Jones. "For sure there are some names that people feel comfortable with on the ground floor but just look at who else we have got up here. This is where we can bring a real difference to the place and make shoppers feel they are having a niche experience rather than simply a march down the High Street."

Track down Decadent Dorothy, White Stuff or Fat Face in the UK multiple retailers directory if you can. But here they are; niche retail success stories now trading well in Leith. "Edinburgh is a vibrant, youthful city," adds Jones, "and it is fast expanding into Leith. Oh, and before you go, don't forget to get me to show you the cows on the second floor."

But before the trip to the proffered bovine arena it's time to talk about leisure at Ocean Terminal. Upstairs is the 12-screen Vue multiplex cinema. And tucked away at one end of the ground floor is a wild, mounted box called the U2 Mirage FX simulator which for £2 will send children and not-so-young children roaring through space as if in a rocket.

For those less child-like the bars and restaurants on the first floor, with stunning views over the harbour across to the Firth of Forth, help pull in the punters too. In 2003 the MTV Europe music awards were held here when over 2,000 serious party-goers hit town and it proved such a success that there are regular club nights held throughout the year. Jones admits that it is difficult to quantify just how much difference this makes to the shopping patterns in his centre but it certainly raises awareness of the scheme's attractions.

And the property market has responded well to this eclectic mix. The letting agents are Hamilton Glen, CWM and Eric Young & Co. So what do they think makes Ocean Terminal different? According to Ewan Mackay of agency CWM in Glasgow, the tenant mix is the answer. He says: "There are some occupiers that we would not be keen to see here because we have to get the mix right and this is not your average shopping centre by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone we have on the ground floor are household names. It is further up the building we have brought in some lesser-known occupiers who have really made it buzz - shoppers just love the variety they can get here and there is nothing like it in Edinburgh."

The future for the centre looks certain to go from strength to strength with a furniture operator and a golf store being talked to about occupying two of the largest remaining units on the second floor.

Certainly it is far less orthodox than, say, Universities Superannuation Scheme's Gyle shopping centre out on the west side of Edinburgh which is very much like any large edge-of-town scheme. Clean, well-let, steady, but you could be anywhere.

"Just look at all the things that shoppers to Ocean Terminal can do," enthuses Mackay. "How many other places in Scotland are there these sort of attractions? And if all you want to do is sit down and have a cup of tea then you can still enjoy some of the most fantastic views across to Fife. It's differences like these that make this place such a wildly popular weekend destination."

He says there are still a small number of units available on the first and second levels. Typical zone A rents range from £65 to £75 per sq ft on flexible leases.

So if the general strains and stresses of not being able to find exactly the right little black dress are becoming intolerable, rather than simply heading for a liquid restorative in the Zinc Bar, there is now the Pure Spa on the second floor where restoratives of a different kind may be administered.

And if a spa is not what is normally found at your local shopping centre then how about the Royal Yacht Britannia, moored beside the centre on the Western Harbour quayside? Edinburgh fought off tough competition from around the globe to buy the decommissioned yacht in 1998, bringing it back to the country where it was launched in 1953.

And how it has paid off, now being Scotland's top tourist attraction with visitors taking themselves on a five deck audio tour in the footsteps of Kings, Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers over the course of one and a half hours. It provides another reason to hop on the 22 bus in Princes Street and take the two-mile drive to Leith.

As do the cows. Jones likes his cows, which are found in an open storage area behind his office on the second floor. They formed part of a madcap scheme to parade 100 fibre glass cows created by local artists, architects and celebrities through the streets of Edinburgh before selling them off for charity. It worked in New York and London so Edinburgh went for the idea. The colourful bovines, individually sponsored, will be grazing in venues throughout the city until the end of July. Jones reckons that, for Ocean Terminal, 'Cattle do nicely.'

Fact file

Ocean Terminal, Leith, Edinburgh

Owner: Forth Ports plc/Bank of Scotland

Letting Agents: Hamilton Glen, CWM and Eric Young & Co

GLA: 500,000 sq ft

Parking spaces: 1,600

Number of tenants: just over 85

Anchor stores: Debenhams and BHS, supported by Gap, Schuh, Top Shop and HMV

Leith regenerated

Leith has long had an identity distinct from Edinburgh. It became a port in 1329, contributing to the city's history, and becoming a burgh in 1833.

During the 20th century it suffered rapid decline, being subjected to a number of harsh housing schemes when it became part of Edinburgh in 1920 and the decimation and closure of many key industries.

For years Leith was known as the rough part of town. Yet despite this past, Leith has experienced a reversal in its fortunes with regeneration projects thrusting it back into the tourism limelight. Rich in Georgian buildings built in Greek neo-classical style a walk through historic Leith passes such architectural gems as the Custom House on Commercial Street and the Signal Tower, built in 1685-86 and one of Leith's oldest buildings.

Leith residents now live, work, rest and play here rather than travelling to the city centre for activities beyond the home.

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