Last week saw the launch of 2025’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The press release boasted no fewer than 3,352 shows across 265 venues. The final number is likely to be even higher.
For the avoidance of doubt, that is just the Fringe. In addition, visitors to the city in August will also have opportunities to enjoy large-scale performances in the Edinburgh International Festival, a parallel Book Festival and the Military Tattoo, not to mention large numbers of itinerant street entertainers. If that isn’t enough, there are also some large-scale August concerts just along the road at Murrayfield comprising two dates for Oasis and one for AC/DC.
At the same time, the city’s normal life continues, possibly at somewhat reduced holiday pace for office workers but certainly not those in shops or especially the food, drink and wider hospitality sector, which all enjoy bumper sales.
This sounds and, in many ways is, fantastic for everybody concerned. Some Edinburgh businesses can only survive thanks to the financial boost that they receive for one month each summer. Even if you can find rooms available, hotel prices are astronomical, while other accommodation has also gone through the roof, partly because the Edinburgh City Council has very reasonably put in place provisions to protect those who live and work in the city all year round.
Those who are unfamiliar with Edinburgh might naturally assume that a city capable of embracing this level of activity must be on a par with London, Paris or New York. Far from it. According to official data, which is a little out of date, the population is only a little over half a million and, in passing, it is frightening to discover that almost 1/3 of them suffer from disabilities.
This means that there is a Fringe show for every 150 residents and, given that most have multiple performances, it might not be unreasonable to assume that there is a performance for every 20 city-dwellers. Don’t forget, this doesn’t even take into account the International Festival, Tattoo, Books etc.
In order to service all of this activity the working population transforms and expands. Business types might head for the hills or sunnier climes, most shops, restaurants and bars will be obliged to hire many additional staff members, while the performers and staff required to support them all add to the numbers of people who are obliged to be in town, without even thinking about the paying public.
Every year, there are media stories about performers who struggle to afford the ever-increasing costs of taking their places in the world’s biggest entertainment festival. One of the reasons why this has become an issue, over and above the City Council’s protective regulations, is the volume of entertainment on offer.
Something like 3,500 shows will be available, plus all of the other events and apparently Fringe workers will be coming in from 58 countries, while visitors will arrive from far more. This is hardly welcome news for the world’s carbon footprint.
It also isn’t ideal for anyone else. As previously noted, accommodation costs soar, transport gets snarled up, it can be difficult to find somewhere to eat at the desired time and unless you love queueing, the experience can begin to feel like a bit of a nightmare.
One of the joys of the Edinburgh festivals is the wide variety of entertainment to sample. However, perhaps we have reached the point where it might make more sense to consider ways to limit numbers in an effort to improve quality at the expense of quantity.
While going back to the days where the Fringe offered hundreds of shows rather than thousands is unrealistic, a relatively modest reduction might seem a sensible way forward for the benefit of everyone apart from those that miss out.
Even they might actually be beneficiaries, given that with so many shows to choose from, those at the bottom of the food chain will get negligible audiences and, as a consequence, lose even more money than most of the others.
Such an approach should be a laudable goal and will reduce costs for the lucky ones chosen and their audiences at the same time as easing pressures and tensions across the glorious city each summer.