Show time! It's the Fringe, with added Oasis
Plus: City MPs in Palestine appeal; university 'helped create racist theories'; and death crash driver in court
One of the city’s biggest ever Festival seasons gets underway
It’s big, it’s brilliant, and it’s increasingly expensive… at least when it comes to finding somewhere to stay.
Friday marks the official start of the Fringe and International Festival, although some preview shows starts as early as tonight. This year continues the trend of the Festivals bouncing back bigger than ever after the pandemic, with the second highest number of shows ever staged at the Fringe (3,834) and potentially on course to sell 2.6 million tickets. You get the idea, it’s going to be big!
In a world of tourists searching for ‘bucket list’ experiences, the soaring cost of staying in Edinburgh in August (we found £600 a night for budget hotels was fairly standard) doesn’t seem to be denting the global appetite for the Fringe.
However, there are always fears, trends and talking points. This year that includes concerns that sky high hotel prices will leave budget-conscious visitors less to spend on entertainment and eating out, as well as performers increasingly adopting shorter runs and cheaper-to-stage solo shows. Then, we need to add in around 290,000 music fans attending Murrayfield for concerts (Oasis and AC/DC) during the Festivals for the first time.
Advance Fringe ticket sales are generally holding up so far, according to the Fringe, but the vast majority of seats are sold during August, so watch this space.
Get ready to sing along: ‘Let me tell you that I love you, that I think about you all the time…” Singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean officially gets the International Festival underway with a mass sing-along of his beloved anthem Caledonia in Princes Street Gardens on Sunday. Tickets are free, but they’ve all been snatched up.
Five Festivals… or is it six, or seven, or… We all know, it’s not just one Edinburgh Festival. The Fringe (1-25 Aug) and Edinburgh International Festival (1-24 Aug) will be joined later in the month by the Edinburgh International Book Festival (9-24 Aug), the Edinburgh International Film Festival (14-20 Aug) and the Edinburgh Art Festival (7-24 Aug). Not forgetting the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (1-23 Aug) and Fringe by the Sea (1-10 Aug) in North Berwick, and that’s not an exhaustive list. Oh, and did we mention Oasis.
Get ready for protests: Activist group Art Workers for Palestine has launched a new campaign in recent days targeting the International Festival. It says sponsorship from city-based Baillie Gifford is “blood money” due to its investment in defence firm Babcock International.
Cancelled due to ‘terror’ charge: Comedian Susan Riddell has cancelled her Fringe show How do you sleep at night? after being banned from entering the city as part of bail conditions. She is one of three women who have been charged under the Terrorism Act in connection with a protest in which a van was driven into the fence at the defence firm Leonardo UK’s factory in the city.
On yer bike: As well as trams running through the night on Fridays and Saturdays and Scotrail laying on extra late trains throughout August, you’ll also be able pick up a bike to hire on the streets later in the Festival. The city’s relaunched bike hire scheme is expected to stage a soft launch in the week beginning 11 August.
Spot the sponsor: Corporate sponsors will be notable largely by their absence. There will be no Johnnie Walker sponsorship of the Fringe or Baillie Gifford at the Book Festival as the Festivals face up to the “collapse” of such sponsorship in the wake of recent protests.
‘No charity’: An application by the International Festival to have its charitable status recognised by the city council, thereby reducing licensing fees costing thousands of pounds, has been rejected. The city council is worried about “setting a precedent”.
No-way-sis: After the backlash against dynamic pricing for their concert tickets, Oasis are facing a boycott from a growing number of photographers. The international agency Getty Images is the latest to say it will not cover the concerts due to the restrictions being imposed on how newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, and digital publishers can use images from the gigs.
For a tiny selection of Festival highlights, see our That’s Entertainment section below, or for our more detailed recommendations go to The Fringe Shows We’d Bet The House Will Be Your Favourites This Summer.
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
RACISM LEGACY: The University of Edinburgh played a major role in creating racist theories and profited indirectly from the slave trade to the tune of more than £30m, according to a major report. The university’s Race Review, which was published yesterday, was lead by the late Sir Geoff Palmer. Among its recommendations is the setting up of a naming committee to consider requests to name or rename university buildings.
‘MY WORLD CAVED IN’: Former world boxing champion Josh Taylor has told the BBC about the devastating psychological impact of his injury-enforced retirement. The 34-year-old from Prestonpans, East Lothian, was the undisputed light-welterweight world champion. Doctors warned him he risked going blind if he continued boxing due to an eye injury.
MPs’ PALESTINE APPEAL: Chris Murray (Labour, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh), Christine Jardine (Lib Dem, Edinburgh West) and Kirsteen Sullivan (Labour, Bathgate and Linlithgow) are among 222 MPs to have signed a letter calling on Sir Keir Starmer to immediately recognise Palestine as a state. The appeal - backed by more than a third of all MPs, across parties - comes amid a growing starvation crisis in Palestine. The Labour government is “fully committed” to recognising Palestine as a state, Cabinet Minister James Murray tried to reassure members yesterday, but insisted that has to be as part of a peace process.
DEATH CRASH DRIVER: A bin lorry driver has admitted causing the death of 11-year-old Thomas Wong as he was cycling to school in Barnton last year. Ross Wallace, 29, of Prestonpans, East Lothian, who was driving an NWH Group refuse truck, admitted driving without paying proper and attention and while using his mobile phone. He has been banned for driving, pending full sentencing.
TAXING TIMES: Guesthouse and B&B owners are warning time is running out for the city to be ready for the Visitor Levy, which is due to launch days before the start of next summer’s Festivals. The Federation of Small Businesses says lots still needs to be done, including the introduction of a new online payment platform, with little sign of progress in recent months.
HOLYROOD AIM: The city’s transport convener, Stephen Jenkinson, is bidding to become an MSP. He is standing against Lothian list MSP Foysol Choudhury to be one of Labour’s candidates in either Edinburgh Northern or Edinburgh South Western in next May’s election.
BRIDGE PROTEST: Ten people have been arrested after Greenpeace activists abseiled from the Forth Bridge in an effort to stop an INEOS tanker reaching the Grangemouth Oil Refinery. The protesters hung from the bridge carrying six large banners saying Plastics Treaty Now in Friday’s protest.
COPS TO TOTS: Balerno Police Station will be turned into a community centre and after school club, after the force declared it surplus to requirements, under new plans lodged with the city council.
ROSE ST NO-GO: The active travel charity Living Streets has lodged a formal objection to proposals for two-way cycling on Rose Street. The city council is considering the idea as one option for keeping the city centre moving during extended work to transform George Street. The charity fears that could lead to conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians.
Pic of the week
THE BUSINESS
City store may be marooned as River Island in crisis
An iconic fashion brand is set to disappear from Princes Street – unless creditors approve a drastic restructuring plan.
The Princes Street store is among 33 River Island shops slated for closure, with the loss of hundreds of jobs, as the retailer battles for survival.
Falling sales, mounting debts, and the relentless rise of fast fashion competitors – particularly online only affordable fashion retailers and brands – is behind the crisis facing River Island.
Landlords and creditors are being asked to vote in favour of a restructuring plan that includes rent cuts of up to 75%, debt write-offs, and an emergency loan from company’s owners, the billionaire Lewis family. If the plan fails to win the required 75% support from creditors, the company has warned it will have no option but “to enter administration or other insolvency proceedings.”
AWARD WINNERS: The Royal Yacht Britannia has cruised to a notable hat-trick of top awards after being named Tripadvisor’s ‘Best of the Best’ visitor attraction in the UK and 12thin the world for 2025/26. Britannia is the only UK attraction to win this accolade three times. Some 7.5 million people have experienced Britannia since it opened in 1998.
AWARD WINNERS TOO: Members of the engineering team at Capital bus operator Lothian enjoyed success at the Institute of Road Transport Engineers Bus & Coach Skills Challenge 2025, competing against engineers the length and breadth of the UK. Jamie McCallum, currently in his third year, was named Mechanical Apprentice Winner, while fellow third year mature apprentice (recently qualified) Stuart Dunlop won Electrical Apprentice. Second year apprentice, Michael McNicol, also performed exceptionally, securing runner-up in the Bodywork Apprentice category.
GREAT START FOR START-UP: Edinburgh-based start-up Nuuri, which is developing the UK’s first search and enrolment platform for parents looking for nurseries, has raised £275,000 in pre-seed funding. The company, which aims to become the “Rightmove for nurseries” raised the funds in 90 days, four weeks faster than anticipated.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
FRED SHREDDED: There’s still time to grab tickets to see Succession’s Brian Cox return to the Edinburgh stage in the the world premiere of Make it Happen. Written by James Graham, the writer of Sherwood and Dear England, the stage drama tells the story of Fred ‘The Shred’ Goodwin’s disastrous reign at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Festival Theatre, Wednesday until 9 August.
QUEER AS FOLKS: Hilarious, moving and outrageous, the 5-star hit LGBTQ+ storytelling show Queer Folks’ Tales returns for its third Fringe, with host Turan Ali. Wednesday, 6, 13 & 20 August, Scottish Storytelling Centre.
ROCK ON: Forth Children's Theatre return to the Fringe with the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage adaptation of the Jack Black classic School of Rock. Anyone who saw previous FCT productions Everybody's Talking About Jamie or The Addams Family – A New Musical will know they are in for a treat. 2-9 August, Broughton High School.
QUICK BITES
KUL VIBES: A Scandi-inspired café has recently opened in the city centre. KUL, in Elm Row at the top of Leith Walk, is offering a high-end selection of coffees, along with an eclectic mix food offering.
KWEER KAFE KLOSING: Celebrated city LGBTQ+ space Kafe Kweer is closing its doors for the final time in September due to a shift in goals. The mixed-use cafe, events space, gallery, and community hub will not be renewing its lease after five years at St Peter’s Buildings, but will continue to stage events.