Every Fringe show to be rehomed after venue's closure

Every Edinburgh Fringe show that was made homeless by the sudden closure of the Espionage nightclub has been given a new home.

The situation has been resolved within days of Chortle revealing that the Old Town venue was unexpectedly shutting down because of major building work next door.

Dozens of shows had been programmed in four rooms by the Laughing Horse Free Festival – which has now transplanted each space’s line-up wholesale to new rooms at The Free Sisters, Cabaret Voltaire and a new pop-up venue on Cowgate.

Laughing Horse said G1 Group, which owns Espionage, the Free Sisters and Cabaret Voltaire, had been ‘hugely proactive in finding alternative venues for performers’.

In a statement the Free Festival organisers said the venue-owners ‘understood  the importance of the old showbusiness adage "the show must go on", not least because of the costs performers will have already committed to attending the Fringe’.

Shows paid up to £393 to register for the Fringe, but although the details in the printed brochure, published yesterday, will now be inaccurate, the official website and app is set to update the information this week.

The speedy resolution of the issue is in stark contrast to the fiasco over the Cowgatehead venue four years ago, when rivals PBH Free Fringe and the now-defunct Freestival argued over who had the right to book the spaces – which cost scores of Fringe shows their venues. 

Richard Branson's Virgin empire is building a nine-storey, 225-bedroom hotel on a previously empty site next to Espionage, but the work has attracted protests for overshadowing the neighbouring Edinburgh Central Library.

An email to performers earlier in the week said that the construction work meant Espionage ‘can no longer operate safely… we are already talking collapsing walls, rubble, loss of services and access into the building, and this is only due to get worse going into the summer.’

This is how the shows will move

• Those that were in Espionage Bunker will now go to a new room in the Three Sisters called Basement. Normally a storeroom, it is accessed through the bar’s rear courtyard and has a capacity of 40, compared to 70 including standing room in the Bunker.
• Those at were in Espionage Tiki (the old Kasbar Room) will be moving to a new venue in Cabaret Voltaire described as being like a smaller version of the Just The Tonic or Underbelly caves venues. It has a capacity of 40, compared to 100 in the old space, including standing room.
• Those that were in the Carnival and Party rooms (previously Pravda and Mata Hari) are moving to the new venue called The Lockup on Cowgate between The Three Sisters and Brewdog. G1 bought this venue specifically for use for Fringe shows, and will be subdividing a large room into two soundproof spaces, with estimated capacities of 60 and 40, compared to 100 and 75 previously.

Published: 6 Jun 2019