Current timing slammed as 'absolutely ludicrous'

One of the biggest Edinburgh Fringe venues has called for next year’s festival to be brought forward by a week after the final few days of this year’s event were widely perceived to be a damp squib.

Today marks the last official date of the Fringe, the latest it ever ends – and 19 days after Scottish schools returned.

Performers have complained this has led to poor sales at the end of the festival and now Assembly Festival has officially proposed that the 2027 event – planned to run from August 6 to 30 – be moved forward by a week. 

In an end-of-Fringe statement, they said: ‘Companies and artists have consistently raised the current schedule as a pressure point, particularly in this last week, and Assembly believes an earlier start would ease that pressure without diminishing the festival.’ 

Comic Susie McCabe, pictured, has been one of the most vocal critics of the festival running so late in the month.

Writing on social media, she said: ‘The last week of the Fringe has felt incredibly long. A lot of shows have been pulled and artists will be leaving with a bad taste in their mouths. 

‘The Fringe this year has started too late. The Fringe Society have not considered this Fringe resides in Scotland, in its capital, it is the biggest arts festival in the world.

‘Starting at the tail end of the first week in August is absolutely ludicrous, no consideration of when Scottish schools go back, which is within days of the festival starting. It’s the last Friday of the Fringe and people are sitting with half-full rooms.’

‘Fringe Society have let us all down. The Fringe Society and the venues need to come together and agree on earlier dates.’

She also criticised the organisers for investing in new offices for themselves –  thanks to £7million of capital funding from the UK government – while ‘its website and its app are an abomination’. And she added: ‘The arts would not happen without the artists, so those in their fancy office chairs need to help us out...to keep their lights on.’

Chortle has asked the Fringe Society if it would consider moving the dates of the 2027 festival, but it has not yet responded.

However, chief executive Tony Lankester told The Scotsman: ‘We recognise that school holiday dates can shape audience attendance patterns, particularly among working parents and families. However, we consider these factors in the context of the festival as a whole, balancing different stakeholders.

‘This year, the opening weekend saw strong audience engagement, suggesting audience patterns may have shifted from previous years, but audiences have continued to support artists across the festival overall. We will continue to support artists and audiences in having a positive experience of the Edinburgh Fringe until the final day of the festival, regardless of scheduled dates.’

The Fringe traditionally finishes on the English August bank holiday Monday – which is not observed in Scotland and can fall on any date from August 25 to 31.

Assembly – which hosted McCabe’s show –  is also calling for an independent, third-party financial analysis of the Fringe to try to address the cost of accommodation during the festival; to examine whether venues working together could reduce costs; to see if the relationship between venues and the Fringe Society can be improved; and whether the Fringe Society’s own expenditure can be made more efficient. 

Despite the gloom over the last week, Assembly said it had recorded sales of more than 500,000 tickets for the first time since the pandemic. The venue operator staged 5,394 performances of more than 260 shows at this year’s Fringe.

Meanwhile, the Pleasance issued more than 484,100 tickets with its shows winning 25 awards, including a Scotsman Fringe First and the best show and best newcomer Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Its director, Anthony Alderson, said: ‘Every year I’m blown away by the extraordinary talent, imagination and ambition of the artists who choose to make the Pleasance their home. This year has been no exception and the remarkable number of awards and nominations across the programme is testament to the extraordinary work we’ve seen on our stages.’

And Gilded Balloon sold more than 215,000 tickets across 224 shows as it returned to its home in the Teviot after a two-year renovation.

Its directors, mother and daughter duo Karen and Katy Koren, said in a statement: ‘This year has been about coming home, but next year is about building on everything we've achieved. We have huge ambitions for Gilded Balloon, for Teviot and for the artists we work with, and there is already so much to look forward to. We can't wait to do it all again.’

Published: 31 Aug 2026