Fringe aims to plant venue in Princes Street gardens

• Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens have been used occasionally during the Fringe festival but Assembly's plan is the most ambitious yet for the public park

But that is set to change this summer under plans by the Fringe's biggest promoter to create a major new venue in Princes Street Gardens.

A giant marquee will take centre stage in the historic Ross Bandstand area under plans to mark the 30th anniversary of the Assembly Rooms at the Fringe in style.

It is hoped the new venue will become a regular fixture after the failure of previous experiments and the scrapping of major outdoor concerts at the venue.

Sources close to Assembly said they hoped it would emulate the success of the Udderbelly, the purple cow which has become an established venue in Bristo Square.

The only major events currently held in the west gardens are a free concert on the first weekend of the jazz festival in July and the traditional fireworks show at the end of the Edinburgh International Festival in September.

It is understood that Assembly, run by impresario William Burdett-Coutts, is in talks with a major broadcaster about sponsoring its new venue, believed to be of a similar scale to the tented venues which have attracted huge crowds to the Fringe's Spiegelgarden over the years.

Assembly, which has already started selling tickets for two of its biggest acts this year, comics Jason Byrne and Mark Watson, is expected to unveil details of the new gardens venue within weeks. It expanded from its long-established home on George Street five years ago to the Church of Scotland's Assembly Hall, on The Mound.

The city council, which owns Princes Street Gardens, yesterday said it was keen to see the beauty spot brought into use during the Fringe, while insisting the eastern gardens would remain a "quiet oasis" for locals and visitors.

Assembly and fellow promoter Gilded Balloon tried to run a Fringe venue in East Princes Street Gardens in 2000, which saw the bulk of tickets unsold, leaving acts unpaid. A number of promoters have tried to stage programmes of major events in West Princes Street Gardens, but these were dogged by problems over poor ticket sales, bad weather and wrangles with the council.

DF Concerts, the organisers of T in the Park, did stage successful concerts by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Simple Minds in the gardens, but the gigs were shelved when the T on the Fringe festival was wound up.

Mr Burdett-Coutts said: "We are in discussions at the moment about using Princes Street Gardens, but I can't say too much more at this stage. It's a great location that has been really underused during the Fringe over the years."

A Fringe insider said: "Assembly have been keen on finding a major new venue for years to try to stem the flow of people to the south side and the new venues that have sprung up around George Square. Princes Street Gardens is pretty close to both The Mound and George Street so it's a natural fit for Assembly."

Steve Cardownie, festivals and events champion at the city council, said: "The gardens have been used now and again for Fringe events over the years, but lie pretty much empty these days.

"It has the potential to be an absolutely fantastic venue due to its location below the Castle and we're open to ideas about bringing it into greater use. You couldn't manufacture a site as good as that and because the council is not in a position to upgrade the bandstand, it is up to promoters to come to us with potential packages. The Ross Theatre has been a place of entertainment since it was created and it is something we want to continue. To balance that we have agreed to keep East Princes Street Gardens as a quiet oasis during the summer."

But not everyone wants Fringe events in the gardens. Green councillor Steve Burgess said: "I'm pretty supportive of festival events in general, but Princes Street Gardens is an important public green space. I wouldn't want to see the council agree anything which would see any part of the gardens closed off to the public or become over-commercialised."

Tory councillor Cameron Rose added: "Princes Street Gardens are for the use of everyone in the city and there is a balancing act to be struck when the council is considering hiring any part of it out for use during the Fringe."