Mark McLaughlin: Asking too much to expect a repeat performance for Fringe?

The Fringe sold more than 1.95 million tickets this year, nearly ten per cent up on the previous year, while the "Big Four" comedy venues - Assembly, Underbelly, Gilded Balloon and Pleasance - all continued to see healthy sales.

Away from the big venues, the growth of the Free Fringe continued apace, offering comedy in exchange for bums-on-seats in the hope that an entertained audience would willingly reach into their pockets for a donation, or at least the price of a pint.

Behind the bluster, however, there are suggestions that not everyone found this year's event a success, while some are asking if the Fringe can continue to grow indefinitely.

So, is there really a chance that the world's biggest arts festival has hit a ceiling or is another record-breaking year only going to encourage more growth?

While he wouldn't provide figures for his venue, Underbelly director Charlie Wood said it had been a successful year, although he admitted the future held some big challenges.

"It's been another great year for us, both in terms of ticket sales and critical success," he said. "We've added the McEwan Hall to our venues, which has led to a big increase in our ticket sales, but we've seen an increase across all our venues.

"The biggest challenge I can see in the coming years will by the Olympic Games. Either the games will draw local audiences away, or we'll see a larger influx of foreign visitors who come for the games and visit the Fringe on the back of that."

It was the same story at the Gilded Balloon, which reported an eight per cent rise in ticket sales, and Assembly which saw a 12 per cent increase.

However, it's not all about the figures for Assembly impresario William Burdett-Coutts. He said: "Ticket sales were up as anticipated but we had two extra venues so on balance we probably would have broken even.

"I think the Fringe has hit a ceiling and I don't think there are any greater audiences coming through. If you speak to the smaller venues they will tell you they continue to struggle."

Very few of the smaller venues would talk figures, but one manager of a smaller theatre, who asked not to be named, said ticket sales were down 15 per cent on last year.

Others performed in line with expectations including Zoo, Sweet and The Bongo Club.

Zoo's Matt Beer said: "It's really hard to quantify because we added the third venue this year, so we've almost doubled our programme. As a result we've been focused on the audience and critical reception, which has been really positive, but we'll be back to the spreadsheets next year to see how the venues match up."

A Sweet spokeswoman said: "We sold around 10,000 tickets this year. We've yet to match that up to last year but in terms of volume it's been another successful year."

It's not just the venues that benefit but the economy as a whole. Ron Hewitt, chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "Most of our members have yet to see the final figure, but you only need to look out of the window to see that the stores have been bustling."

Graham Blaikie, chair of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "One of Edinburgh's breweries said their figures have been impressive, largely through sponsorship. My own pub saw a decent increase in evening trade due to its proximity to a number of hotels and guest houses.

"Elsewhere, the city centre pubs close to venues did really well, but less so the pubs further out."

As well as picking up business from the sheer volume of people in the Capital, many pubs this year also turned a profit by putting on acts for free to bring in the punters.

Alex Petty, free festival director at Laughing Horse, said: "Our main venue, Espionage, recorded its best three Fringe weekends ever, with footfall up 25 per cent on last year. We also saw a massive increase in our 99-a-head comedy courses."

However, some critics, particularly Mr Burdett-Coutts, criticised the Free Fringe for "devaluing the comedy profession" and said its growth would ultimately be to its detriment.

Peter Buckley Hill, who runs the PBH Free Fringe, strongly disagrees. He said: "The Big Four charge mug punters extortionate prices to see mug acts, many of whom freely admit they're performing at a loss.

"Even the worst performers at the Free Fringe will lose little more than their accommodation costs, while the best will benefit from donations, increased tickets sales and acclaim.

"Mr Burdett-Coutts can bluster all he likes. He knows the Big Four are on the run and the Free Fringe is the future."