Return to old venue saves Taste of Edinburgh Festival

SCOTLAND'S largest food and drink event has been saved from the axe after city council chiefs in Edinburgh agreed to allow it to return to its original venue.

Organisers of the Taste of Edinburgh Festival, which has attracted some of the UK's top chefs to the city, had threatened to pull the plug on the event after being forced to relocate from the Meadows.

Worth around 1 million to the economy, made a heavy loss last year at its new location, Inverleith Park, where was hit by bad weather and was snubbed by many of the capital's leading restaurants.

But is now set to return to the Meadows, despite a clampdown on major events there in a bid to protect the popular park from damage over the summer.

The council, which is expected to formally give the green light to the festival in the next few weeks, already ?hires out part of the park to the producers of Ladyboys of Bangkok, the biggest-selling act on the Fringe in recent years.

More than 25,000 people had flocked to the three-day food event, where visitors pay up to 40 a head to sample dishes from leading restaurant kitchens and watch masterclasses from big-name chefs. The festival also features stalls from around 100 food and drink producers.

Last month it was revealed that Inverleith Park had been ruled out for the venue this year due to the high costs involved in staging the event there and problems persuading people to buy tickets on the day over the last two years. Restaurant owners were said to be reluctant to return this summer.

The first event, which was held at the Meadows in 2007, saw Edinburgh? food names such as Martin Wishart, Valvona & Crolla, David Bann, The Tower and Harvey Nichols serving up some of their best signature dishes.

Edinburgh is one of only three locations in the UK to host a Taste festival, a concept launched in London, which has now spread to Amsterdam, Cape Town, Dubai, Milan and Melbourne.

Insiders at the city council feared the extravaganza would be lost to the city, and could even move to Glasgow, if an official bid to return to the Meadows was turned down.Although some officials were believed to be opposed to the move to bring the event back there this July, councillors insisted a "strong case" was made by the organisers to use the Meadows again.

The local authority had relocated both Taste of Edinburgh and the arena used for the Moonwalk charity fundraiser in the wake of protests over the state of the Meadows.

Another Fringe act, the Chinese State Circus, was forced to move to Leith under the strict new policy.

However Steve Cardownie, the council's festivals and events champion, said: "We have been told that there were substantial extra costs involved in staging the event at Inverleith Park and that the event did not get the same passing trade there."

A spokeswoman for Taste of Edinburgh said: "We have submitted an application to the city council and are waiting to hear the outcome of their decision."