Fringe impresario sets up ‘home’ in Edinburgh at last

The Forest Cafe building and the Roxy Art House, both former churches in central Edinburgh, were put on the market after their owner, the Edinburgh University Settlement, went bankrupt more than a year ago.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed that negotiations for the sale of the properties were at an “advanced stage”.

A deal is set to be closed this week or early next, sources said.

At the former Edinburgh Congregational Church in Bristo Place – the Forest Cafe until it closed last year – Mr Burdett-Coutts has been working with city restaurateur Malcolm Innes, of The Outsider restaurant, who has applied for a restaurant and entertainment licence at the site.

“We’ve always been reliant on other people. To be in charge of our own destiny is quite a good thing,” Mr Burdett-Coutts, director of the Assembly operation at the Edinburgh Festival for more than 30 years, said last night. “We like the idea of a year-round presence in Edinburgh.”

For three decades, first at the Assembly Rooms and last year in and around university buildings in George Square, he has relied on transforming hired spaces during the Festival.

More than 300,000 people visited Assembly venues during the last Fringe, with more than 100 shows.

The Assembly is already planning its programme at the Roxy this summer, where it would have its permanent space when the deal is secured, he said.

“The Roxy is closer than the Forest is, but they are all part of a joined-up deal.”

The rival Gilded Balloon venue’s director, Karen Koren, said: “We wish them all the luck in the world. The more the merrier. But it has to benefit the Festival, not their own pockets.”

The Pleasance venue’s director, Anthony Alderson, whose Fringe venues also operate close to the Roxy building, said Mr Burdett-Coutts had told him that he was planning to bid for the buildings.

“The Roxy is a building that we have had a relationship with for many years. We know how difficult it is. I wish him the best of luck,” he said.

Both the Forest Cafe site and the Roxy Art House are in the university district on the south side of the Royal Mile.

In October 2010, the Edinburgh University Settlement, a 105-year-old charity that owned them, went bankrupt with reported debts of £300,000.

The Forest Cafe has been a hub for the alternative scene in Edinburgh for years.

Campaigners for the cafe, which closed last year, have raised £25,000 to try to keep their operation going.

Last year, one bid for the building, valued at about £850,000, fell through.