Future far from certain for Hogmanay festival which Edinburgh and Scotland get on the cheap - Brian Ferguson

New year celebrations could not appear to have gone better

It started with the roars of Shetland Vikings in the Meadows and ended with some of Edinburgh’s finest folk musicians performing around a Grassmarket pub table.

Those moments book-ended four days of new year festivities which could not appear to have gone any better for the Scottish capital.

I’ve been at the majority of Edinburgh's Hogmanay festivals since the first one 30 years ago and this most recent event felt like one of the best.

A free ceilidh was held at the Roxy Theatre on New Year's Day as part of Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival.

The remarkably good weather certainly played a huge part. An unbroken spell of dry weather well above freezing arrived just after Scotland had been battered by Storm Gerrit, and on the back of weeks of wind and rain.

The sudden shift in conditions undoubtedly helped shift the final tickets for the main events and helped create a laid-back atmosphere throughout the festival.

It is no easy task to find a suitable headline act to play before and after the bells beneath Edinburgh Castle.

After 30 years, most major Scottish acts have already had the honour, meaning organisers regularly look elsewhere for suitable acts capable of keeping an open-air party going for nearly two hours. However Pulp's thrilling performance seemed to click and fall into place perfectly, much like the Hogmanay festival itself.

A free 'Sprogmanay' event was held at the National Museum as part of Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival.

Elsewhere, the successful return of the torchlight process on a new route from the Meadows to Castle Terrace allowed participants to parade past the castle for the first time, but avoided the need to close off Princes Street.

Using the Assembly Rooms throughout the festival paid off with packed crowds at the comedy and music nights I attended.

It also played a key role in First Footin’, the New Year’s Day event which has become one of the single most important showcases of Scottish culture.

More importantly, the New Year's Day programme, which use unique spaces like Greyfriars Kirk, the Roxy Theatre, the National Museum and St Giles’ Cathedral, is free of charge.

Fireworks explode over Edinburgh Castle during Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

After 30 years of Hogmanay celebrations, this year's extended winter festival, which began in mid-November and ends on Saturday, has been a remarkable success story, when town and city centres are struggling across the UK. The markets and attractions in Princes Street Gardens, the festive light shows at Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Botanic Garden, the extended run of Wicked at the Playhouse and the Festival Theatre's panto have drawn huge crowds for weeks.

But none of these experiences come cheaply, nor do tickets for the Hogmanay street party or gardens concert.

Edinburgh does, however, get its Hogmanay festival remarkably cheaply given its estimated £50m economic spin-off, in return for a combined £1m investment government and council investment, around £500,000 less than a decade ago.

In common with other notable Scottish cultural events, the Hogmanay festival’s future is far from certain, with the council now inexplicably shouldering most of the financial responsibility for an event of clear national significance.

It remains to be seen how affordable Hogmanay proves to be in future years, given the huge pressures on local and national budgets for culture and events.

But given the clear economic, social and cultural benefits they bring, the most important question is whether Edinburgh could really afford to allow its new year celebrations to wither away after they have gone so well.