The Edinburgh Festival Fringe – the world’s biggest arts festival – is expected to be put on hold due to coronavirus. Plans for the August festivals in the Capital – which include the Tattoo and the International Book Festival – are to be halted until the UK’s current lockdown measures come to an end.
The combined events have attracted over four million people in recent years and are thought to be worth more than £300 million to the economy.However, there is thought to be broad agreement that organisers should put this year’s plans on hold until cultural venues are given the go-ahead to reopen.The Fringe Society does not have the power to cancel the festival – which has been an “open access” event since 1947 when a group of theatre