Edinburgh festivals: Fringe performers camping to save money

Performers at the Edinburgh Fringe have taken to camper vans and tents to escape the city's sky high accommodation costs.

Rental prices in the capital always rise considerably during August due to demand caused by the Fringe as well as other festivals.

But this year, the increased cost of living has exacerbated things further and many performers have felt priced out.

For Samantha Day, a comedian from Buckinghamshire, camping gave her the opportunity to perform at the Fringe and still turn a profit.

She travelled up to Edinburgh in a campervan with her dog Percy to perform her comedy act at the Globe Bar as part of the Free Fringe, where the audience pay what they think the performance is worth.

"Doing a show doesn't make financial sense in a hotel," she said.

"There are a lot of comedians who are not even here because of the affordability issues and there are others camping because that is all they can afford."

She is staying on a campsite which is a 40-minute bus ride away from the festival. She can only stay for two weeks and then must move to a second site as demand is so high.

"Because it is so expensive loads of the audience can't afford to stay in Edinburgh either so they're camping too," Ms Day said.

"Even camping is costing me £43 a night so around £800 - £900 for the whole thing. So it's not nothing even to camp."

While Ms Day has been enjoying time with her dog in the countryside she admits that camping while running a show at the Fringe, isn't ideal.

"With camping you have to be so organised," she said.

"It's a logistical challenge on top of everything else.

"Most people that come up here are stressed about their show, I'm not, I'm more worried about actually getting into the city, when the buses are running, whether road works are in the way and the rest of it."

Francesca Firman and Susie Garvey-Williams are both producers and actresses.

They decided just 10 weeks ago that they wanted to bring a show to the Fringe.

Camping was the only way they could afford to do so.

"As we organised it so last minute we didn't do anything through funding, so we funded it all between the two of us," Ms Firman said.

"So, we went as cheap as we could. We wouldn't have been able to afford any accommodation in Edinburgh or anything more than camping."

They camped in Musselburgh, about seven miles from the city centre.

"It's been fun. Some of us have never camped before," Ms Garvey-Williams said.

"Getting used to the lack of sleep plus doing two shows a day isn't as fun. We're exhausted by the time we get back to the tent but we haven't let it impact the production."

The pair believe that rising costs are affecting visitors as well.

"People can't afford to come and visit the Fringe for as long," Ms Firman said.

"We've actually had quite considerable audiences every show so far but we have heard from other people in our venue that they are struggling for numbers," Ms Garvey-Williams added.

Previous concerns over ticket sales due to the cost of living crisis prompted organisers to offer 35,000 tickets at a discounted rate.

It is Lexie Ward's fifth Fringe and like in previous years she commutes 106 miles from Carlisle to Edinburgh by train everyday. She buys her train tickets 12 weeks in advance.

"I don't think we've had one train yet that has arrived on time," she said.

"Also trains have been cancelled, our train has just been cancelled for the second consecutive night.

"That's the flip side of doing thing this way but it is still cheaper than trying to find accommodation up here."

Some of the other members of Ms Ward's production chose to stay in Edinburgh and she believes that the prices this year are some of the worst she has ever seen.

Edinburgh recently became the the first city in Scotland to introduce a short-term let control area to limit the number of Airbnb-style rentals. A third of all short-term lets in Scotland are found in Edinburgh.

The proposal was introduced to help with affordable housing shortages in the city however some believe that it will further exacerbate the problems performers and visitors are facing this year.

Ms Ward said she understood that the Fringe was only one month a year and accommodation in the Edinburgh was a year-round concern for many.

"So whatever happens it has to suit the city first but it feels like it's pricing itself out of the Fringe," she said.

Louise Dickins has operated a short and medium term letting business in Edinburgh over the last 25 years.

She believes that the proposed short term-let control could have a "seismic impact" on the festival.

"The costs of renting accommodation this year are astronomical in places," she told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland.

"I've never had so many people on the phone to me. People in a total panic about where they're going to stay for the fringe as they can't afford the rentals."

Megan Bishop, the national director of the Scottish tenants' union Living Rent, wants the city to be able to house performers for the Fringe but thinks that the way short-term lets are operating now is making it impossible for people to live in Edinburgh long term.

"At the moment it's untenable, there needs to be a way to bring rents down for short term rentals and for people living here long term," she said.

She believes that reducing the number of short-term lets is a good way to accomplish that.

"I love the Fringe but it's pushing people out of the city, Edinburgh is being prioritised as a place for profit rather than actually a home," she said.