Cargo Festival Village, a two-acre site next to the Ladyboys of Bangkok, with a big music tent, numerous open-air food stalls, concession stands and outdoor entertainment has four stages available for any Fringe show to do a 20-minute slot and drum up some custom for its main show.

This new Fringe hub is set up in Fountainbridge, four minutes walk from Lothian Road. And slots are available, free of charge. PBH's Free Fringe has been asked to programme this and has decided to throw it open to all the Fringe. The aim and hope is that this will be like the famous Fringe Sunday, which was a spectacular event until the Fringe Office decided it couldn’t be bothered organising it any more.

This venue wil run from Saturday 4th August to Saturday 25th August. There will be stages, 1 to 4. More or less identical. Basic PA only. No techs to twiddle the knobs; if you want that, bring one. No comperes. Announce yourself. They’ll be bookable in 20 minute slots (two acts can do ten minutes each), starting on weekends at 1500 and on weekdays at 1730. Last slots around 2200. (For reference, the Ladyboys’ shows are at 1830 and 2045, with a matinee Saturdays and Sundays at 1600; these shows sell out, and the hope is that Cargo Festival Village will attract their audience, before or after, as well as the citizens of Edinburgh).

Slot bookings for shows can be made online here: https://freefringeforeveryone.skedda.com

Some words of warning. You get no technical help. Don’t ask for tables, chairs, pianos, dressing rooms, sound technicians or anything else. The promoter will provide an on-site bookings coordinator, but no tech people. Like all tented events, it will be weather-dependent, and there’s nothing we can do about that.

No more than two bookings at one time and no prima donnas. All types of act welcome, but it’s quite likely children will be present, so please treat very adult material with caution. Be co-operative.