Nearly 20% of rooms in the Fringe Village, set up to offer Fringe performers more affordable accommodation, are still available, according to The Scotsman.

The Fringe Society teamed up with Queen Margaret University to make cheaper accommodation available for performers, given the cost of living in Edinburgh for a month during August has become extortionate in recent years.

The Fringe Village is using student accommodation in Musselburgh, about a six minute train journey from central Edinburgh, with a month’s stay costing £1176. Events are also being staged on the site aimed at performers.

Despite the Fringe Village aiming to address a considerable problem for the Fringe community, about 80 of those rooms were still available at the start of the week, with the Fringe Society also now offering them to journalists.

The Scotsman’s report quotes a performer who says that one issue with the Fringe Village is that you have to book for the whole month and an increasing number of performers are now doing shorter runs at the Festival in order to keep costs down.

He says, “I’m only doing a two-week run this year, so it didn’t make sense for me to book an extra two weeks of accommodation I didn’t need. I ended up paying a similar amount for two weeks in the city centre, but it felt like a better option”.