Antipathy and acrimony: Edinburgh Hogmanay founder on the Underbelly fiasco

Pete Irvine and his Edinburgh company Unique Events ran Hogmanay as a cultural festival until Underbelly began running both the Christmas and New Year events three years ago.

Since then the London-based company has come under fire from critics who believe it has become too commercial.

Complaints include prices for the entertainment, the mess left behind in Princes Street Gardens, confusion over residents’ access to their homes on Hogmanay and charges for the annual Loony Dook into the River Forth.

This year’s “winter festival” proved particularly controversial. There was outrage over the way memorial benches in the gardens were moved to make way for the attractions, with allegations they had just been dumped in a pile by workers.

Stallholders who worked for Unique Events are also angry at losing their long-held pitches when Underbelly took over.

One told the Sunday National: “It was better when it was all local and Unique did a really good job.

READ MORE: Locals are suffering for Edinburgh's Hog-money spectacle

‘‘It wasn’t about maximising profit but about putting on a good display. The feeling is now that it is all about making a profit and it just seems so commercial. It is a massive event now but it makes you wonder if it is any better when the profits are going out of the city.

“Underbelly came in and cleaned everything out and started again. That is OK, that’s business ... but they should not have had the contract in the first place. There should have been a bigger bias to a local company.”

Irvine, who began the winter festival 26 years ago, said his original intention was to create a cultural event which would be good for Edinburgh and Scotland.

Pete Irvine founded Edinburgh's Hogmanay, but said he had no idea what it would become once Underbelly took over

Initially his interest was in Hogmanay, but at one point he ran both the Christmas and New Year events before concentrating on the latter. Underbelly won the contract for the Christmas side of the festival six years ago while Unique Events continued with Hogmanay, but then lost the contract to Underbelly when Irvine left the company three years ago.

“I had no idea what it would become and I did not have any influence on it,” Irvine told the Sunday National.

“Some of what they have been doing has perhaps been misunderstood, but they seem to have created an awful lot of antipathy towards them because of the way they do things, which is something we never had.

“It is always difficult to stage these things but the way we operated was very different to them and they have attracted a great deal of controversy and hostility.

“They have a very different attitude. I always felt ticket prices should be reasonable so it was accessible to all, but the ticket prices for Mark Ronson were twice what they were for the Pet Shop Boys, who put on a tremendous show. The tickets for Paolo Nutini, an international artist, were also relatively cheap.

“However the argument always is that people are prepared to pay these prices and artists demand very high fees.”

Irvine added that while Hogmanay had begun as a free cultural festival in the Old Town, its increasing popularity meant it had to be moved to the city centre and had to become ticketed to control numbers. Security costs then meant a price had to be charged.

READ MORE: Edinburgh City Council warned to stop chasing new tourists

“The city council couldn’t just keep paying out for it,” said Irvine, who added that he kept a free programme of street theatre and a ceilidh for George Street on December 30, thanks to funding from agencies such as Event Scotland.

“I went out to various European festivals of street theatre and cherry-picked the best companies and put together a whole programme for the length of George Street with a ceilidh at one end. That was all free and people loved that.

‘‘We even had the world’s biggest ceilidh with thousands of people, which got into the Guinness Book of Records. It wasn’t just Scottish but Scotland meets the world. Nobody made any profit but the artists got their fees and we got ours. It was all on the books for everyone to see.”

It was Irvine who brought the Loony Dook at South Queensferry on New Year’s Day into the programme, but its popularity also meant a charge was made to cover stewarding.

“It was £6, but it’s double that now to run into the river,” he said.

He added that when Unique was running the Christmas events, the ice rink had left a “bit of a scar” on the gardens for a while afterwards but it “was nothing on the scale it is now”.

“The way East Princes Street Gardens looks afterwards is one of the things that makes Edinburgh people most unhappy about the winter festival now,” he said.

“There has also been a lot of acrimony about residents’ tickets. It is difficult having to control numbers coming in but we had a very personal, direct approach to that with people and if they wanted a lot of tickets they got a lot of tickets.

“Underbelly’s PR seems to have been a real issue this year and the acrimony seems to have escalated,” he said.

Hogmanay started as a free cultural event, but its popularity led to its inevitable commercialisation

Figures are not yet available for this year, but Underbelly’s report in October for the previous two years said the City of Edinburgh Council had saved £2 million since awarding both Edinburgh’s Christmas and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay contracts to the company.

Only 20% of Edinburgh residents went to the Hogmanay festival, a 3% rise, although a total of 71% of visitors from outside Edinburgh said it was their main or only reason for visiting.

Underbelly say they cannot reveal their profits for “commercial reasons” adding they were “not familiar’ with a figure of £45m quoted by the website Citizen. The company’s report put the economic impact for Edinburgh at £39.2m.

READ MORE: Tensions grow over annual Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations

Hogmanay funding from the City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Government (including EventScotland, EXPO and PLACE) was £996,000 in 2018/19, and £1,614,000 in 2016/17.

Edinburgh’s Christmas receives no public funding.

In its report Underbelly said: “The expenditure budget for Hogmanay has remained at £4m (the same level as the last year of the previous contract in 16/17) but Underbelly delivers this with 38% less public funding than was needed in 16/17.

“Public funding now makes up just 27% of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay income budget (compared to 41% in 16/17). Ticket income contributes 61% and the balance is derived from other commercial revenue streams.

“The projected saving to the City of Edinburgh Council over the duration of the five year contract is approximately £5m.”

Co-director Ed Bartlam said this year had been a success but the company would continue to work to “improve the infrastructure, continue to make it easier for residents and citizens of the city, and that we’ll continue to do so without losing the vibrancy and the scale of the event”.

With regards to pricing a spokeswoman pointed out that the price of street party tickets on Hogmanay is £30.50, with 10,000 residents offered a discounted price of £20. She said the Loony Dook prices remain at the 2016 price of £10 plus booking fee which covers a donation to the RNLI.

She added: “Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is a major event and we appreciate that it has an inevitable impact on local residents, we’d like to thank them for their ongoing understanding.

‘‘We have never and would never prevent residents and their guests from accessing their homes. The arena area needs to be secure which is why for many years there has been a system in place for residents to get access passes which ensure them quick and easy access past security to their homes.

READ MORE: Edinburgh Hogmanay organisers criticised over home passes confusion

‘‘We are sorry if this has been misunderstood but we want to be very clear that our intention was never to prevent access.”

Edinburgh council Leader Adam McVey said: “Our long-established winter festivals are hugely popular and successful events both at home and internationally.

‘‘Edinburgh is the home of Hogmanay and this year’s was no exception as tens of thousands of people from Edinburgh, Scotland and beyond came together to ring in 2020 at another successful and safe celebration.

“The arrangements for the street party, in terms of being ticketed and having safety barriers, have been in place since 1997.

“Following a review, the growing popularity meant it became necessary to make sure the event could be enjoyed safely.

“The overall attendance figures for Christmas and Hogmanay have been very positive, confirming that the appeal of the events is greater than ever before.

‘‘We can be proud that our capital is one of the best places in the world to celebrate Christmas and Hogmanay, as well as appreciate the advantages it brings to our city – we should be proud to host such an incredible and iconic event.

“That said, we’re well aware that there is a need to have a broader conversation with the capital about the shape Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations take to make sure they reflect what the people of Edinburgh want.

“We’ve committed to just that this year to help shape our winter festivals offer from 2022 onwards.”