With the first shows at the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe being announced in less than a week’s time, I thought it would be a bit of fun to take a look back at my last four years of Fringegoing, and analyse which venues get the best star ratings. Obviously, this is (almost certainly) meaningless – but maybe it’s an indication of where you might place a lucky punt if you’ve got absolutely no idea which show to see.

Ignoring the couple of venues that we’ve only visited once over the past four years, I’ve grouped shows within their overall venue umbrella – so, for example, Underbelly includes Bristo Square, George Square, Cowgate and the Circus Ground on the Meadows, and The Space includes Surgeons’ Hall, Niddry Street, High Street, Symposium Hall and more.

To arrive at the results, I simply took the number of shows we had seen at each group of venues, then added up all the star ratings the shows there had received – and divided the one into the other.

Time to produce the results!

Multi-Arts Venues:

12^th – Greenside – 3.333

11^th – Paradise – 3.4

10^th – The Space – 3.406

9^th – Hill Street Theatre – 3.6

8^th – Gilded Balloon – 3.657

7^th – Bedlam Theatre – 3.667

6^th – C Arts Venues – 3.8

5^th – Pleasance – 3.878

4^th – Underbelly – 3.982

3^rd – Zoo Venues – 4.0

2^nd – Summerhall – 4.069

And the winner is:

1^st – Assembly – 4.106

 

Comedy Venues:

6^th – Just the Tonic – 3.182

5^th – Hoots – 3.222

4^th – Laughing Horse – 3.6

3^rd – PBH Free Festival – 3.833

2^nd – The Stand – 4.167

And the winner is:

1^st – Monkey Barrel – 4.312

 

There’s one other venue that’s not been included here: Dance Base, which was independent up till 2025 but now comes under the Assembly banner. But their overall rating turned in at a staggering 4.667 (but that is only from three shows!)

 

Just a bit of fun to get your Fringe saliva going before the first shows are revealed! If you have any favourite or preferred Edinburgh Fringe venues, do let me know in the comments!