The Fringe, Hogmanay and the Six Nations
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, and through August the Old Town, the Southside around Bristo Square and George Square, the Grassmarket and the New Town are full from morning until the small hours. Visitors from every country search for pubs in English and in their own languages, usually from the street outside. Google Maps is the only directory that matters.
Hogmanay brings a second, shorter surge at the end of December. The Six Nations fills Murrayfield and the pubs along the route from Haymarket and the West End on two or three Saturdays each February and March. Each of these is a predictable spike that a pub can prepare for weeks in advance with updated hours, posts and photos.
See the Pub-Goer's Calendar