The historic home of the Royal Highland Show is set to be renamed – to make it clear it is not in the Highlands.
The increasing use of the venue for outdoor concerts has sparked plans for a rebranding of the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston, near Edinburgh Airport.
The name change will see Edinburgh feature prominently in the new identity of the complex.
Read more:
- Year-round culture hub vision revealed for home of Royal Highland Show
- Defiant Chappell Roan channels female fury at mega Scottish gig
- The Herald and The Scottish Farmer to partner with Royal Highland Show
The rebrand is expected to provide growing competition for Glasgow from the Scottish capital as a location for large-scale gigs.
Speaking exclusively to The Herald, centre managing director Mark Currie revealed plans to turn the 66-year-old site - which is best known for hosting Scotland’s biggest agricultural event every June - into a year-round culture and events “destination” over the next decade.
New hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes and shops are hoped to be created around a new Wembley Way-style boulevard, which is proposed to link the centre with a new tram stop.
The centre, which has carried out around £25m worth of infrastructure improvements, in recent years, is already planning to host a new programme of live music events in July following the success of a string of outdoor shows which have been staged in August in recent years.
Paolo Nutini, Chappell Roan, Sam Fender, Catfish and The Bottlemen, Ocean Colour Scene and The View have all performed at the 30,000 capacity arena in recent years after concert promoters DF Concerts relocated their Summer Sessions concerts from Princes Street Gardens.
Biffy Clyro, Nathan Evans, Mogwai, The Cure, Florence and The Machine, Lorde, The Prodigy and Deftones are all due to appear at Ingliston this August.
The Reeling traditional music festival, which has been staged on the outskirts of Glasgow in recent years, will be relocating to Ingliston and will be part of the Royal Highland Show line-up in June.
Large-scale theatre productions and “immersive” exhibitions are also expected to be staged at the venue throughout the year under a new long-term business plan.
First held in 1822, the Royal Highland Show was staged around the country before it moved to a permanent site at the Ingliston Estate in 1960.
The centre now hosts around 150 shows, trade fairs, conferences and exhibitions, and attracts more than a million visitors every year.
However Mr Currie said the centre was aiming to make more of its location in Edinburgh, including its close proximity to the airport and the tram link to the city centre, as well as plan ahead for the building of more than 20,000 new homes in west Edinburgh.
He told The Herald: “We are no longer going to be out on the edge of the city. We are going to be surrounded by a whole new city. That is a huge opportunity for us.
“At the moment, we are looking where we invest, and how we become a social and cultural asset for the west of the city. We are going to need to adapt and change.
“We are sitting adjacent to the busiest city for tourism in the UK outside London and by far the best airport in Scotland. We need to take advantage of that.”
Mr Currie said a recently-approved business plan would see a “change of direction” for the centre, which is owned by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, which has organised the Royal Highland Show since its inception.
Mr Currie said: “When we started doing the Summer Sesssions concerts here, we had a lot of questions asking if we were in the Highlands.
“We are coping with it at the moment, but at some point we are going to be looking at a rebrand.
“I would be very surprised if we are still called the Royal Highland Centre in three years’ time.
“It will have to have Edinburgh in the title because of the strength of the city’s brand name.
“We sold 90,000 tickets for three shows last year between Chappell Roan and Sam Fender. That gives real confidence to artists, labels, management and agents.
“We’re trying to get into the minds of people that they are playing a show in the capital of Scotland.
"In 10-15 years' time, we will still be the home of the Royal Highland Show. There is no doubt about that.
"But we need to be an arts, culture, events and leisure destination for Edinburgh that you would come to for a night out.
“We need to break the feeling for people who live in Edinburgh that it is a challenge to get out to Ingliston.
“We are exploring ways to connect our front door to the tram network. That probably looks like a boulevard which will have a mix of leisure, retail, food and drink.
“The idea is you will come off the tram in future and have a short walk which feels connected, like the Wembley Way in London.”
