New venue to open at Bristo Square ahead of Edinburgh Fringe

New joint venture by Paradise Palms, Gilded Balloon and Kelburn Garden Party will see bar and club host music, comedy, theatre and events.

Article Source: Gilded Balloon
Last Updated: 19 July 2025 17:24

18th July 2025: A new venue to support the performing arts has been announced for Edinburgh’s Bristo Square, with The Gilded Saloon bar & kitchen set to open on 30th July 2025, alongside a 200 capacity club and venue in the basement.

A new venture from comedy operators Gilded Balloon, Scots musical and arts festival Kelburn Garden Party and creative community pub Paradise Palms, the bar and venue will open its doors in time for Edinburgh Fringe.

Located on 45-47 Lothian Street overlooking Bristo Square and right next to city favourite Paradise Palms, the new venue will launch a vibrant programme of music, performance, comedy and events, operating 7 days a week.

The three businesses have teamed up to create a joint venture with the new space, which will aim to support the creative and performing arts community from across Scotland with gigs, club nights, music performances, comedy shows, pub theatre, spoken word and more, right in the heart of Edinburgh. The Gilded Saloon will serve up a broad selection of draught beers, wines and spirits alongside hearty modern pub grub and a Fringe pop-up, ‘Coop’, during August by local chef Tomas Gormley (known for his restaurants Skua and Cardinal).

Due to open July 2025, the Gilded Saloon will also act as a hub for Edinburgh Fringe performers during August and a supportive artist space year round, providing discounted food and drinks to the creative sector as well as rehearsal, workshop and collaborative space to established and grassroots artists and promoters. The basement club will unveil its own programme in the coming weeks…

Gilded Balloon is a family run enterprise and one of Scotland’s leading entertainment producers, presenting shows across the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as tours year-round throughout the UK. This year they will celebrate 40 years at the Fringe with a programme featuring some of comedy’s most iconic names including Rosie O’Donnell, Smack the Pony and Alan Davies. Run by Co-Directors Karen and Katy Koren, Gilded Balloon will run comedy, theatre, sketch and non-music programming at The Gilded Saloon which is named after the venue they lost during the infamous Cowgate fire over 20 years ago in 2002.

Kelburn Garden Party is Scotland’s best loved independent music and arts festival, which has just celebrated their 15th edition at Kelburn Castle on the West Coast with a sell out attendance.. Welcoming over 5000 fans each year, the festival showcases the best in Scottish and international talent from music to contemporary art. The team behind the festival will programme oversee much of the club bookings plus mobilise their team of festival supporters and artists to collaborate and help curate this new year round creative space.

Paradise Palms was always set up to be a community centre as much as it is a bar. The folks behind it are from Edinburgh but between them have opened venues in London, Ibiza, Sydney, Auckland, Nashville & L.A. so they know what it takes to make something tick and how important community is. Always championing the grassroots and marginalised the venue also runs its own record label - Paradise Palms Records, which it uses as a platform to promote the music it loves and artists from Scotland and overseas. They will assist in general programming and oversee the operation of the new venue.

Tomás Gormley is a local award-winning chef and restaurateur. After earning a Michelin star at his first restaurant, Heron, in 2023, he went on to open Skua, a Michelin Bib Gourmand small plates spot, and Cardinal, an intimate fine dining restaurant in Stockbridge. This August, he brings back his cult fried chicken pop-up, COOP, serving fried chicken and smoked lobster rolls across multiple Fringe locations.

The full year-round programme of events specifically curated by Paradise Palms, Kelburn Arts and Gilded Balloon will be launched from September but in the meantime, visit the Gilded Saloon from the 30th July and throughout the Fringe.

Image: Gilded Balloon Directors

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