Roxy Art House and Forest Cafe

Edinburgh Fringe operation Assembly is buying up two buildings in the city, to give it a permanent base for arts programming.

Venue boss William Burdett-Coutts is in 'advance stages' of the process to buy the Roxy Art House and the Forest Cafe from the administrators of Edinburgh University Settlement, which went bankrupt in 2010.

His company has been seeking new festival spaces since he lost the old Assembly Rooms in George Street under a controversial city council redevelopment. And he said today: 'We’ve always been reliant on other people. To be in charge of our own destiny is quite a good thing.'

Assembly will be operating in the Roxy Art House, a former church close to the Pleasance Courtyard, this year, as well as the George Square site that it moved into last year. But Burdett-Coutts told Chortle: 'The Forest Cafe is more complex and we can't say at this stage, but it unlikely to be ready.'

Both buildings are being jointly bought with Edinburgh restaurateur Malcolm Innes, of The Outsider restaurant, who has applied for a restaurant and entertainment licence at the Forest Cafe. The site has previously been used for some of the most alternative entertainment at the Fringe – and throughout the rest of the year – but will now become part of one of the festival's biggest operations.

This year, the original Assembly Rooms – which were closed last year for building work –  will be operated by The Stand comedy club.

Published: 8 Mar 2012