The Spiegel Garden

During the daytime The Spiegal Garden is full of children running about on the fake (and very soft) grass, and at night festival goers crowd around the lovely real-​flame heaters.
Right in the thick of the Fringe, it’s a great place to be and a great place to people watch. A pint of Fosters is £3.80, with pretty much everything else more expensive than that, but it’s not too bad considering what some pubs charge. Queues can be very long, but if you pop just outside and walk slightly further round towards DHT/​William Robertson building there’s another bar which, whilst still busy, isn’t as crowded as the bars inside the actual garden.
With the atmosphere, pretty surrounding and brilliant heaters, a stop by The Spiegal Garden during the Fringe is a must.

the fringe festival means many things… thousands of shows, street performers, way too many tourists, and pop up beer gardens dotted about the city! the spiegel garden, i have to say is one of the best. it’s right in the heart of things in george square (that’s george square by edinburgh uni not george street that is full of posh people trying to get into opal lounge). it’s great for grabbing a beer or other cold drink in between shows or some food from the pop up food vans that are insides and outside of the garden.
there are loads of picnic tables if you get there before the crowds, but most people seem to just grab a seat in the grass (well it’s not actual grass, it’s fake grass that they’ve covered the whole square with). the vibe here is great as well, with some many people in and out of festival shows and just excited to be out and about in edinburgh.
i’ve noted that other reviews claim that drinks are more expensive here. i’m not sure that’s actually true as a pint is normally nearing £4 from most places in edinburgh, so the prices seem about average to me. in fact for three drinks i only paid about £10, so clearly not as expensive as people are claiming.
but all in all this is a great place! and since it’s only around for a month, it makes it even more important to go and get some drinks and just enjoy the festival :)

Ohmylord I freaked out when I read Neal W’s review and realised he was being the wittiest of Unilocalers. Kevin Spacey was never at Spiegel Garden on George Square.
First up, the Spiegels are confusing. They moved the original Spiegel Garden from George SQUARE to George STREET (about 30 minutes apart on opposite ends of town). But they kept the exact same replica of The Spiegel Garden on George Square. I witnessed many afolk call a friend asking where they were, only to realise they’d gone to the wrong Spiegel Garden.
So even though this one in the Old Town, on George Square, is no longer officially the real Spiegel Garden, folk still refer to it as Speigel on George Square.
I like it, but its the outdoor Fringe venue that wears thin most quickly for me. It’s huge, sprawling, there must be 1000s of people there. It has lots of heat lamps, the astroturf grass isn’t as dirty and smelly as Udderbelly, there’s lots of food trucks, it’s open till 3am, it’s right in the heart of the Old Town and close to lots of venues…
But I think it’s due to the sheer size and lack of intimacy that makes me less keen on this Fringe venue… For me it’s a pit-​stop, but not somewhere I’d spend a whole night. Can’t quite put my finger on why, I just feel a bit lost in a crowd here… Still, maybe a good drink or two was had here. But yeah, as expected, prices are pretty high…£8 for two vodkas or something. Ouch.
But now it’s gone I miss it. Go figure.

Oh my God it’s Kevin Spacey! Fiona’s right! Kevin freakin Spacey. Not just some lame, half-​arsed British comedian. Kevin ‘Kaizer Soze’ Spacey, the dean of Hollywood.
However… if you’re not interested in seeing Kevin Spacey you should pay a visit to the Spiegel Garden anyway. It’s a fantastic drinking venue, especially after night fall. And it stays open till some ludicrous hour in the morning too. Being the festival, expect to pay festival prices (£3.80 for a pint of Guinness?!) but it’s worth it for the atmosphere — it’s absolutely electric.
During the afternoon they have a few acts on, a few bands that no one listens to and the like but it’s night time when it’s happening. This place is what the festival is all about. They also have a interesting cabaret type shows on late on, worth a look. Oh and Kevin Spacey drinks there.

I’m not a fan of many places during the festival, not because of the spaces themselves, but because they’re packed full of people I’m not used to. I’m a creature of habit, of familiar faces (as long as I’m in the same square mile that I’ve been living in for 4 years) and the Spiegel Tent is just another one of those spaces that gets filled by annoying tourists, which is in turn the reason why people start bumping up prices on anything and everything in the city.
But, the Spiegel Tent puts on pretty good shows, so, though the bar isn’t a great place to grab a drink, there’re always good things to see in the performance space. This year, however, things are going to be shaken up a bit with McSweeney’s and the Golden Hour appearing for free shows at the Spiegel. I’m definitely going. You should too.

The world-​famous Spiegel Tent only exists in Edinburgh during the Fringe, and it’s hard to describe exactly what it is. It occupies the George Square Gardens in the centre of the uni campus, so it immediately has lovely surrounding with all the greenery.
The first and most obvious of its functions is as a beer garden. Although with it being the festival you do pay stupid amounts for a pint out of a plastic cup, it’s worth it here as the atmosphere is always so good. Thats because there’s always something going on in the various sideshows and mini theatres dotted around the edge of the square — think Moulin Rouge-​esque circus type stalls and shows with all sorts of weird and wonderful things, a little auditorium with twice-​daily shows, more portaloos than is really necessary and a huge outdoor pub in the middle of it.
Surprisingly, this is a bit of a celebrity magnet. For some reason, I’ve seen Kevin Spacey here every single time I’ve come here for a pint and friends have said they’ve seen various other famous people.
It’s definitely both weird and wonderful in equal measure, but you can’t come to the Fringe and not go to the Spiegeltent.