Edinburgh International Festival has partnered with Edinburgh-based drinks brand Whitebox Cocktails to offer audience members a complimentary welcome drink on arrival at The Hub, the Festival’s home on the Royal Mile.
The intimate performance space is designed to bring artists and audiences closer together, while The Hub’s Dunard Bar has been styled as the Festival’s green room: a relaxed, welcoming setting where performers gather before and after stepping on stage. In that same spirit, the new partnership invites ticket holders to settle in and make themselves at home before the show begins.
Across the 19 performances taking place at The Hub this August, audience members will be greeted with a complimentary single-serve cocktail crafted by Whitebox. A full range of Whitebox cocktails will also be available at the bar throughout the Festival.
Guests can choose from Whitebox’s Classic Cosmopolitan, Chipper’s Old Fashioned and Espresso Martini, each created for the occasion, before taking their seats for performances from world-class artists including bluegrass duo Mark and Maggie O’Connor, saxophonist and composer Camilla George, and Scottish trad legend Donald Shaw, who will close the final night of the Festival’s Up Late gig series.
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This year, The Hub Bar has also been reimagined as a living archive of the International Festival, with decades of programmes, photographs and memorabilia available for guests to browse over a drink before the show. Visitors can even sit in Stephen Fry’s chair.
Josh Rennie, co-founder of Whitebox Cocktails, said: “There’s something special about arriving somewhere, being welcomed with a great cocktail and knowing you’re about to experience something memorable. That’s exactly what The Hub is all about during the Festival, so it’s a real pleasure for Whitebox to be part of that welcome and share a drink with audiences before they take their seats.”
The Hub Bar will be open throughout the Festival, with a complimentary Whitebox welcome cocktail, as well as no and low alcohol alternatives, available for all ticket holders. For more information on The Hub’s 2026 programme and the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival, visit the Festival website.
