DUNFERMLINE wants to go back to the future and become part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

City chiefs will head over the Forth next month to see if they can once more link into the world’s largest arts festival. It dominates the capital’s calendar every August but it’s little known that when the Edinburgh extravaganza began in 1947, one of the eight venues was in Dunfermline.

Area services manager for Dunfermline, Joe McGuinness, told the Press, “There are some tentative discussions about working together, for example you can’t get a bed in Edinburgh for love nor money during the festival so is there a way we can link in with that and bring people here?

“It could build on the world heritage status for the Forth Bridge and give us a chance to show what we have and what’s going on here.” Aberdour have Fringe favourite Craig Hill bringing his comedy show to the village’s festival before his August run in Edinburgh, so could Dunfermline be a place for top talents to hone their acts? Mr McGuinness said, “Chris Foote (Dunfermline Delivers event manager) has good contacts within the festival and we have a meeting with Edinburgh City Council in August to discuss further a partnership with them to start becoming part of a bigger visitor attraction.

“At the very first Edinburgh Festival there were eight venues, seven in the city centre and the other was Dunfermline Abbey.

“So there is that historical aspect too. There’s no way we can compete with Edinburgh, the scale and the budget is enormous, but if we could be part of a wider thing then why not?

“We’re trying to show a higher level of ambition for Dunfermline.” Councillor Helen Law, chair of the City of Dunfermline area committee, confirmed she is keen to meet Edinburgh Council leader Andrew Burns to discuss how Dunfermline can make the most out of the tourist boost that the festival brings.

“I’ve asked for this meeting and had a brief chat indicating that I’d like to come and meet and talk about common interests,” she said.

“During the festival, Edinburgh is bursting at the seams and Dunfermline as a tourist destination is something we’ll do everything we can to improve.

“I’m going to meet with the leader of Edinburgh Council to try and get a dialogue about mutual projects and offer some support.

"There have been Edinburgh Festival venues in Dunfermline in the past and we’d like it to be a regular feature.” Cllr Law also praised the work that had already been done to promote the city and is looking forward to seeing more.

“We’ve already done work with the cruise ships and the arts initiatives at the Fire Station Creative,” she said.

“We want to make Dunfermline not only a great place to live and work, but to visit. We’re really keen to promote that image.” This year’s fringe runs from 7th to 31st August and includes more than 3000 events at around 300 venues.