Edinburgh's Christmas expands across city

Edinburgh's Christmas celebrations are to be expanded into new city centre venues, officials said.

Familiar attractions in East Princes Street Gardens and St Andrew Square will be complemented by new additions in the West End and George Street from 18 November to 7 January.

Organisers said the 2016 event would involve the "biggest, brightest and best" entertainment to date.

The Street of Light will be on George Street instead of the Royal Mile.

The free spectacle, which features a light show incorporating 60,000 bulbs and music from local choirs and bands, opens on 20 November.

Underbelly, which delivers the Christmas festival on behalf of the city council, announced 10,000 free tickets will be given to children for the ice rink which is returning to St Andrew Square.

The Street of Light event will be held on George Street this year

All schools in Edinburgh will be invited to apply for the tickets under a new sponsorship deal with Standard Life.

Festival Square off Lothian Road will play host to a new pop-up theatre which will stage West End and Broadway hit Five Guys Named Moe and family show Morgan & West: A (sort of) Christmas Carol Magic Show.

The Christmas market, family activities and fairground attractions including the big wheel will return to East Princes Street Gardens, while a nativity carol concert will be staged at St Andrew Square on 27 November.

Light Night Christmas lights will be switched-on on 20 November.

Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, producers of Edinburgh's Christmas, said: "This is the fourth year of Underbelly producing Edinburgh's Christmas on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council and during that time the event itself and the positive impact it has socially on the residents of Edinburgh and economically for the businesses in the city and the city itself have grown substantially.

"In 2016 we are looking forward to putting on the biggest event yet, stretching from St Andrew Square to the West End, from the hit musical Five Guys Named Moe in a fantastic new production in Festival Square Theatre, to a partnership with Standard Life offering 10,000 free ice skating tickets to schoolchildren, from Street of Light transforming George Street to the local choirs of Edinburgh on Light Night."

Richard Lewis, Edinburgh's festivals and events champion, said: "This winter, the curtain will rise at the West End as Edinburgh's Christmas expands right across the city.

"An exciting new collaboration between the capital's theatres and the Usher Hall will take Edinburgh's Christmas to the stage, while the Street of Light will move to George Street for its second year.

"The events drew over one million visitors last year and regulars will be delighted to hear festive favourites like Santa's Grotto, the Big Wheel and ice rink will return."