UK- A CONTROVERSIAL porn festival staged at one of Edinburgh’s top entertainment centres has been axed after just two years.

Festival Erotique, the sex- orientated extravaganza timed to coincide with the Fringe in 2003 and 2004, has been ditched by the Corn Exchange.

Porn stars, adult movie screenings, erotic dancers and fetish fashion shows were all on the menu at the event, which attracted exhibitors and visitors from across the UK.

But the event was also dogged by controversy after falling foul of the city’s main bus company, advertising watchdogs and anti-porn crusaders.

The festival – billed as the first of its kind in Scotland – was described as being for “open-minded, adventurous or just curious adults”.

The event was jointly organised by Edinburgh sex shop owner Vincent Delicato and the Corn Exchange, but the businessman claimed he was ousted the following year because bosses at the centre didn’t want him involved in organising it any more.

The Corn Exchange, which is thought to have brought in a private company to help organise last year’s event, today insisted it was too busy with other events to host a third Festival Erotique.

But Mr Delicato said he was keen to revive the event next year, touting the Meadows as a perfect venue, because it was already in use during the Fringe.

Festival Erotique faced claims it would harm Edinburgh’s reputation as a festivals city during the summer, although councillors granted the event a licence despite being told by the Scottish Women Against Pornography Campaign that it was “totally inappropriate”.

Star attractions at the event have included a sex witch who used her abilities to help Princess Diana, a fetish barber and the creator of erotic ironing boards.

Major events being held at the Corn Exchange during this year’s festival period include concerts by The Zutons, The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx and Razorlight.

A spokesman for the Corn Exchange said: “The simple reason we’re not doing it this year is we’ve had much better offers for the use of the venue. There’s not much point in doing an event which doesn’t make any money.”

The spokesman insisted an outside organisation was brought in to co-ordinate last year’s event, but could not provide the Evening News with any contact details.

Mr Delicato said: “The Corn Exchange thought they could better organise the event from the first year, when it was a real trailblazer.

“Although there were more than 10,000 people there over the three days of the event last year and the one before, people were just not staying last year. There wasn’t enough to see and there wasn’t the same atmosphere. The whole situation was handled very badly by the Corn Exchange.”

Labour councillor Lorna Shiels, who has been appointed to a Scottish Executive task force which will look at tightening controls on Scotland’s adult entertainment industry, said: “I don’t think this event will be missed.

“The adverts last year were the subject of a great number of complaints to me.”