Busking in London: update

Busking in London: update
  • Reams of red tape and a myriad of confusing rules could force talented buskers off London’s streets, the Mayor Boris Johnson has warned as he launched a new campaign to nurture the capital’s street musicians.

  • There is no doubt that live music on our streets adds to the city’s vibrancy, but I fear some parts of the capital could become no-go areas for buskers. Rather than shackling our musicians with unnecessary bureaucracy, we should treasure the spontaneity they bring to our high streets and town centres.

Since Boris Johnson launched his campaign to make London the most busker-friendly city in the world in 2014, a lot has happened.

As we feared at the time what has happened has been entirely the opposite. What has been supported and nurtured is a sanitised, regulated, corporate  version of street performance, whilst genuine grassroots busking has been systematically marginalised and  criminalised.

The sad fact now is that there is virtually nowhere viable and open to busk in central London.

Barking and Dagenham no restrictions.

Barnet

Bexley  Claim that busking is licensed. We are unaware if legislation has been passed and need to follow this up.

Brent

Bromley

Camden license now only applies to louder acts, circle shows and groups

Croydon

Ealing

Enfield

Greenwich has now introduced licensing in Greenwich and Woolwich town centres. Other areas open as normal.

Hackney

Hammersmith and Fulham- PSPOs banning amplification in Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush 

Haringey

Harrow seems to have a PSPO in place requiring permission from the BID to either busk or use amplification (not clear which) and only in Harrow town centre area.Clarifiaction requested but not received.

Havering open. Successful campaign against PSPO in Romford.

Hillingdon Licensed with only 4 locations available.

Hounslow “If a busker or a group of buskers act in such a way as to cause a nuisance to Passers by, then they will be asked to cease and leave the area.”

Islington

Kensington and Chelsea operate an extremely complex PSPO regime.

Kingston upon Thames Guidelines

Lambeth

Lewisham

Merton

Newham

Redbridge 3 ‘designated” pitches in Ilford town centre. Otherwise uncontrolled.

Richmond upon Thames

Southwark

Sutton

Tower Hamlets PSPO in Brick Lane prohibiting busking after 9pm. Possibly rescinded.

Waltham Forest

Wandsworth

Westminster

 

London: Concern at Christmas

London: Concern at Christmas

Buskers in London this Christmas are facing an uncertain future with continuing crackdowns on licences, closure of pitches, bans on amplification, and seizures of CD’s and equipment.

If proposed restrictions in Westminster go ahead there will be virtually no viable and publicly accessible locations for performers almost anywhere across central London, with an area from Hammersmith & Fulham across to Tower Hamlets and up to Camden effectively off-limits.

In an effort to combat this, Westminster Street Performer Association have held meetings to encourage more efficient self-regulation and show that it is the Council’s inaction and inability to deal with issues that is causing friction in popular busking locations such as Leicester and Trafalgar Squares. They can be contacted at LondonWSPA@gmail.com

Keep Streets Live has been looking a developing a City-wide strategy towards street performance, recognising that whatever happens in one place has a knock-on effect in others. Busking bans in Shepherds Bush for example several years ago pushed performers into Kensington causing over saturation and complaints, leading to similar bans in RBKC. We are now seeing many of those buskers pushed into the already busy pitches in the West End. Inevitably reducing available space increases pressure and conflict for both buskers and other stakeholders.

“I feel here we now have the bones of a London-wide grassroots performers group, which will be able to take a more co-ordinated and holistic approach to busking across the capital rather than seeing pitches and issues in isolation. If this is something which you’d like to be part of please check out the Keep Streets Live in London Facebook group.”-Chester Bingley (Director)

Our petition against the busking bans in Kensington has now attracted around 2,000 signatures so please Sign Here

Thank you London!!

Thank you London!!

After an amazing 3-day Buskers’ Pow-Wow on the canal we’d like to extend a massive thank you to everyone who attended, but especially Eric Ellman of Bards on Boats and the Union Tavern for hosting us. A big hand too for Sam Jordan from the Musicians’ Union who joined us for the Know Your Rights workshop, and Julia Gregory (Local Democracy Reporter) who joined us on Tuesday afternoon and wrote this article.

We set out to protest the Kensington & Chelsea busking bans but I feel here we now have the bones of a London-wide grassroots performers group, which will be able to take a more co-ordinated and holistic approach to busking across the capital rather than seeing pitches and issues in isolation. If this is something which you’d like to be part of please check out the Keep Streets Live in London Facebook group.

As you’ve all been so awesome we’d love to help you out so we’ve added a few of your tracks to our Spotify playlist and if you’ve got any photos/video from the event use the hashtags #KeepStreetsLive #SayNo2PSPO and #BuskersPowWow to make sure we can find them to like/share etc. Alternatively you can send by email to contact@keepstreetslive.com

We’re currently looking at the possibility of another canal-based London event later in the year, and certainly another full day of busking workshops in Manchester in early-November. If you’d like us to do something in your local area please let us know.

If you missed our workshops or would like to re-cap you can find the livestreams here:

Know Your Rights. Tech For Artists part 1. Tech For Artists part 2.

David Fisher being interviewed outside Harrods.
Tech For Artists workshop with GigRide, The Hat App and Charlotte Campbell.

Lauren Collins– Fresh on the London busking scene from New Zealand.
Cap’n Eric
Acoustic punk from the Leyton Cat Lady.
Hobo World Folk from Pandoras Diary– Sara and Maya
Busking debut for Street Music researcher Lizzie Bennett.
Melissa Otero treating us to some Latin grooves.
A special medal for street magician Nathan Earl for making all 3 days!
South London troubadour Patti Paige.
Know Your Rights!! Workshop with Keep Streets Live and the Musicians’ Union