Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Westminster are proposing to reduce the number of spots where street performers can operate down to 15 with only a few allowed PA systems.


This has been pushed through by only 1,800 complaints in a year. Yet millions of Londoners and tourists have been watching and enjoying these performances for years (centuries)


They are asking for responses via a short survey to be completed by this Sunday.


Are you in favour of against reducing the number of pitches, types of performances and potentially driving Street Performers out of the capital?


The survey and more information is here :

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/busking


Personally I've spent my whole life secretly enjoying seeing the Street Performers around places like Covent Garden and admired their bravery in getting up and entertaining the masses and I for one don't want to see them gone or restricted. Do you ?

We've lost our record shops, dive bars, gig venues, clubs. Carnaby street is essentially a mall. Covid will kill off half the pubs. Anything interesting has been booted out to make space for yet another Starbucks/Pret.


IMO they're usually pretty cringeworthy, but they make the West End seem vaguely alive... and give people a reason to hang around in town, in an era when shopping online is the logical choice.


So if anything... let's have more of them.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • But all those examples sell a wide variety of things,  and mostly they are well spread out along Lordship Lane. These two shops both sell one very specific thing, albeit in different flavours, and are just across the road from each other. I don't think you can compare the distribution of shops in Roman times to the distribution of shops in Lordship Lane in the twenty first century. Well, you can, but it doesn't feel very appropriate. Haa anybody asked the first shop how they feel? Are they happy about the "healthy competition" ?
    • ED is included in the 17 August closure set (or just possibly 15 August, depending on which part of the page you trust more) listed at https://metro.co.uk/2025/07/25/full-list-25-poundland-stores-confirmed-close-august-23753048/. Here incidentally are some snippets from their annual reports, at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02495645/filing-history. 2022: " during the period we opened 41 stores and closed 43 loss-making/under-performing stores.  At the period-end we were trading from 821 stores in the UK, IoM and ROI. ... "We renogotiated 82 leases in the year, saving on average 45% versus the prior lease agreement..." 2023: "We also continued to improve our market footprint through sourcing better store locations, opening 53 and closing 51 stores during the year." 2024:  "The ex-Wilco stores acquired in the prior year have formed a core part of this strategy to expand our store network.  We favour quality over quantity and during the period we opened 84 stores and closed 71 loss-making/under-performing ones."
    • Ha! After I posted this, I thought of lots more examples. Screwfix and the hardware store? Mrs Robinson and Jumping Bean? Chemists, plant shops, hairdressers...  the list goes on... it's good to have healthy competition  Ooooh! Two cheese shops
    • You've got a point.  Thinking Leyland and Screwfix too but this felt different.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...