Covent Garden’s iconic street performers fear they could be turfed out of London’s shopping hub by Christmas as part of a council plan to decrease noise.
Westminster Council first attempted to clamp down on certain public performances with a fee-based licencing system in April 2021.
This included limiting a performer’s space to just five metres, placing a total prohibition on any sound amplification in some places and disallowing the use of any perceived ‘dangerous props’.
According to the Covent Garden Street Performers (CGSPA) association, such regulations made it all but impossible for anyone but the live statues to continue performing. Its members outright rejected its introduction and willingly criminalised themselves by continuing their performances as usual.
Next month, the council will discuss whether to finance further enforcement measures to address the crackdown, including a proposed alliance with the police.
One of the affected entertainers is Chris Thomas, 31, a circus performer from Hackney.
He told a newspaper outlet that it was absolutely shocking really, wasn’t it and that this had been running longer than he had lived.
He said that he truly believed that a lot of the people that visit Covent Garden come and visit this pitch to watch street performers and for that to be removed would kill the essence of what Covent Garden really was.
He added that it wasn’t something he was prepared to live with, and they were going to pursue the resistance to keep the pitch running, and that there was a very strong community of performers, and they were going to do everything they could to keep the place alive.
Mike Juggles, 27, is an axe juggling performer and said greater enforcement of the licence would leave him completely unable to perform.
He said that it was a shame and that they were managing themselves very well making sure that everybody was following safety measures, not being too loud, and not being rude to the audience, they even said that they wouldn’t perform past 9 pm.
He explained that the local street performers often raise money for charity and take care of their community.
Street performing in the famous shopping hub is part of a tradition going back hundreds of years to 1662 when Samuel Pepys’ wrote in his diary about a marionette show featuring a puppet called ‘Punch’, who would later become one-half of the fighting duo ‘Punch and Judy’.
Do you ever notice that government councils don’t want us to have nice things?
Two decades ago London was a place for inventive minds and free spirits. Artists, musicians et cetera. Now, it’s either immigrants, criminals or boring corporate commuters. London has lost all of its edginess, and it’s a city in decline. More and more of our culture and heritage will be muted or destroyed, and meanwhile, knife crime continues to go unpunished.
Half the fun of going to Covent Garden is to see the street performers, and during the summer months, it’s actually very interesting to watch these performances, and can be the highlight of ones day trip.
It seems like having fun is a bad thing these days. However, it’s not hard to see why our councils want to end this part of our English culture and history. I bet if the performers were doing a rap and bang rah they would be letting people celebrate in Covent Garden all they want. Looks like it’s another step nearer to a prayer mat!
I suppose this is one way to eradicate the charm of Covent Garden. Soon London will have nothing to entice visitors.
There will be more and more restrictions, I can guarantee that and eventually, it will become a Nanny state. We’re not quite there yet, but watch this space!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 