Jugglers perform with fire in Covent Garden [Covent Garden Street Performers Association]

MAGICIANS, musicians, jugglers, clowns and artists fear being “swept away” before Christmas by a tough new licensing regime aiming to “sanitise” historic Covent Garden.

The Covent Garden Street Performers Association has warned that councillors are set to vote through new restrictions on noisy shows and “dangerous” props that would ban fire and knife-throwing.

In a grim warning, they say only “living statues” would remain in and around the historic square.

The council says it supports all licensed buskers but has to act following a big spike in complaints of buskers using nightclub power-level megaphones in other areas of the West End.

Knife juggler Pete Kolofsky’s main act – The Sandwich of Death – involves summoning a member of the audience to stand on top of two beds of nails for 10 seconds with him between them.

Knife-juggler Pete Kolofsky [Stephen Beard_Marketplace_Covent Garden Street Performers Association]

He said: “I juggle knives at the beginning of my show, do tricks with a bull whip, and then finish with a stunt called The Sandwich of Death.

“If the council bans these so-called dangerous props, which in reality only give the illusion of danger, that would be the end of the line for me as a street performer.”

Covent Garden is renowned as the capital’s spiritual home of street performance that attracts crowds of tourists and has a connection with street performance dating back to the 17th century with the original Punch and Judy.

It has launched the careers of top acts including Eddie Izzard, who cut his teeth performing in the square.

Gareth Forest, from the actors’ union Equity, said: “A vote for licensing will see the colour and vibrancy of magicians, musicians, jugglers, clowns, artists and players swept away and replaced by empty, gentrified, sanitised, high streets in Covent Garden. The reality is that most performers will be pushed out.”

[Covent Garden Street Performers Association]

In 2021 Westminster City Council introduced a series of restrictions on street performance in a “collaborative approach”. The Covent Garden Street Performers Association, which has been running street performance in the square for decades, did not support the licensing regime.

Despite snubbing the scheme, the CGSPA said it had been left alone since 2021 due to its good practices and a gentlemen’s agreement with council enforcement officers.

But there have, since 2021, been hundreds more complaints than normal about street performances and the council says it has been forced into a tougher crackdown.

Cllr Aicha Less

The Extra reported in August how the council inspec­tors claimed buskers in Leicester Square were guilty of “riling-up” large crowds against them when they attended noise complaints, often with them getting booed for trying to intervene.

Kerry Simpson, head of licensing at Westminster, spoke about a new breed of buskers using power sources more powerful than speakers in a “bar or a club”, adding: “This is a scheme that relies on buskers to make it work, and that is part of the problem. It would work, if everyone abided by the rules.”

A petition against the move has been signed by several businesses in and around the square.

A statement from Westminster’s deputy leader and cabinet member for communities and public protection, Cllr Aicha Less said: “We are not looking to introduce a ban on street performers and never have done.

“Buskers and street entertainers are a vibrant part of our city’s culture and a popular attraction for visitors throughout the city.”