Guitarist Harry Marshall performing in the heart of the West End

A BUSKER has spoken of the importance of maintaining live performances in Leicester Square after a court compared them to “psychological torture techniques” and ordered the city council into a new crackdown.

Guitarist Harry Marshall, who has been busking in the West End since 2016, was speaking after a district judge ruled Westminster City Council had failed to prevent a noise nuisance despite many complaints.

He said the judgment was part of a long-term goal from authorities to “dismantle busking in central London”.

The council is considering whether to appeal the ruling at City of London Magistrates’ Court that followed a legal challenge against it by Global Radio station, which is based in the square.

It said in evidence that the staff routinely hold meetings in storeroom “cupboards” to get away from noise from amplified busking outside in the square.

Mr Marshall said: “At the end of the day so many of us keep doing this, and have done this for over a decade or more, because we get to connect with strangers on the street and we get to make their trip to London a little bit better. So to call us ‘torture artists’ and stuff is so wrong.”

He added: “They’ve put a radio station in Leicester Square, which is a tourist hotspot of Europe. What did they expect?”

Buskers have to perform at designated pitches in the West End under a licensing scheme brought in by the council in 2021. One of the most popular plots is at Leicester Square.

Mr Marshall, originally from Australia, said busking in the West End had helped launch a career as a full-time musician.

“Busking has been immeasurably beneficial for my life. It’s allowed me to do what so many artists and creatives struggle to do, which is call their art their full-time job,” he said.

“Because of busking opening up my music career, I’ve now just done my permanent resident exam and will become a citizen. The reason I can live in the country that I love to call home now, which is England, is because of busking.”

Asked how he thought a busking ban would affect tourism, Mr Marshall said: “I don’t think a lot of people have it on their bucket list that why they come to London is the buskers, but the reason a lot of people leave London even more enriched by their trip is because of the buskers.”

The guitarist, who has been taken to court by the city council for busking, said he recognised there have been problems with “the finite amount of buskers and how loud they make their shows” but that the criticisms were “painting us all with a broad brush”.

The judgment said the council was responsible and had “failed to act to stop the nuisance or has been wholly ineffective”.

It added: “The use of repetitive sounds is a well-publicised feature of unlawful, but effective, psychological torture techniques. However if the nuisance is abated by removal of amplification it is clear that those subsidiary features of the noise will be substantially reduced.”

The judge said: “I conclude that the amplified busking goes far beyond the acceptable or ordinary use of the square. Appeals to the long history of street entertainment ring hollow.”

In a statement the city council said it had widely consulted on its new busking regime in April last year. Since September seven buskers had been prosecuted, including one in March. When a musician is prosecuted for breaching terms of a licence they are often required to forfeit their equipment, the council said.

A spokesperson added: “We absolutely recognise how much value street performers bring to Westminster, and we want to make sure they can continue adding to the area’s rich heritage. However balancing this with the needs of businesses and residents isn’t easy. There are lots of competing factors to consider which means we have to make some difficult decisions.

“We are still digesting what the court ruling means for us and looking at all the options available. But in the meantime we’re working with the police to address noise complaints and will take action when necessary.”