Children and busking(for love not money!)

[mouskouri41]

Thought this might be a fun thing to do in the summer hols.Anyone know what the law says about children and busking(not for money-well maybe for charity!)but just for the love of it,and to get a nice crowd and some practice of singing in public?

[cookycrew]

In our city (York) you can apply for a busking licence & it is issued for a specific period in time. The buskers have to have an 'audition in action' before the licence is issued. Also ,there may be areas in the city which don't allow busking eg a shopping complex, so you may have to apply for permission to busk from the owners of the complex. All the info is on our council's website so I am assuming yours will be the same. We have some amazing buskers in York! Good luck

[Gatesheadangel]

I was in York in September and saw a young girl singing very well, I didn't realise she would have had to audition to get permission but it obviously keeps the standard high. I liked too the fact her family were with her, made her look very well looked after.

From a discussion a while ago with a colleague whose late teenaged son was busking with friends, they could only go to market towns because they needed permission for city centres. He would barely cover his bus fares, but if the weather was nice they enjoyed themselves.

[missmoneypenny]

My older dd has spent a few weekends busking in Camden Market with a couple of friends - they weren't moved on and had a great time! It didn't turn out so well when they tried it in Covent Garden though - lol - def licence needed there

[tillymintflip]

I've asked about this around christmas time and our council (Warrington) said such a license doesn't exist for children! And they don't do busking licenses in our town anyway.

We've always sang and just made sure we don't ever say we're doing it for money. Inevitably people always try and throw change at us which we always give to a charity afterwards. We raised over £800 last year entirely by accident! x

[2dancersmum]

Some towns and cities issue licenses for busking - others do not but I think in general they still have a code of conduct that gives guide lines like noise levels, locations (not near ATM machines or pay phones), not within 50m of another busker, time limit of 1 hour in one location etc.

[mouskouri41]

Yes I phoned the council but they said there were no vacancies for buskers,and that there werent licenses issued for children,but surely that only applies if you are collecting money!She just wants to sing-but maybe I'll see whether I can do it for charity.I know the Bromley Youth Music Trust busk in the shopping centre at christmas so will ask them.

[Flosmom]

You can busk from the comfort of your own home at www.streetjelly.com

Deb x