The street performers in Covent Garden’s West Piazza, outside St Paul’s Church, have organised their own pitches for 50 years. Unlike most busking spots in Westminster, the piazza has never needed a council licence or permit. The performers mark 1975 as the start of the system and celebrated its 50th anniversary on 11 May 2025.
How the pitches work
The pitches are run by the Covent Garden Street Performers Association (CGSPA). Performers who want a slot take part in a daily draw, and choose their performance times in the order their names come out. The association also rotates access to pitches and settles disputes between acts.
To perform, an act needs an existing show and public liability insurance, according to the association’s members.
“Covent Garden works because we built it,” Melvyn Altwarg, a CGSPA spokesperson, told the BBC in May 2025. “No one had to come in with a policy document, we figured it out on the cobblestones.”
Why there is no licence
Westminster City Council introduced a borough-wide busking and street entertainment licensing scheme in 2021. The CGSPA chose not to join it. Aicha Less, from the council, told the BBC that licensing ensured “fair treatment for all performers” and said the council hoped to work with the association on guidance in future.
A long history
Street performance in Covent Garden goes back at least to 1662, when Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary about a puppet show there. Acts that worked the piazza in their early days include Cirque du Soleil, Stomp and the magician Dynamo, according to the BBC.
The essentials
- Where: West Piazza, Covent Garden, outside St Paul’s Church
- Run by: the Covent Garden Street Performers Association
- Since: 1975
- Cost to watch: free. Performers collect money at the end of each show