For over a year, playing any musical instrument has been banned in the centre of Birmingham. Street preaching has also been banned.

The on-the-spot fine is about to go up to £500.

We are gathering to protest against this ban, outside the Rotunda (intersection of New Street and High Street) from 2pm on Wednesday 4 November.

There will be some busking and some short speeches.

The event is organised by Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life and Keep Streets Live, and supported by organisations including the Musicians Union.

If you want to give a supporting quote or make a speech email Josie.appleton@freedomineverydaylife.org 

If you want to play a set email David (KSL): dmsgray@gmail.com

If you can’t come, share this event with those who might be able to.

Bring back the music!

See the Facebook Event Page

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Busking brings city centres to life; it creates moments of beauty and pleasure. It beggars belief that England’s second city has been without music for over a year – and that now the penalty for playing so much as a penny whistle in Birmingham will rise to a whopping £500. Busking is being treated as ASB and that is deeply wrong. We need to stop this creeping shutdown of music and allow musicians back on the streets. Josie Appleton, Director, Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life

There is now no busking at all in Birmingham, and it feels lifeless and dull walking through the centre. A system built around a handful of complaints ends up enforcing blandness, driving out the more unusual performers who divide opinion – and no one ever writes to the council to complain that a town centre was dull. To fine someone hundreds of pounds on a technicality, for doing nothing worse than trying to brighten a street, is madness. David Fisher, Birmingham busker and director, Keep Streets Live

The MU has waged a long campaign against the PSPO which effectively bans busking in the city centre of Birmingham. It’s a misuse of the legislation, authoritarian over-reach, and a wrong-headed step by the council who are effectively saying art and its creativity are not welcome here. We aren’t surprised by this, because the council was mismanaged into bankruptcy and has also halted funding to its prestigious and internationally renowned touring organisations such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Royal Ballet, which has negative consequences for the image of the city and the musicians within it. It is as if the council fails to understand the value of the arts to its residents, or that it is artforms like busking that make our city centre a vibrant and appealing place to live, work, and visit. There is however an opportunity now to put this right. We appeal to the new council leadership to reject the cultural vandalism of what’s gone before, and work with us to restore busking to this great city. Stephen Brown, Midlands organiser, Musicians’ Union