For decades, Leicester Square has been a magnet for Londoners and tourists, its crowds often drawn by the sound of live music. But that soundtrack has fallen silent after a City of London Magistrates Court ruling branded busking there a ‘statutory nuisance’ - even likening it to ‘psychological torture techniques.’

A judge ordered the Westminster City Council to stop the ‘nuisance’ caused by buskers in a case between Global Radio and the local authority on March 26.

The decision has left musicians without one of the city’s most lucrative and visible performance spots. Campaigners say it sets a dangerous precedent for public music-making across the UK.

Now, high-profile buskers, musicians, and London Assembly members gathered to demand new, viable pitches in Westminster to replace

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