Harmony appears to have been restored in Bath following an ugly spat between buskers and the city’s abbey that led to an evensong service being halted for the first time in living memory.
Church leaders have invited buskers to perform in the abbey as part of an exhibition called Streets of Bath and have cooperated with musicians to produce a new guide to open air performances in the city.
It was all much more discordant in September 2014 when evensong was halted as the strains of busking threatened to overpower the abbey’s choir.
The abbey hierarchy argued that buskers and their battery-powered amplifiers were infringing the rights not only of worshippers but the whole city to a bit of peace and quiet.
Buskers hit back, claiming they too had a right to play and residents and visitors had the right to hear their performances, which range from rock and pop to opera.
On Wednesday the abbey declared that peace had now broken out. It said it had been delighted to throw open its grand old doors to buskers this week.
In a statement it said: “It’s a sign of the new relationship that has developed between the abbey and local buskers since the dispute. This has included working with partners, including Bath and North East Somerset council, Bath Business Improvement District, Keep Streets Live and the Musicians Union, to produce a Buskers’ Guide to Bath. The guidelines aim to balance the rights of street musicians to earn their living with the rights of members of and visitors to the abbey as a place of worship and quiet rest, so that all can enjoy the city and their time within it.”
The abbey has printed more than 500 copies of the new guide for circulation to its neighbouring businesses, buskers and abbey volunteers. There is also a traffic light system in place that lets performers know when services and rehearsals are taking place in the abbey.
The Rev Stephen Girling, missioner of Bath Abbey, said the music played in the abbey so far by the buskers had sounded magnificent. “We truly value our partnership with others in this city, including visual and performing artists,” he said. “I hope we can continue to build upon these latest steps.”
