Our Ref:        FOI-2601-2425

Thank you for your request received on 17 November 2024 asking for information about busking on the London Underground.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You asked: 

I wanted to ask if it was possible to find out which stations allow artists to perform currently, and what times of the day they prefer to perform, and what their performance style is?

We currently have pitches at 31 London Underground stations; the number of pitches and stations may increase or decrease based on engineering works at stations. 

Please see the list of stations below:

•           Angel

•           Bank

•           Baker Street

•           Blackfriars

•           Bond Street

•           Bayswater

•           Chancery Lane

•           Canary Wharf

•           Charing Cross

•           Euston

•           Green Park

•           Hammersmith

•           Kings Cross

•           London Bridge

•           Liverpool Street

•           Leicester Square

•           Maida Vale

•           Marble Arch

•           North Greenwich

•           Oxford Circus

•           Piccadilly Circus

•           Shoreditch High Street

•           Southwark

•           South Kensington

•           St. Paul’s

•           Stratford

•           Tottenham Court Road

•           Victoria

•           Waterloo

•           Westminster

We do not hold information on what time of the day performers prefer to perform as that depends on the individual. Some like to perform early to catch the morning peak; others are night owls and will perform in the evening. Our most popular pitches are usually booked from 8am to midnight. Our buskers play all genres of music – from classical to jazz to rock to pop – and reflect the cultural diversity of London. 

I'd also like to know the flow of people at different times of the day at each London Underground station

Passenger flows by time of day are available in the Numbat dataset available on our website under “TfL detailed annual rail and Tube demand dataset”:

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/open-data-users/our-open-data#on-this-page-9

Under section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to provide you with information which is reasonably accessible by other means.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

[email protected]