Busking Report – Southwark

On Thursday I took a day off from my day job to do some busking! My first stop was Southwark, a pitch where I have fond memories. I filmed my YouTube busking video there. I sometimes tell people it’s my “favourite pitch” because the acoustics are great, it’s a very open space and you can really belt it out there. But on the flipside, it’s really quiet. No matter what time, no matter what day, it just doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic. And even if it did, the busking pitch is maybe 5 metres away from where people walk at their closest spot so people need to go out of their way to give you money.

Plus, Southwark station isn’t a huge tourist area either.

So, Southwark is not a money-maker. In fact, I’ve been to Southwark three times now and my average hourly intake is £5.64 - which is very poor. But it’s a good place to practice new stuff in a low-pressure environment and the staff there are really friendly. Plus, for me it’s extremely convenient as I live only two stops away on the Jubilee Line.

Anwyay, let’s do the numbers.

Today the lunchtime punters at Southwark on a Thursday afternoon were kind enough to give me £10.52, mostly in the form of 9x £1 coins. So, £5.26 for me and £5.26 for Crisis.

I was there for 1h50m, which makes my hourly salary £5.84. 🙃

Some notable moments

Hmm. Erm. I played Coldplay’s Green Eyes busking for the first time. That’s about as exciting as this pitch got I’m afraid.

I guess I could say that after the session I went to Ma’s Rotisserie and had a delicious toasted chiabatta with mozzarella, tomato and avocado so… check them out next time you’re in the area!

The first tip

Our old friend Torn got me my first £2 tip, which was very nice since it was also the first song of the day and my voice wasn’t quite warmed up yet.

The best performance & biggest tip

The only one which I logged as “Amazing” on my spreadsheet was Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which incidentally also gave me my biggest tip!

How to improve

Actually, this was a good stop. I went for less than an hour, it was a good opportunity to warm up - by the time I got to my next pitch, at South Kensington, my voice was well and truly warmed up! Now read about South Kensington (Pitch 1)!