"In Chester there are many Buskers, a few are amplified, Andy Martin, which I'm sure a couple of you know is one of them and so is Ed Alleyne Johnson, if you don't know Ed Alleyne, he used to be in the band New Model Army, a folk rock band that used violin instead of lead guitar in their songs, he performs full accompaniments and concertos on just one violin with the aid of footpedals to change the style of the strings and to record and playback playloops which he then plays over, it's amazing to watch and totally captulating to listen to, if you don't like Amplified Busking may I offer you to come to Chester and listen to Ed Alleyne Johnson, you may change you perpective after listening to him."

Ed no longer plays in Chester as they wouldn't grant him a Street Trading Licence to sell his CDs (his main source of income). Very few places will so he now plays in York. He is brilliant, he is also a considerate musician who follows the local code of practice which is don't play so loud that you can be heard more than fifty yards away, don't set up when someone else is playng and don't hog a pitch for more than two hours if someone else wishes to play there.

York splits between amp allowed pitches (Parliament Street and St Sampsons) and acoustic only (the Minster and the rest of the pedestrian areas).

Steve