Ilkley Live

Ilkley Live Busking Festival 2025 Saturday 3rd May

Busking is going big in Ilkley! Exciting news for Ilkley musicians and music fans; there will soon be five new busking spots in the town, so the Ilkley streets will be filled with music. As part of the launch of busking, Ilkley live is proud to present Ilkley’s first ever Busking Festival.  The festival will take place on Saturday 3rd May 2025, from 9am to 6pm.

Ilkley Busking Festival will be an opportunity to showcase busking talent in Ilkley and wander through the streets hearing music and watching performances from a range of styles and instruments.

It’s free to attend, put on by the community for the community, so please come out in Ilkley and make a day of it.

Before the festival

Buskers – here’s what to do to take part:

  1. Check out Busking in Ilkley to see how busking works in Ilkley. It’s full of tips and some guidelines for us all to follow.
  2. Sign up for half an hour time slots at the five busking spots on our website. Please limit yourself to three busking spots during the day to give everyone an opportunity to perform.

At the festival

  1. You are free to collect money. You can collect cash or use a contactless card machine if you have one.
  2. Remember that people can busk wherever and whenever they want (within the law) and the Festival programme is just to help as many people to try busking. So there is a small chance that someone will be playing on the pitch and at the time you signed up for. They are free to do so and the best plan is to engage with them in a friendly way and if they want to keep playing, move on an find another pitch for yourself. The programme will remain open throughout and you can even find a new pitch that is out of earshot of the others.
  3. Yard Bar & Kitchen are sponsoring the event and they are covering all buskers’ Performing Rights Society licenses for the day. Any busker can go to the ‘green room’ upstairs and Yard and you get 20% off drinks during the festival. Yard is here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/s1dMBR6tgzE1ifzJ8
  4. All performers will be sent a a link to a Whatsapp group so you can get support from other musicians and the festival organisers.
  5. Have fun!

Thank you for bringing the joy of live music to Ilkley!