Simon West, also known as Juggling Jack Flash, said the reverse was actually the case; it was the pipe band who were the aggressors, literally marching in on the buskers’ patch.
Mr West was responding to allegations by Queenstown and Southern Lakes Highland Pipe Band member Dave Macleod in an oral submission to a recent Queenstown Lakes District Council hearing of proposed amendments to the Activities in Public Places Bylaw 2016.
Mr Macleod called for a larger footprint to busk in the city, and greater effort from the council to clamp down on bad behaviour from "fly-by-night" buskers.
For more than 15 years the pipe band, made up of 14 to 15 "mostly pensioners", had assembled every Thursday night in its regular spot on the waterfront to give public performances.
However, Mr Macleod, who is also a solo busker, alleged frequent intimidation from other buskers had forced the band to shift its performances to the Memorial Gates, a part of town not frequented by street performers, so they did not "get challenged anymore".
Mr West said the claims were "quite comedic", and it was the pipe band who had no regard for others working on that spot — or "pitch" as it is known by buskers — outside the Patagonia ice cream shop.
The lakefront pitch was the only place designated by the council for permitted buskers to perform in the town.
"What the pipe band do is start playing at the top of the shopping centre, and they will walk down the Mall playing and on to the pitch, regardless of whether somebody else is using it."
"I’ve had conversations with them several times, and one of their wives comes down to support them and comes up to my face and starts talking over the top of me and just refusing to have a discourse."
He conceded the pipers had "been a little bit better about it recently" because the buskers had had conversations with them.
The 37-year-old, who has been a professional busker in Queenstown, the United Kingdom and Europe for 20 years, said street performers met at the pitch at 4pm every day to pull names out of a hat to determine the order of events.
However, the band had spurned multiple invites from buskers to be part of the draw.
