Silent discos are ‘too loud’ says city councillor

Members of Edinburgh City Council have spoken out about the growing trend of “silent discos” taking place on the Scottish Capital’s streets.

In an interview given to the Edinburgh Evening News, Conservative City Centre councillor Jo Mowatt spoke of the council’s attempt to curb the popular walking (dancing) tours that have been parading through the city’s main streets.

One of the main concerns expressed by residents, according to Mowatt, was that these silent discos are... well, not silent enough.

“Silent discos are not silent,” she said. “There is a lot of whooping and screaming, especially when you have 40 women on a hen party. There is also the safety aspect as who is going to have to step in the road due to the groups taking up the pavements?”

“I have been contacted by many of my constituents regarding silent discos,” she added. “While the Old Town Community Council has been raising this issue for around nine months.”

As it stands, silent discos are becoming increasingly popular among locals and tourists alike and the local council has little authority to slow it down. Mowatt has said that, while she is reluctant to introduce new legislation to ban the street parties altogether, she believes there may be “something in the legislation box already at our disposal”.

“The current legislation does not serve the residents of the city who never get a break from activity such as this,” she said.

Basically then, if silent discos are your type of thing thing, you might want to get to Edinburgh fast. They mightn’t be around for too much longer. To get a taste for what these guided tours are like, check out the video below. 

This week Edinburgh’s Terminal V, announced the first list of names set to play their massive Easter party in the Royal Highland Centre. Helena Hauff, Mella Dee and Richie Hawtin are among the names locked to play.

To get a feel for the Edinburgh scene, you should look no further than being taken round by Theo Kottis, in our feature here.