SHOPPERS and visitors to Great Yarmouth will have become familiar with the sights and sounds of the Puppet Man, aka Davie Perry.The 66-year-old has become something of a cult figure in the town, dancing his puppets along to the sounds of classic pop tunes blasting out of his stereo.
SHOPPERS and visitors to Great Yarmouth will have become familiar with the sights and sounds of the Puppet Man, aka Davie Perry.
The 66-year-old has become something of a cult figure in the
town, dancing his puppets along to the sounds of classic pop tunes blasting out of his stereo.
He has even been the subject of a flashmob event organised on social networking website Facebook outside Market Gates shopping centre in June.
However, it appears not
everybody has been singing along
to his tune, particularly staff at
the shopping centre, who have forced him to move across to the
opposite side of Regent Road outside McDonald's after traders
complained about the noise.
One shopkeeper said the noise was so loud outside her jewellery business she could not hear customers speaking. She believed he was putting off potential customers to the shopping centre.
Janet Varney, manager of the 99p Store, said when he was performing outside Market Gates he regularly obstructed the entrance to her ground floor shop making it difficult for customers to get in.
She said: “When he first started off he was actually outside our door so that was why we complained to the centre management about him and he has moved.”
She was also concerned about the noise levels from his act.
Angela Lowe, manager of Clinton Cards in Regent Road, yearned for him to change his routine.
She said: “The noise gets really bad. I am not really against him, but we can't hear ourselves think at times. He is there all day. Perhaps he could find somewhere different like the seafront.”
However, Dawn Gibbs, manager of Lloyds Pharmacy, did not mind him even though he had moved to her side of the road during the last couple of weeks.
She said: “I like to see characters in the town and it does not bother me that he is out there.”
Mr Perry was bemused by the negative response to his act and said only 10pc of the people who spoke to him had complained about his performances.
The performer, who is
currently living in rented council accommodation in Ordnance Road, Yarmouth, said: “I noticed that
the louder you have it, the better. If you have got a record on and it is
loud enough then you could
earn maybe �2, but as soon as I
drop the volume, the money dries
up.”
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