Harrods shop’n’roll promotion silenced by angry neighbours

You can buy just about anything in Harrods, the venerable Knightsbridge store boasts. But when Mohamed Al Fayed, its owner, tried to add live rock’n’roll to his range of merchandise, local residents came down on him with all the force of a Brian May riff.

An optimistically titled instore promotion, Harrods Rocks, has backfired after neighbours complained about the noise.

Harrods said that it had received a call from an environmental health officer warning of complaints about noise levels during a gig last Thursday by the bands Love Minus Zero and the Roslins.

The performance was part of a month of live events including gigs by up-and-coming bands, and a plan to host 2,000 guitarists playing Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water.

A spokesman said that the store had decided to cancel further gigs that might cause similar offence. “We have a lot of out-of-hours events and a good relationship with our neighbours which we don’t want to damage but Harrods rocks on,” he added.

The store also hosted an appearance by Rick Parfitt, the guitar-toting Status Quo legend. More than 500 people turned up to his masterclass on Saturday at which he performed guitar solos.

Harrods is only allowed to put on twelve events a year and Kensington & Chelsea council said it had granted licences for five events this month.

A spokeswoman says she was surprised to learn that the planned events were not going ahead.

Born to Rock, an exhibition featuring classic guitars from rock history played by legends including Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison and Muddy Waters will continue to run and a planned fashion show in aid of Jeans for Genes will still go ahead but without a live performance by Chris Hardman or “Lil Chris”, the winner of Channel 4’s Rock School reality show.

But gigs by up-and-coming bands including Idlewild, Enamel and Bowling for Soup have been cancelled.

The spokesman for Harrods said: “We are disappointed but encouraged by the level of enthusiasm for the exhibition itself.”

A celebrity auction of guitars personally customised by the likes of Bryan Adams, Patrick Cox and Phillippe Starck will also go ahead at the end of the promotion on March 1.