Silent disco tours in Edinburgh are "too noisy," City Council seeks action

A silent disco craze has taken Edinburgh by storm and a large number of residents in the Scottish capital are fed up with it.

Donning wireless headphones while galavanting, singing and dancing through the streets of the city, these large tour groups have been characterized by many as a serious public menace.

Aside from the fact that these "silent" revelers are creating sidewalk congestion and causing traffic hazards in the narrow streets of Edinburgh's medieval Old Town quarter, the main complaint from locals stems from the fact that silent discos are just not silent enough.

After numerous complaints, officials in Edinburgh are looking into how to quiet these roving dance enterprises. “Silent discos are not silent," said Scottish city council member Jo Mowat during an interview with Edinburgh Evening News. "There is a lot of whooping and screaming, especially when you have 40 women on a hen party." Mowat goes on to explain that many of his constituents have contacted him regarding silent discos and that the Old Town Community Council "has been raising this issue for around nine months."

Despite these grievances, the demand for more silent disco tours in the Scottish capital continues to rise. The Edinburgh City Council are having trouble finding a way to address the problem and lawmakers have found that they are limited in what they can do to curb the growing trend.

“There’s not a lot we can do at the moment in the never-never land of licensing," says Mowat. "The current legislation does not serve the residents of the city who never get a break from activity such as this.”

Check out a video of Edinburgh's most popular silent disco tour below.