Squatters ‘will stay at Gordon Ramsay’s pub until evicted’
Lawyers for Gordon Ramsay Holdings International Limited have a High Court order securing possession of the premises.
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Squatters will stay inside a Gordon Ramsay pub in London until they are evicted, according to a friend of those locked inside the building.
The group shut themselves in the York & Albany near Regent’s Park, north London, last week.
Lawyers for Gordon Ramsay Holdings International Limited (GRHI) have since got a High Court order securing possession of the premises.
The ruling paves the way for High Court enforcement officers to retake the Grade II listed building in the coming days.
Some of the squatters initially said they would comply with the ruling and four people left the premises on Friday .
A man who said he was a friend of the one of the squatters entered the York & Albany briefly on Friday and said afterwards that they would be staying put.
“They’re going to wait for the bailiff,” he said, adding: “That’s basically what they’re going to end up doing.”
The friend, who would not give his name but said he is a former squatter himself, said those inside the building were young, homeless and had been squatting in various locations for a long time.
“They are professional enough, have been doing it for years,” he said, adding: “The building looks f****** pristine inside.”
One of the squatters who left the premises returned on Friday accompanied by another man.
Squatters then boarded up windows and made hand gestures to reporters outside.
On Thursday, lawyers for GRHI were granted an order by Judge Simon Brown to retake the property.
Members of the Anarchist Association London Branch and the Camden Art Cafe have been with the squatters since they entered last week.
In a post on Instagram, the Camden Art Cafe said they would be leaving the premises but added: “We wish those left in the building the best of luck in their endeavours.”
The squatter group ran a cafe out of the building last week, handing out free food and drink to “the people of Camden who have been victims of gentrification and parasitic projects like HS2″.
A squatter told the PA news agency: “We’re not bad people. I pay my taxes, I’ve got a job, I work in a pub.”
He added: “We just need a place to stay that’s it. We’re trying to do a good thing here.”
The former pub and hotel building is up for sale for £13 million, after a protracted legal battle between the Hell’s Kitchen frontman and film director Gary Love.
In 2007, Mr Love bought the freehold of the premises and then leased the pub to Mr Ramsay on a 25-year term for an annual rent of £640,000.
The celebrity chef attempted to free himself from the lease in 2015 but was unsuccessful in the High Court.