Collective “Camden Art Café”
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s posh restaurant was occupied by squatters for days – the police were powerless
Gordon Ramsay’s York & Albany pub and boutique hotel near Regent’s Park in London briefly had unpopular residents: squatters.
© Everett Collection / Imago Images
Kitchen rager Gordon Ramsay really had a reason to freak out recently. Squatters had taken up residence in the star chef’s million-dollar posh pub in Camden. The police’s hands were tied.
Gordon Ramsay had actually just wanted to sell the property and hand over a lease for several million. The property was therefore recently unused. But nothing came of the deal at first, because the Camden Art Café collective, which also owned at least five men and one woman, had set up shop in the house on Regent’s Park. They glued the locks shut and used the expensive kitchen appliances to barricade them. The problem: Ramsay couldn’t simply throw out the uninvited guests. The occupiers took advantage of a loophole in British law. Even the police’s hands were tied.
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Gordon Ramsay’s fight against squatters
Photos of the interior of the hotel showed that the “new residents” treated the 19th century house with anything but care. There was junk and trash scattered all over the place. They had gradually settled into the hotel rooms.
But the intruders didn’t just occupy the house. On Instagram they described their “project” as an autonomous “Camden Art Café”. “Our goal is to regularly open our doors to everyone, especially the people of Camden who have fallen victim to gentrification and parasitic projects. We offer free food, drinks and a space where they can display their art, without the ridiculous bureaucracy that galleries ask people to go through,” they explained the cast in a post.
London police powerless against the intruders
Celebrity chef Ramsay is said to have informed the police a week and a half ago. But they were unable to get the squatters out of the house. In the UK it is not illegal to occupy property that is not used as a residential property. The occupiers also seemed to know this. They had put a note on the wall of the house announcing that they would take legal action against anyone who did anything against their occupation. The only way to get rid of them is through the regional court.
Said and done. Ramsay filed a lawsuit for eviction and was successful. The occupiers have now left the building again.
Sources: BBC, The Sun, The Independent,Instagram