Marco Pierre White’s West End restaurant taken over by squatters – as activists move into abandoned site & padlock doors
SQUATTERS took over Marco Pierre White’s former Leicester Square restaurant last week.
The Metropolitan Police has now secured the five-floor building and removed as many as 400 squatters.
1
The steak and pizza restaurant was opened by the TV chef in 2021, but closed down earlier this year.
The manager of the Filipino fast-food restaurant next door told The Telegraph up to 400 people had been living in the building.
Ellen Leyco, manager of Jollibee, said: “The council regularly visits us. When they were here last week I told them they need to look into Mr White’s because it is causing us some trouble.
“The council came back today and told me I was correct as they found 400 people there.
Read more News
“They said they were occupying all the floors and they were illegal. Many are homeless and they are leaving a mess out the back.”
It comes after Gordon Ramsay served legal papers to evict squatters from his £13million pub.
The gang moved in to the venue last week, turning the 16th century former coaching inn into a dump.
But activists living in the York & Albany, in Camden, North London, cancelled an event yesterday after receiving a warning letter.
Most read in The Sun
They wanted to rename the place the Camden Art Cafe and run a “soup kitchen”.
They wrote online: “Apologies to everyone who was going to come along today. Papers served, cafe cancelled!”
Ramsay has launched a High Court bid to boot them out and was about to sign a deal with new partners for the site.
Squatting in a non-residential property is not a crime in England and Wales.