Protesters gathered outside the Bell Hotel in Epping have booed at a car coming out that appeared to have migrants in it, our reporter on the ground Adam Toms reports. A group of around 50 demonstrators were outside the site, after the owner of the Bell Hotel won a legal appeal that means the building can remain open as an accommodation for asylum seekers.
The hotel became the focal point of several protests and counter-protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month. He has denied the charges.
Epping Forest District Council had won a temporary injunction from the High Court to block the use of hotel because of “unprecedented levels of protest and disruption,” which had led to several arrests.
The council also alleged that planning law had been breached in changing the use of the site, something the hotel’s owner, Somani Hotels, denies.
A video showed a couple of the protesters outside the hotel today booing at a car that went by following the appeal decision. Meanwhile, Anne Hall, a former Epping resident at the protest, told the Express that today’s decision is “very disappointing” and she’s “sure many of the local residents in Epping will be very disappointed with what’s been said”.
Ms Hall, who still has family in Epping, hopes for a different outcome at the full hearing in mid October, when the council could still be granted a further injunction to stop migrants being housed there.
“I think with what we’ve heard today, I don’t think the protesters will be going away any time soon.”
Shirley Mooney, 68, used to work at the Bell Hotel in 1998/9 in conferencing and banqueting.
She’s lived in Epping for 31 years and told The Daily Express that the asylum seekers have “won”, asking: “Why can’t they just go?”
Protesters outside the hotel today. (Image: Getty Images)
Carmen, 60, who didn’t wish to provide her surname or occupation, has lived in Epping for four years, and has attended nearly every protest outside the hotel on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, she said: “I’m absolutely heartbroken.”
“They’re probably all laughing in there, aren’t they?”, Carmen said, as she called for Keir Starmer “to go”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote on X following the ruling: “Illegal migrants have more rights than the British people under Starmer,” comments which have been echoed by other prominent politicians on the right.
It comes after three senior judges ruled that Yvette Cooper’s department can be involved in the case, after it had been prevented from doing so by the High Court.
Somani Hotels and the Home Office had challenged the High Court ruling which would also have prevented 138 asylum seekers from being housed there beyond September 12.
On Friday, Lord Justice Bean, sitting with Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Cobb, said that Mr Justice Eyre made an “erroneous” decision not to let the department be involved.
Reading a summary of the ruling today, Lord Justice Bean said the High Court decision demanding the removal of asylum seekers was flawed. He said: “We conclude that the judge made a number of errors of principle, which undermine his decision.”
He said the High Court had granted the injunction partly to reduce the risk of protests at the hotel – but this could actually increase the risk of disorder in the future, said Lord Justice Bean.
Reading a summary of the decision, Lord Justice Bean said the Home Office had a “constitutional role relating to public safety” and was affected by the issues.
In remarks following the decision today, Home Office Minister Angela Eagle, said: “We inherited a chaotic asylum accommodation system costing billions.
“This government will close all hotels by the end of this parliament and we appealed this judgment so hotels like the Bell can be exited in a controlled and orderly way that avoids the chaos of recent years that saw 400 hotels open at a cost of £9m a day.”
