Warning: News from the mainstream press
Eviction proceedings have been started against a group of squatters occupying The Bohemia pub in North Finchley.
The group was today issued a summons to appear at Barnet County Court on Monday, where the legal process of having them removed is set to begin.
Administrators for the former pub Chantrey Velacott applied for the order despite on-going talks with the pub’s owners Mitchells and Butlers and the property agent Colliers. [Read More]
Housing activists have occupied a property owned by Southwark council which was due to be auctioned today at a starting price of £2.3 million.
They have occupied the building to stop the sell-off of yet more public housing stock when the borough faces a severe housing crisis with almost 25,000 people on the housing waiting list and increasing numbers of people forced to sleep rough on London’s streets.
The occupation is also a challenge to section 114 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) introduced last September which criminalised squatting in residential properties. This law has meant that homeless people seeking shelter in empty buildings can find themselves with a prison sentence. [Read More]
Hello everybody. Your social center at Mare Street is back with an art school open for all!
Born from the creative needs of our residents and our friends, we are building an art studio, a darkroom and a series of workshops where you can come, learn and share your skills with everybody.
Our art studio and darkroom are being built from scrap and every help is welcome. Today we are starting to clear the space on our basement that will give place to these. If you want to help us out just show up today with good working mood and let’s all make this happen! Also we will need some materials to start working, so if you have something around that can help it would be great. [Read More]
We are a collective of community activists, who successfully helped to save the Friern Barnet Community Library.
We have occupied the closed Bohemia Pub Building (762-764 High Rd, Finchley, N12 9QH, Nearest tube: Woodside Park).
We are setting up a community centre project to boost the campaign aimed at reopening it as a community centre/pub.
Videos:
Bohemia occupied community centre pub 1
Good news Bohemia occupied community centre pub 2
Bohemia cabaret: 1, 2, piano and band
Today at approximately 10:05 a.m. as two of us were returning from scavenging fruit and vegetables a group of about a dozen builders forced entry into the social center. They then proceeded to affix a notice board to the wall declaring that the building was a construction site. We notified them that the property was legally occupied in accordance with the 1977 Criminal Law Act and that they had committed an offence by breaking into the building while it so occupied. Apparently unconcerned that their conduct was illegal, they proceeded to begin gutting the building while we were inside it. They also proceeded to disconnect the buildings water, by cutting the pipe connecting to the water main.
The builders were employed by CS Solutions and their supervisor was Jim Casey, the same man who had similarly threatened us weeks ago. No planning permission has been granted for any work to be done on the building; despite this and despite the building’s listed status they proceeded in doing significant damage to the downstairs. [Read More]
The bohemian pub on Finchley High road has been squatted and is on its way to becoming a thriving community centre. It was opened by the same crew from that reopened Friern Barnet Library last year library last year.
They want to open it up as a ‘community hub’ and there going to use the space for games nights, cinema nights and other things. I’m really excited to see the space get going. It looks like a fantastic building that they can start hosting events and workshops in straight away.
[Read More]
Well yesterday went really well. We finally had the front gate and door open to allow people into 195 Mare Street. Visitors were treated to our free shop (some local fashionistas probably had a bit too much fun), all day long food (salad, veggies, curry, barley…yum yum!), a Chilean film and then later live performances on kazoo and guitar.
Dozens came in – mostly just off of the street – and it was lovely having people stop as walking by, taking a look at our boards by the gate and then coming in for more. Plenty of folks came in with their children and this including a beautiful moment when one of our all-in-one baby outfits from the free shop found a new home. We attracted friends, of course, but also a lot of people we had never met before. People gave us gifts, told us about what they wanted from the social centre, how the could contribute and a good few told us about housing struggles. Others sat in our pretty cafe area, eating and enjoying the surroundings and watching those exploring the free shop or sneaking a quick peak at other parts of the building. [Read More]
The NewsRound is be a monthly post, keeping tabs on articles being posted in MainStream Media (MSM) sources, as well as independent channels (eg IMC, SchNEWS) about squatting, the new law (s.144) and possible new legislation (eg commercial). If you spot any articles of interest, please let us know by emailing: info AT squashcampaign DOT org. Disclaimer: All views expressed in this blog are that of the compiler and not necessarily that of SQUASH.
[Read More]
Held in a rather stunning squatted building in East London, the excellent Made Possible by Squatting exhibition sets out to challenge the common media myths and misconceptions of squatters.
Report with fotos
Everyone woke up super enthusiastic this morning ready to start the day. Downstairs free shop area looks almost unrecognisable – its suddenly viable again how much space there really is. We’ve going to have a great area to do some workshops while we continue to work on the rest of the building. [Read More]
Only a few days here at 195 and its clear that we seem to be attracting attention from people passing by. I guess its a mix of seeing us grinding hard in the front garden, reading our signs on the gates and quite simply not be able to walk past such a big and beautiful building without noticing it. 195 Mare street really does stand out on the main road. It has been extremely refreshing to speak with people all from different journeys. So far we have received only a positive response from the local community. Sharing ideas feels wonderful and exciting and its always fun showing people the awesome space that we now have for use. We are beginning to visualize what this place is going to evolve into.
In picture: rubber-cloved police smirk as they chase away Roma in a dawn raid on 19 July against the Marble Arch encampment in London’s high-class Park Lane district, assisted by immigration officers and staff from the Romanian Embassy. Some seventy people, including children, had been sleeping in the open under blankets and plasic.
[Read More]
