KITCHEN NIGHTMARE Gordon Ramsay’s £13m pub taken over by squatters with brazen gang even threatening to take legal action against TV chef
The TV chef called the police last Wednesday but has been unable to remove the squatters from the 19th-century building
A GANG of squatters has set up home in telly chef Gordon Ramsay’s swanky £13million pub.
The brazen invaders have even slapped a legal notice on the outside of the Grade-II listed building, threatening action against anyone who tries to force them out.
The gang, said to be made up of at least six “professional squatters”, used Ramsay’s own kitchen appliances to barricade themselves in and have glued shut the locks.
Photos show the swanky bar area of the venue — which had been temporarily closed for a handover — resembling a tip, with debris sprawled everywhere and a squatter crashed out on a leather sofa.
Ramsay, 57, was about to sign over a multi-million pound lease to new partners when the gang broke in to the York & Albany pub and boutique hotel near Regent’s Park, central London.
The TV chef — who was embroiled in a legal battle over the venue back in 2015 — called the police last Wednesday but has been unable to remove the squatters from the 19th-century building.
Last night a source said: “It’s an absolute nightmare scenario for poor Gordon.
“The pub was temporarily closed whilst he was finalising a new lease, and during this handover period a gang of professional squatters somehow bypassed all the security and CCTV, and got themselves in.
“They’ve now boarded themselves in the building and are slowly taking over the place, leaving their crap everywhere and brazenly telling locals this is now their home.
“They’ve glued tight all the locks and are cooking up a storm in the kitchen, which is especially galling for Gordon.”
The source said there were at least five men and a woman there, adding: “Some are crashing on sofas, but others have taken over the beautiful bedrooms. God knows the damage and filth.
“Gordon called the police on Wednesday and is trying to secure an eviction notice, but it’s proving an absolute nightmare.
“It’s increasingly hard to forcibly remove these people.
“Gordon is at the end of his tether. Not surprisingly, a few choice words have been said.”
Yesterday, one squatter was seen sleeping barefoot on a couch in the bar area while wearing a hat, coat and trousers.
Another slipper-clad occupier was scrolling his smartphone.
Scattered around were a pair of crutches, a Sainsbury’s bag for life, tobacco, plugs, empty water bottles and wine glasses — with a blue sleeping bag dumped on another sofa.
A cat climber and dog toy were also visible, while kitchen equipment was seen on the floor at the back of the venue.
One squatter, wearing a blue hoodie, knee compression bandage and sliders, refused to comment when approached by The Sun.
The man — who had two black eyes with a cut above one — said: “I’m under no obligation to speak to you. Have a good morning.”
He asked for our reporter’s name but refused to give his own.
He pulled out a phone and was heard talking to a woman who warned him not to speak to us.
He then began recording and hiding around the back of the building.
At one point, he was heard saying on the phone: “They’re just trying to provoke me.”
When we said he was staying there illegally, he replied: “Is this strictly necessary?”
The squatters have placed a bike lock on a metal gate leading to the hotel.
They have also slapped a legal notice on the front door, saying they are entitled to stay there as it “is a non-residential building”.
They claim that the law which prevents squatting is not applicable because it “was NOT designed or adapted, before the time of our entry, for use as a place to live”.
Incredibly, they then threaten legal action, suggesting that if anyone tries to enter “by violence” they could end up in jail for six months.
They warn: “Take notice that we occupy this property and at all times there is at least one person in occupation.
“That any entry or attempt to enter into these premises without our permission is therefore a criminal offence as any one of us who is in physical possession is opposed to such entry without our permission.
“That if you attempt to enter by violence or by threatening violence we will prosecute you.
“You may receive a sentence of up to six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to £5,000.”
The note, signed by “The Occupiers”, also warns: “If you want to get us out you will have to issue a claim for possession in the County Court or in the High Court.”
Film director and actor Gary Love bought the freehold of the derelict former coaching inn in 2007 from the Crown Estate.
He then leased the premises for 25 years to Michelin-starred chef Ramsay, and it was transformed into a hugely successful boutique hotel and restaurant.
The former stables became a wood-fired pizza oven space, and customers could sip cocktails on the zinc-topped bar.
The lions and tigers at nearby London Zoo could also reportedly be heard at night by diners on the sprawling roof terrace.
However in 2015 Hell’s Kitchen star Ramsay was embroiled in an unsuccessful legal battle over the premises after trying to free himself from the lease.
A judge ruled he must personally pay £640,000 in rent arranged by his father-in-law Christopher Hutcheson, who Ramsay had sacked five years before.
Hutcheson was accused of using a “ghost writer” machine to sign Ramsay’s name on a legal document.
The chef’s wife Tana even dramatically testified against her father at the High Court.
She stated she had made the “extremely distressing” discovery that her father — and brother Adam — had been “systematically defrauding” her husband.
Hutcheson, 75, had been chief executive of Ramsay’s restaurant empire.
But he was fired in 2010 after private detectives hired by the telly chef found he had hacked into his personal business files and withdrew £1.42million.
The families reconciled but Hutcheson, who was said to have a mistress amid a “very complex life”, was jailed for six months in 2017.
Last night the Met confirmed: “Police were made aware of squatters at a disused property in Parkway, Regent’s Park, NW1 on Wednesday, 10 April.”
Squatters are viewed as a “civil matter” so police did not attend.
