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Essex protests Council seeks order to shut asylum hotel
The Guardian
|August 16, 2025
A high court judge has been asked to shut down a hotel housing asylum seekers amid concerns about violence and disorder seen at far-right protests at the site.
The local council applied for an urgent injunction against the owners of the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, that would immediately prevent them housing asylum seekers.
It has repeatedly called on the Home Office to close it down.
Protests have occurred since an asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl last month. A second asylum seeker was later charged with sexual assault.
During a hearing before Mr Justice Eyre yesterday, Epping district council's lawyer Philip Coppel KC said the site had ceased to be used as a hotel - its "sole lawful use". This, he argued, was a "clear breach" of planning law.
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