Becky lives about ten minutes from The Bell Hotel in Epping. She used to pass by it when she went for a stroll with her daughter on nearby Bell Common. But that stopped when the asylum seekers arrived.
‘I drive her past here now,’ she tells me. ‘It doesn’t feel safe.’ It’s why she’s joined the small group of protesters standing by steel railings, and surrounded by a polite, but large, group of police officers.
‘I want them out,’ she says gesturing towards the drab-looking building opposite. ‘All of them.’
Chris has lived in Epping for 45 years. ‘My daughter lives here, my granddaughter lives here and my great-granddaughter,’ she says. In her hand she holds one of the ubiquitous signs I’ve seen taped up around the area – a Union Jack with the handwritten slogan ‘Protect Our Kids’. And a smiley face.
‘We made it ourselves from an old M&S bag,’ she explains proudly.
I ask her why she’s part of the demonstration. ‘Epping is being turned into a slum,’ she claims. ‘The asylum seekers sit around in the streets spitting and drinking. Then there’s all the shoplifting.’
She shakes her head. ‘The people I feel sorry for are the real asylum seekers. The ones queuing up at embassies abroad trying to come in the proper way. It isn’t fair on them.’
Angry residents protest outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, where concerns have not been addressed
Over the past week the concerns of local residents such as Becky and Chris have been catapulted to the top of the national agenda.
The violent clashes between demonstrators, counter-demonstrators and the police have led Reform leader Nigel Farage to warn of impending ‘civil disobedience on a vast scale’.
He was condemned in some quarters for inflaming tensions, especially after making the false accusation that far-Left demonstrators had been bussed to the site by Essex Police’s own officers.
But then Downing Street revealed Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had expressed similar concerns in Cabinet about simmering social tensions. According to briefings, she warned Britain faces a repeat of last summer’s riots ‘unless the Government shows it can address people’s concerns’.
Concerns in Epping have not been addressed. And as a result the explosion of anger – prompted by an incident that is currently the subject of legal proceedings – has seen the nation’s political tribes retreat into their respective bunkers.
For those on the Left, the disorder is further evidence of the growing tide of populist racism and extremism, with rage being stoked by outside, far-Right forces. In response, the Right claim this is simply an attempt to smear good, honest, working people who are reacting the only way they know how to protect their community from a foreign invasion, and hard-Left activism.
Whatever the truth, the people of this affluent and previously placid corner of Essex find themselves trapped in the middle. On the day I was there the protests were broadly peaceful. But Epping was still a town under occupation. Offices and shops closed early as a dispersal order came into force. Police vans cruised the high street. Officers in riot gear from as far afield as Wales milled around.
As a result, few locals wanted to talk openly about recent events. But speaking anonymously, they reinforced Farage’s and Rayner’s bleak picture of a nation on the brink.
Tensions around The Bell Hotel have been simmering for years. One resident explained how his friend had been contacted by police and warned to stay clear of the area while the dispersal order was in place.
Protesters Mairead, Shelley, Orla, Charlotte, Sarah and Lindsey outside the asylum hotel in Epping
A protester wrapped in the St George’s flag stands in front of a line of riot police in Epping
‘He was followed by some guys from the hotel a while ago, and there was an incident. He ended up kicking in the front door, and he got arrested. It didn’t all just start last week.’
Some older residents recall a time when the hotel was a relatively desirable location. ‘You went there for a steak and a bit of posh on a Saturday,’ one recalled.
Then, in 2020, the first refugees appeared. Locals and politicians complained but were ignored. In April 2024 the hotel was closed, apparently for good. But then in March – again against the pleas of local residents – it reopened.
‘Before it was families. But this time it was just young men,’ local Conservative councillor Holly Whitbread explained to me.
Speak to local people, and their description of the conduct of these men varies. Some describe basic anti-social behaviour, such as drinking or hanging around in the street. Others claim women and schoolgirls have been openly harassed. Police are investigating more serious incidents.
Which provokes some predictable responses. ‘We should all pile over there and give them some back. See how they like it,’ another resident suggested, to popular assent.
Yet there is also a recognition that outsiders genuinely are entering the area and stoking trouble.
‘People are trying to jump on the bandwagon,’ claimed local builder Mark [not his real name].
‘Whether you like immigrants or not, you can’t just go around attacking them.’
Tommy Robinson, who is planning his own demonstration, was described as ‘an agitator’. As were the Left-wing counter-demonstrators. But that merely highlights a number of stark realities. The first is that local people are still being kept completely in the dark about what is happening in their community.
When I was there I heard contrasting reports about whether The Bell is still being used to house migrants.
The violent clashes between demonstrators, counter-demonstrators and the police have led Reform leader Nigel Farage to warn of impending ‘civil disobedience on a vast scale’
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has expressed concerns in Cabinet about simmering social tensions. According to briefings, she warned Britain faces a repeat of last summer’s riots ‘unless the Government shows it can address people’s concerns’
‘We’ve asked the Home Office,’ Holly Whitbread told me, ‘but they won’t confirm anything. All they’ve said is the Government is committed to removing all asylum seekers from hotels by the end of the Government’s first term.’
Another is that the outside agitators are merely exploiting a vacuum being created by the mainstream politicians. No local resident had seen or heard from the Prime Minister. Or the Deputy Prime Minister. Or any other senior politician.
‘No one’s listening to us,’ was a complaint I heard time and again.
But the most unpalatable truth is this. Until the demonstrations – and the violence that accompanied it – no one in high office really cared about what was happening at The Bell Hotel. Yes, they were conscious of the broader political toxicity of the asylum-seeker issue. But the pleas of women such as Becky and Chris for urgent action were falling on deaf ears.
Keir Starmer and his ministers cannot afford to remain oblivious to them. Because Nigel Farage and Angela Rayner are right. Britain is now a nation on the brink.
The people of Epping have been told their problems will be addressed by 2029 at the latest. But by then it’ll be far, far too late.
