'Everyone's on edge': Epping braces for another hotel protest

Sky News

24-07-2025

Tracey's cheese toastie is getting cold.
She's explaining to me how hacked off she is about the asylum hotel in Epping, there is a lot to get off her chest.
This Essex commuter town has seen a series of protests around the Bell Hotel where asylum seekers have been housed for the past few years.
The catalyst last week was an Ethiopian man, who had only recently arrived on a small boat, appearing in court charged with three counts of sexual assault on a local girl.
Tracey was in the crowd demonstrating last Thursday when things turned violent, with some protesters clashing with police. Eight officers suffered injuries along with two hotel employees.
Tracey told Sky News: "I've been here since I was four years old, I'm sixty now and we've never had any trouble like this before.
"I'm sick to the skin of it all, I can't wait for it all to be over.
"Everyone's on edge now. There's a lot of hostility so I think they (the migrants) should go.
"I'm not a racist and I'm not prejudiced but this has just gone too far for this town.
"You shouldn't relocate them, you should send them back to where they came from, simple as that.
"Then it will be restored, the peace."
She's angry at the government's response and the way she feels communities have not been listened to.
She told Sky News: "They are going to have a lot of protests on their hands if they don't do anything about it.
"So watch this space!"
She went back to her cheese toastie and chips.
Essex Police officers are preparing for another demonstration in Epping later with a march planned from the hotel to the council offices, where local politicians are due to discuss the problems.
The chief constable has promised that his officers will facilitate peaceful protest while warning troublemakers they will be robustly dealt with.
As we walked along the main shopping street with our camera, a man wound down the window of his partner's Mini and shouted about the violence last week.
We asked him to stop and explain what he meant.
It turned out Keith was at the protest too, his son was arrested and charged with criminal damage.
"My son is actually going to court because he shook the Bell hotel sign and they are trying to do him with criminal damage," he said.
"If they arrest somebody there will be five people to take their place," he warned - suggesting that people will show up regardless.
"It will go on until it stops, it'll stop when they (the migrants) get moved out."
Not everyone feels the same way - another woman who did not want to give her name said she strongly disagreed with the protests at the hotel.
She told us: "I don't think an angry mob outside somewhere where people are staying within our community is the right way to go about it.
"They could be demonstrating outside the Home Office."
It is a divisive issue that the government clearly can't solve quickly.
They are aiming to stop using hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029.
Very few people in Epping feel they can wait that long. They want solutions now.