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Bristol Squatters Occupy Lloyds TSB Private Bank

inks | 01.10.2012 12:56

Early Sunday morning a group of squatters occupied a former Lloyds TSB private bank in Clifton, Bristol.

Police, a security guard and the estate agents have all been round. The new Section 6 for commercial buildings worked and we're still in the building.

You can't keep good squatters down - we just took a private bank!

The former Lloyds private bank in Clifton is in a grade 2 listed Victorian mansion. It's got four floors of big rooms and a veranda at the back. So far we've spent most of our time relaxing in the first floor conservatory which is light, airy and has a good view of the gate.

We got in on Sunday night through an open window at the back. We secured the building and made the burglar alarm go off by taping over all the movement sensors.

Police attended at 1pm on Sunday giving us time to wake up, have a coffee and enjoy our new home. There were six car loads of them including some plain clothes police. The new Section 6 for commercial buildings issued by ASS held them off even though the building looks fairly residential - it was originally built as a family homw with accommodation for six servants.

A security guard turned up at about 3pm on Sunday. It turned out his company had only been hired to protect the building "a few hours before". Heh! He was friendly and went away when we told him it was squatted.

Monday morning two reps from the estate agents marketing the building came round. Looks like they're going the legal route rather than trying anything dodgy.

We've talked to several of the neighbours already and generally they're friendly and supportive - more than we expected - which is good. They're unhappy about the building being left empty by the bank.

So BIG WIN - we'e loving being inside a posh as you get banker's building!

inks

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Eviction ongoing

01.10.2012 15:54

Police and 'security' representing the owners here now. The pigs not interested in discussion of the points of law, have told us they want us out and we can debate the law, (quote) "in the bloody road sonny"

Some low level violence from paid thugs, we are being pushed out now.

Squat everything

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Violence !!!!!

01.10.2012 15:56

Security thug just hit me - police did nothing - bastards !

Squat everything

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We're out but not defeated

01.10.2012 16:12

Using way over the top violence, threats and intimidation all of us are now out and on the street. The night is drawing in and it is getting cold, we have no place to stay or sleep but the pigs don't give a toss. The 'security' (hired thugs) are changing the locks and we have been told that two will stay on site in case we return.

Once again an empty property cannot be used by those in need to protect somebodies economic gain - this is a seriously fucked up world we live in.

Off to the pub to drown our sorrows and try to work out what to do next.

Squat everything

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please ignore the comments above by 'squat everything'

01.10.2012 16:25

No attempt has been made to evict our building in Clifton, Bristol.

I don't know if 'squat everything' is deliberately spreading misinformation.

The Lloyds TSB private bank in Clifton, Bristol has not been evicted.

inks

Make the fuckers pay

01.10.2012 16:35

If the filth and the dumb fucks from the private security firm (who was it?) don't respect the fucking law, they can't exactly complain when people resort to other measures.

The harder the state comes down on us, more more people will get a thirst for real resistance - people will start waking up to the facts that our comrades from Chile to Greece have known for a long time: we are descending into fascism.

Well done for getting such a plush place - must have pissed them off at least.

pigeon

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Love to you

01.10.2012 16:47

Sorry to hear you got pushed out, thats bad. Best of luck for tonight and stay safe all of you

Love Sue

Sympathetic Yorkshire Lass

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@ Pigeon

01.10.2012 16:52

Thanks for the support.

The rent-a-thug company was / is (according to the paperwork I have here)

Able Investigation and Enforcement Solutions Ltd
1 Riverside Business Park
St Anne’s Road
Bristol
BS4 4ED

Tel: 0845 370 7401
Fax: 0845 370 7402
Email:  enquiries@ableinvestigations.com

Squat everything

yay - my dongle is working

01.10.2012 17:50

I'm back in the squat, drinking a lovely cup of tea in the conservatory while the smell of frying onions drifts up the stairs from the kitchen below.

Rumours we've been evicted are, I'm happy to say, entirely false. And as the owners haven't served papers on us today we're good until after the weekend at least.

We sent out a press release earlier, one local journalist has already been in touch, so we should get a bit of coverage in a day or two.

inks

solidarity from amsterdam

01.10.2012 21:41

KRAKEN GAAT DOOR solidarity from AMSTERDOOM fuk the law squat the world

amsterdoom krakers

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Illegal

01.10.2012 23:21

Luv hearing how you just sit on your arses all day moaning about the chip on your shoulder whilst having a cup of tea. Tough life init? No wonder you are poor, beggars will always just get the scraps

losers

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Bloody hillbilly rednecks.

02.10.2012 01:54

"Luv hearing how you just sit on your arses all day moaning about the chip on your shoulder whilst having a cup of tea. Tough life init? No wonder you are poor, beggars will always just get the scraps"

I'm not poor. I'm quite wealthy.

I think da squatters are doing a fine ole job of it. Seems to me they have some good ole fashioned enterprising spirit.

You on the other hand...I wouldn't give you tuppence for your life story. I've met your type before...always complaining about other people not pulling their weight while sitting on your arse all day. Stealing out the stores cupboard and on the fucking fiddle 100% of the fucking time...and then expecting me to pay for it. Then bitching and whining about other people not paying their way, I bet you've never paid a cent in tax your whole life. And I bet you've never paid your NICS either! Just spending all day long fannying about on the internet and calling it work.

Yeah, I've met your type all right. Fucking burden is what you are.

Esquire Roger de Saurus.

you let the press in and...

02.10.2012 22:50

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211854/Lloyds-Banking-Group-Protesters-control-bank-worth-750k-affluent-suburb.html

anarko squatter

We let accredited press in and

03.10.2012 10:49

The Daily Fail pretty much reported what we told them, yeah they've put their own slight slant on it but on the whole I think it's an OK article.

They've also reported who the owners are and what purpose the building was used for and that it's been empty for a year.

The owners are Lloyds TSB private banking, they specialise in advising high yield individuals who wish to invest between 2-20 million in off-shore accounts.

Question to ask the leaseholders, Lloyds TSB, is; Why as a majority owned public bank, are they providing these offshore tax haven services.

Question to ask the freeholders, which is Coventry Diocese Finance Board; Why as a church body are they leasing one of their properties to a tax dodging private banking arm of what should be a nationalised bank?
Why has the building been empty for over a year?

They've also reported that the section 6 worked fine with the police, we used the new A.S.S one , despite the property looking exactly like a residential from the outside, we did provide the police in attendance with a laminated floor plan we found inside that showed it was offices.

We also now feel a lot more assured that CBRE (property agency) and Lloyds wont be trying an illegal, drill the locks out, eviction attempt at 7 in the morning.

Resident

@ Resident

03.10.2012 12:25

that is not good press. what makes you think the mail (or any mainstream media) are going to print a positive story about squatters? they're not. by all means put out your own press release - but letting journalists and photographers in is too far. whether you see it or not they are just out to make you look like a bunch of privileged kids squatting a posh house.

the tories are starting their anti-commercial squatting campaign right now, and the last thing we need is a repeat of last years stories. wise up, the media are not out to help us.

anarko squatter

surprise surprise

03.10.2012 13:13

Mike Weatherley links to article as a "Great example of why squatting should be criminalised in commerical properties"...  https://twitter.com/mike_weatherley

All the article does is reinforce the stereotype that all squatters are middle class occupy-types living in million pound mansions.

@

Oh hush now

03.10.2012 13:27

Three of us in the squat are well past 40 so being portrayed as 'kids' is flattering.

All the press coverage has been more favourable than we expected. We're going to try for a licence from Lloyds or at least not possession forthwith from the courts so everything helps. Bluntly we've not got our next squat lined up so every day we can squeeze out of this place is important.

And we are getting - in a small way - a message across about the finance industry, properties being used as investments, commercial buildings being empty and people needing housing.


inks

@ inks

03.10.2012 14:06

>> Three of us in the squat are well past 40 so being portrayed as 'kids' is flattering.

Old enough to know better than to let the Daily Mail into your squat then.

>> All the press coverage has been more favourable than we expected.

If you were expecting bad coverage then why stage it as a media event in the first place?

>>We're going to try for a licence from Lloyds or at least not possession forthwith from
>>the courts so everything helps.

What possible reason would Lloyds have to give you a license?

>>Bluntly we've not got our next squat lined up so every day we can squeeze out of this
>>place is important.

Join the club, pal!

If this is about housing yourselves, then get on with it and house yourselves, what do you need to get the media involved for? If it's a media event or an action, then give them something better than a few squatters sitting in an empty house!

Sorry to be so negative but if we're going to stop a repeat of the kind of media coverage that aimed to manufacture consent for S144 then we need to be a bit more clever with how we interact with the media.

@

I dunno

03.10.2012 17:13

I dunno what you're arguing for, '@'.

You want us to stay in semi-derelict places in east Bristol, not talk to the media and not even bother trying for a licence or getting possession delayed.

No doubt you will shortly be carrying out much better thought through actions that will really change things for everyone for the better. Let us know when you get started. Meanwhile we'll carry on, if that's alright with you.

inks

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good job

04.10.2012 08:57

This is really good news, keep it up.

David Cameron

@ anarko

04.10.2012 10:04

Thanks for letting us know what your boundaries are regarding letting MSM press in, ours are different, I'm not of the perspective that All Coppers Are Bastards either or that the only resistance to a system is one of opposing conflict.

Yes we're aware there's propaganda starting about commercial squatting, I remember Ken Clarke spouting about it last year when criminalisation was first being reported about. There's also a lot of rhetoric about the need for work-houses to be brought back and benefit vouchers to be issued to the "deserving poor" and this is in the context of worsening economic indicators for most people across the E,U,

If your going to challenge and change peoples thinking just a little bit then using all means at your disposal is a better option I find, rather then limiting yourself to certain political dogmas, like never talking to the press and other restrictive un-questionable anarcho points of view.

We were talking about housing benefit being stopped to under 25 year olds and restricted to shared occupancy for under 35's, one of the journalists said she would never have been able to be a journalist had that come in when she was claiming and studying.

More and more people are being run over by the austerity bus and to keep ourselves within what you might see as a safe medium isn't the best way forward, We are people who are homeless, it can happen to anyone, and getting that basic message across is, I feel, important. I have no problem with you wanting to do what you want but I do have a problem when you start telling me what and how to do things, suggestions on how to do things better though is welcome.

And yes I believe we would of got negative press, given squatting events in the area this year. so instead of initial random press turning up we arranged things first and we think gave ourselves a better angle to begin with.

Mike Weatherley would sell his family to slavery if it benefited his financial backers, we can't do anything about changing that but we can show our neighbours that most of us who squat are just everyday people. Do you see the message we're trying to put across here.



Resident

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