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6 months ago
25
A 'tent village' has sprung up yards from luxurious The Savoy hotel and several West End theatres.
The makeshift encampment on Adelphi Terrace is in one of the wealthiest areas of London close to designer shops and restuarants owned by Gordon Ramsay.
The Five-Star £800-a-night Savoy Hotel contains three of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, including the Savoy Grill, the River Restaurant and £175-a-head Restaurant 1890.
Footage and pictures show rows of tents being used by homeless people just a brief walk from the hotel and the Savoy and Adelphi theatres.
The 'village' began over the Bank Holiday weekend and is now home to a dozen tents with the occupants using a mixture of sleeping bags and mattresses.
One occupant John Torrance, 45, believes the government is more concerned with immigrants than they are with the homeless.
He said: 'There’s more money going on immigration than there is trying to help the homeless. We’re spending billions on other people’s problems but what about people in our own country?
The tent village near The Savoy hotel in Central London where homeless people are sleeping
John Torrance who says the government spend more on migrants than the homeless
Looming over the encampment is the Grade II-listed Adelphi building, which is the home of the Economist magazine and Spotify, and was once the offices for the Department of Works and Pensions.
Mr Torrance originally from East Yorkshire, has been on the streets since the age of 17 and thinks: ‘The government and the council don’t want us to be around, where there’s shops and all that lot. It looks bad for business, bad for the tourists.
‘It’s life. You get used to it. It’s no different than being indoors.’
Those living in the tents do their best to keep the area clean.
One tent had a sweeping brush outside, while other rough sleepers had put their rubbish carefully into plastic bags.
Some of the tents have tarpaulins draped over to further protect them from the elements.
There are bikes locked up and most have mattresses and duvets or sleeping bags inside.
The row of tents extending from front to back where Mr Torrance and others are living
Latest figures for the first quarter of 2024 show there were 850 rough sleepers in the Westminster borough, up by 168 people on the same period in 2023.
Of those, 43.5% were from the UK, 18% were Romanian, 16% African, 7% Asian, 3.3% Polish and 2.5% from the Americas.
Iesha Muhammad is living on Adelphi Terrace with her autistic husband Dominic and has the life-limiting condition ALS- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis- a disease which affects nerve cells in the spine and brain.
She said the couple receive Universal Credit but have struggled to find a landlord as they have no deposit and no guarantor.
Another rough sleeper is a construction worker who came to the UK 13 years ago but had to stop working after he developed a heart condition and needed an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted.
He gets £500 a month personal independence payment (PIP) but still can’t afford a home or the medicines he needs.
One passerby and frequent visitor to the area expressed her dismay at the situation, saying it showed the stark difference between London’s haves and have nots.
The Savoy- one of London's most expensive and desired hotels- found just off The Strand
The Savoy Theatre which is just a few yards from the tent village and close to the Savoy Hotel
Remaining anonymous, she said: 'I think it’s cruel to encourage people to live out there rather than give them access to a place to sleep.
‘These are human beings and these are people who suffered. I feel like if you’re a tourist and you’re passing by, you don’t see it but if you live and work here you see them all the time.
‘It seems like nothing’s being done and it’s sad that nothing is happening and it’s been getting worse. That’s not ok. No human being should live like this permanently.'
A spokesperson for Westminster Council said: 'As the centre of London, Westminster is a destination for people sleeping rough from both the UK as well as abroad and the council spends far more than any other council - £7m a year – to help those arriving here.
'We work with charity partners to provide outreach teams across the city. These teams work day and night to find, and offer support to, people sleeping rough on our streets. Known gathering places are visited frequently.'
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