Residents and business owners living near a London hotel housing asylum seekers say they are being plagued by crime and antisocial behaviour – with reports of televisions and flaming mattresses being hurled from windows. The Thistle City Barbican hotel in Islington, which has been operating under an exclusive contract with the Government since 2021, has seen 41 migrants charged with more than 90 offences in the past year alone.
Council worker Ufuoma Odoh was woken by police to be told that a television had been thrown from an upper-floor window, smashing the rear windscreen of his parked Volvo XC40. Police initially searched the first two floors of the hotel and closed the case after failing to find any television sets missing. However, when a manager later discovered one was gone from the fourth floor, they contacted police again and a suspect was arrested.
Mr Odoh told MailOnline: “They took him to the police station and questioned him, but they claimed there was not enough proof as nobody had seen him throw the TV out of the window. I said, ‘But the manager told you he did it. Is that not enough?’ They insisted it wasn’t.”
He added: “The Home Office told me I should speak to my insurers, but I didn’t want my premiums to go up. I paid £750 myself to repair the damage.”
Crimes linked to the Thistle City Barbican include rape, arson, sexual assault, affray, robbery, knife crime, drug offences, and attacks on police officers.
One man, Algerian asylum seeker Hocine Bougueroua, was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison in May after stealing more than £10,000 worth of bags from pubs and using stolen credit cards. He was also caught in possession of crack cocaine, cocaine and diazepam.
Another migrant was charged with sexually assaulting a woman on a train before assaulting two police officers. A separate case involves a man accused of the rape of a male victim.
Local businesses say their trade is suffering. Bledar Qirjo, who runs the Greek Grill Point restaurant near the hotel, said: “This area is very, very dangerous. They come inside and demand food. Sometimes they leave £1, sometimes they don’t pay. What can I do in front of my customers?”
A cafe owner, who asked not to be named, said: “I’m paying tax, my rent is £30,000 a year, but the customers are not coming because of the hotel for the refugees. Before, when this was a normal hotel, I had too many customers. Now, my business is going downhill.”
Skye Jones, a 24-year-old hospitality worker who lives opposite the hotel, said: “My flatmates have said they feel very uncomfortable walking back home past the hotel. The main thing for me is the safety aspect. It’s just not safe.”
Emma Andrews, a mother of three, said: “Another mum and I had to call the police the other day as a guy was walking around off his face. He kept trying to approach a mum in the park. They are approaching people all the time. I won’t walk the dog here any more.”
Nikki Bulley, 33, who also lives locally, said: “On the day of the King’s Coronation, I had a christening for my son. And someone threw a lit mattress out of a window at the hotel. We had the fire brigade here and lots of drama. The hotel needs to be shut down.”
Express.co.uk has contacted Clermont Hotel Group, which owns the 460-room hotel, and the Home Office for comment.
Elsewhere in London, protests were held outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf following reports it was being used to house asylum seekers.
In Epping, Essex, tensions flared after a man staying at the Bell Hotel was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl. Both incidents have fuelled growing public anger over the Government’s use of hotels to accommodate migrants.