SQUATTERS have been forced to leave another empty premises in York, just days after being evicted from a different property in the same street.

A group were staying in the old Ryman stationary shop, in Coppergate, for eight days before they were removed on Thursday.

The group claim staff from a high court enforcement agency entered the premises, after the front door was removed, and ordered them to leave. It happened at about 8.30am.

They were previously staying in a property next door but one - the former That’s Entertainment shop. They moved into that property at the end of August but a County Court ruling to evict them was made more than two weeks ago.

One of the squatters, Rowan Morgan, 23, claims the group were not given an eviction notice to leave this time.

He said: “I knew it was coming. I expected it but there was no notice whatsoever.

“There were seven of us in there [former Ryman shop]. We have been in there for a week and a day.

“They just came and smashed the door down. There is no eviction notice to stop us staying there.

“If the landlord came and asked us to leave we would, but they never did.

York Press:

“I’m not annoyed that we’ve been moved out. We managed to get a few people off the street for a reasonable amount of time.”

He claims they have helped dozens of homeless people while they were staying at the former That’s Entertainment shop.

Rowan added: “I don’t see any harm in what we’re doing.

“I would see it as an issue if we were going into buildings and damaging them but we don’t.”

“When we are making a difference and getting people off the street, I enjoy it.”

He says he first gained access to the old stationary store through an unlocked window on the top floor at the rear of the building after climbing up.

When asked where he would go next, he commented: “I will find a house.”

Another member of the group, who did not want to be named, believed the eviction yesterday was “illegal”.

He explained: “We had a notice for that building [former That’s Entertainment] and given a few days to move.

"It went to court and was done properly. But this morning we woke up and the door was smashed down."

He also said: “Besides the fact it’s not been handled legally, they have been friendly, they haven’t been aggressive.”

While the group were staying in the properties, they have been looking after two young pigeons which they found in a nearby alleyway.

A woman staying with the group said: “The mum was dead, they had no parents. We’re raising them.”

Rowan says the group had nothing to do with the broken windows on the old Ryman store.

He said: “The windows were broken by somebody else from outside. We knew they were trying to gain access but we deemed them too violent.”