Once home to a Michelin starred restaurant and frequented by A-listers, an exclusive Mayfair club is now a derelict squat.
Based at 28 Berkeley Square – which was built as the private home of the chancellor of the exchequer in the 1820s – Morton’s counted Annabel’s and Sexy Fish among its trendy neighbours.
Lindsay Lohan went to several VIP events, and Pippa Middleton was a regular.
But then Covid hit, the private member’s club went into administration, and the Grade II listed building remained vacant since. That was until the squatters moved in.
A security guard for a neighbouring business said: ‘It’s been a nightmare. There were squatters actually in the building but now they were forced to leave. But what they are doing now is using the basement area as their refuge. There are piles of stuff down there it’s becoming like a slum. It’s a magnet for anti-social behaviour.
‘There are people smoking weed and the place is an eyesore. The police came recently but said there was nothing they could do. When the club was there it was very high end but now it’s just bringing down the square.’
The club’s immediate neighbour is world-renowned auction house Phillips, which is currently holding sales of Damien Hirst’s work.
Other buildings are occupied by Ferrari and Bentley garages, hedge fund businesses and other international financial operations.
A hedge fund worker at a business just off Berkeley Square told Metro: ‘It’s not good for the area to have a building in such a state. I start work early and have seen people emerging from the basement area.
‘It’s something that needs sorting. I have peeked down and seen the pile of rubbish and it’s sad to see a grand old building like that with its history reduced to looking a bit squalid.’
Metro approached one of the inhabitants early in the morning, apparently having spent the night there.
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He said: ‘I have nowhere else. What can I do?’
Police have been called to the premises in the last month, but they said there was little they could do because the squatters were not actually inside the building.
It is much more difficult to remove squatters from non-residential buildings because it often requires a civil court order.
The four-storey building, constructed by master builder Thomas Cubitt, is the latest in a series of valuable central London properties to be targeted by squatters.
A group barricaded themselves inside Gordon Ramsay’s York and Albany pub near Regent’s Park in 2024 before being forced to leave having been served a court order.
The same year, squatters also occupied Marco Pierre White’s former steak and pizza restaurant until they were raided by police.
Meanwhile, another group holed up inside Princess Diana’s former favourite restaurant, San Lorenzo, until they, too, were ordered out by the courts.
RSM UK, administrators for Morton’s, said they sold the lease in August 2021. CF Commercial is currently marketing it as a business premises.
A statement from Westminster Council said: ‘Our city inspectors visited the site last night. They found no evidence of people sleeping rough in the basement but there are a number of items belonging to rough sleepers being stored there.
‘This is ultimately a matter for the landlord to secure the property and the council will notify them urgently about the issue.’
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