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Passport to Frestonia - November 2002
Twenty five years ago, the people of Freston Road, Notting Hill, declared independence from Great Britain. A full cabinet of ministers was appointed and all those not in the cabinet were made ambassadors.
This new state was called Frestonia. They had their own stamps, a newspaper called The Tribal Messenger; there was even talk of Frestonians having their own currency.
The people of Frestonia were squatters who had moved into the empty houses in the early seventies. Many of the houses were without proper roofs, floors, toilets, ceilings.
Tony Sleep, a photographer, moved into a house that had been empty for 20 years. 'It was pretty good. It didn't have services like water or wiring, but the house itself wasn't too bad. There was damp, nothing major. A few broken windows.'
Electricity was a big problem because money was needed for a deposit, so one house with a legal supply would often extend its wiring to neighbours.
'At one time there was a piece of mains wire strung across the road, just high enough to clear the 295 bus passing underneath.'
Word of the empty houses soon spread, and before long 'Freston road started filling up, the whole place began to fill up within 6 months.'
There were people from all walks of life - musicians, artists, drug users, down and outs, families. These were the true people of Frestonia. And their motto was 'We are all one family.'
Tony told MyVillage, 'A sense of community was established, but it was a fairly disparate group of people. But once you put them in a conflict situation, they found solidarity. That was interesting.'
'Some people had drug habits, and you knew that their only alternative was cardboard boxes. We had winos in the house next-door, middle-aged drunks. They did nothing to the house to make it more liveable; instead they gradually burned their way through the floor. And eventually the house burned down.'
But living in Freston road seemed to transform its residents.
'Over time people became more settled and more responsible. When they first arrived they were impossible. Because of the nature of the thing, it was open to anyone and they got acceptance where they wouldn't elsewhere.'
'Because the people in my house were quite together, we did stuff like basic services and electricity and eventually decided to supply the drug users with electricity from our meter. But they took advantage and would have half a dozen two bar fries going while we were shivering next door. We became a sort of mini Electricity board!'
There were about 120 residents of Freston Road when they decided to adopt the surname Bramley, so that should the GLC succeed in an eviction, they would have to rehouse everyone together.
'People occasionally put up proposals for redevelopment and the first stage involved getting everyone out.'
When formally threatened with eviction, the residents of Freston road, led by Nick Albery and inspired by the film, Passport to Pimlico, dramatically declared themselves independent from the United Kingdom.
'Japanese film crews started turning up which was really funny. The press picked up the story from each other and it became international. All this activity led to the formation of a housing co-op.'
To begin with the GLC defended their plans to demolish the houses and develop the site for industry. Some squatters accepted the newly offered homes, but many returned to Frestonia when they found themselves feeling too cut off from the community they had grown attached to.
Even though the council seemed unlikely to take action, poor living conditions and feelings of extreme insecurity made it a very unstable environment to live in.
'Over time, more competent people moved out and the people who were left were short term and more problematic.'
If only Frestonians had known that it was going to be at least ten years before the GLC would finally get around to the threatened demolition.
Thanks to Tony Sleep for the photos. If you want to see more click here
Thanks to PTDL for bringing Freston Road to our attention!
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Notting
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