Foxtons promises to axe 'anti-homeless spikes' outside Holborn branch after public backlash

 
Controversial: The metal spikes outside Foxtons in Holborn (Picture: ‏@tillylonsdale/Twitter)
‏@tillylonsdale/Twitter

Foxtons have promised to remove controversial "anti-homeless spikes" from outside a London branch following an angry online backlash.

Thousands have backed a call for the removal of the metal studs, which critics have described as "aggressive" and "short-sighted".

Advertising worker Michelle Booth spotted the spikes when she walked past the estate agency's Holborn branch past yesterday, and suggested the so-called defensive architecture made Foxtons seem like "the estate agent for Bond villains".

She told the Standard on Thursday: "They are often attacked as the focal point for people's rage about gentrification.

"You would expect them to try and soften their image. It just seems like a massive own goal. It's just such an obviously aggressive statement."

A spokeswoman for Foxtons later said action would be taken to remove the spikes following the public outrage.

“We understand that the studs outside our West End office have raised some concerns within the community and we will be removing them shortly," she said.

More than 20,000 people had signed a change.org petition urging Foxtons to axe the studs on Thursday afternoon.

Zahira Patel, 24, who started it, said: "The spikes are aggressive and send out a message to homeless people that they are a nuisance - as if sleeping on the streets wasn't hard enough.

"I worry that such measures will force homeless people to sleep in less public and more dangerous places.

"The problem is wider than Foxtons itself - these spikes have been cropping up all over London as homelessness has risen along with other measures which target rough sleepers."

Paul Noblet, head of public affairs at the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, said: "Anti-homeless spikes are a short-sighted response which add to the stigma of homelessness at a time when we need all Londoners, be they businesses, politicians or residents, to be focussed on a growing problem.

"Any company putting anti-homeless spikes outside their buildings should think hard about whether this is the message they really want to be putting out in our capital city in the 21st century."

Branches of Foxtons have been repeatedly vandalised by protesters angry about rising rents and house prices in some parts of London, including one in Brixton which was targeted during a recent anti-gentrification march.

Similar spikes in other locations have in the past sparked outrage, with some outside a Selfridges in Manchester branded an "affront to humanity" by critics.

Campaigns have also led to the removal of studs outside a block of flats in Southwark, south London, and a Tesco supermarket in central London.

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