Posh-squat artists take Mayfair (London) mews (organize workshops and teach skills)

When they moved into a £6.25m mansion in London's most exclusive neighbourhood late last year, a group of young artists seemed to have founded Britain's poshest squat. But since being evicted from that Mayfair townhouse, the artists have gone one better: they now occupy part of a £22.5m property round the corner.

The artists are squatting in the mews house of a property in Clarges Mews which sold for £22.5m in April 2007. The owners, Timekeeper Ltd, discovered the occupation in mid-December when they spotted a Christmas tree.

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The artists do not seem worried by the prospect of eviction. They have been holding open days where anyone can go to workshops and learn skills from welding to "laughter" and tree-house building.

The events continue this weekend: the squat's website, temporaryschool.org, says there will be a session on "labyrinth building with Steph" tomorrow, followed by "deschooling society". On Sunday there is bookbinding, role-playing and a discussion on "virtual utopias", followed by a "hardcore games night" .

The skill-sharing week, which the artists have billed the Temporary School of Thought, is advertised on posters on lampposts and sandwich boards. When the Guardian turned up for the songwriting workshop, the artists refused entrance on the grounds that they do not wish to associate with the mainstream media.

/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jan/09/squat-artists-mayfair

Good for them. Probably beats the drab, tatty government-issue housing that most Brits seem destined to occupy.