Last summer a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker in Epping, and the case triggered a year of protests focused on the Bell Hotel, which since 2020 had been used to house asylum seekers. The Guardian traces how protests led by local far-right figures including Eddy Butler and Julian Leppert intensified tensions; Leppert had once said he “ideally” wanted to keep Epping for white people only. Many neighbours who had previously described cordial daily interactions said the atmosphere changed as newcomers and asylum residents faced intimidation. New arrivals such as Sherzod, an Uzbek-born resident who moved to Epping in 2025, reported direct harassment on the high street, including a driver shouting “Go home” and a motorcyclist sounding a football chant. Longstanding civic life on the high street and around the forest became strained as activists and opponents squared off, and local initiatives such as Epping for Everyone emerged to support those feeling isolated. The piece concludes by asking whether the town can recover from the social fracture the protests caused and by documenting the human cost to migrants and neighbours caught between safety concerns and organised far-right agitation.
