News about Simon Brown

The friends of a 'supremely popular' British holidaymaker found dead in his Thailand hotel room are trying to raise £10,000 to bring his body home. Simon Brown, 47 - known affectionately as Browny - loved visiting Thailand and travelling abroad. His death has been met with 'total shock and sadness' in his community back home in Wales. Simon's friend Mark Davies said the news of his death was 'so unexpected' as 'he wasn't ill.'

Squatters who took over a Gordon Ramsay pub in London last week have all left the building, a representative for the celebrity chef said. The group shut themselves in the York & Albany near Regent's Park, north London, on April 13 for ten days. They boarded up the windows, locking the doors and putting up a 'legal warning' defending their takeover. Locksmiths and bailiffs arrived at the property around 5am on Monday to change the locks and secure the venue, the Evening Standard reported. A representative for Mr Ramsay said the squatters have now all left the building and after a £7,000 clean-up the building once again stands empty.

A Gordon Ramsay company has secured a High Court order to remove squatters who have occupied the TV chef's £13million London pub. A group of anarchists locked themselves inside the Grade II-listed York & Albany hotel and gastropub situated just outside Regent's Park last week. They set up a now closed 'autonomous cafe' inside the building, called Camden Art Cafe, pledging to serve free food to the local community. The pub and boutique hotel was run by Ramsay - but the chef was reportedly in the midst of renegotiating the lease and launched legal proceedings against the group. Lawyers for Gordon Ramsay Holdings International Limited (GRHI) told a judge it had an 'immediate right to possession' of the pub and asked for an order to retake the property amid a 'risk of public disturbance'. Judge Simon Brown granted the order at a short hearing in London. The invaders told reporters yesterday how they had recruited their own lawyers 'to defend their rights' for the High Court hearing on Thursday, but none of the group attended and they were not represented by a lawyer.

Landlords will soon be refused from renting out buildings in England and Wales unless they upgrade them to an energy performance certificate rating of C - the third most effective class - or higher. Those who fail face a £30,000 fine as part of the government's new energy conservation initiative to curb household bills and minimize carbon pollution.