was quoted as saying,
They can pull it down, but they can’t take it away. (Andy Pratt, interviewed in the film Street of Experience, Pixie Productions 1985)
However, tensions were rising as the date for eviction drew near. Police were called to the Ferry Boat public house, in King Street, when the landlord Edward Audley refused to serve a group of banned squatters. In the ensuing melee windows were broken and the listed building was later splashed with paint.
By February 19th the few remaining Argyle Street squatters, thought to number only about a dozen people, decided to hold a last night party. On the bitterly cold night of February 19th a giant bonfire was lit in the front gardens of two houses about halfway down the Street and the festivities commenced; someone had a record player going full tilt all night as the Squatters proceeded to demolish their own homes.
We’ve dismantled the Street ourselves to quite an extent. There’s no point in leaving it here for the destroyers. We should make the most out of it ourselves; some people have been selling off roofing tiles, or taking parts for ourselves. I’ve got a bus Iíve converted down here so I’m recycling parts of the house into it. Some people have smashed up a few houses to work off their energy. (Andy Pratt, interviewed for the documentary film Street of Experience, Pixie Productions 1985)
Clive Moore, who worked on the Street of Experience documentary, recalls: We went down there about 4pm; the director wanted to arrive in daylight so all the Squatters could see who we were, we’d been invited to what amounted to a private party and we should behave accordingly. Apparently the local media were not invited because of all the bad press the Squatters were