That’s crepe! Police are called to huge crowds outside warring pancake stalls in London’s upmarket Hampstead over fears Covid rules were being broken
- Dozens of people were queuing on Saturday at the two stalls in Hampstead
- They are both outside King William IV pub on High Street in North London
- Queues wrapped around pub which meant pedestrians moved into the road
- Police van filmed at scene as huge numbers of people stood outside the stalls
Police were forced to break up huge crowds that gathered outside two crepe stalls in London’s exclusive Hampstead neighbourhood over the weekend.
Dozens of people were queuing on Saturday for an afternoon snack at the two stalls outside the King William IV pub on Hampstead High Street in North London.
Officers arrived at the scene in a police van at about 5pm after concerns were raised about the crowds, but they found no evidence of any breaches of Covid-19 laws.
Motorist Gary Wilton tweeted two pictures of queues wrapped around the pub which meant pedestrians walking in the area had to move into the road to get past.
Hundreds of people queued on Saturday for an afternoon snack at the two crepe stalls outside the King William IV pub on Hampstead High Street in North London
He tweeted: ‘Are these people in a line to get a crepe or Covid? No masks, no social distancing. #Hampstead #CovidIdiots #NHS.’
Author David Aaronovitch added: ‘Don’t laugh, but the police had to break up a crowd in Hampstead at the weekend that had gathered around two crepe vans. Actually DO laugh.’
Twitter user Spinnofflondon tweeted three videos filmed from opposite, showing a police van at the scene as huge numbers of people stood outside the stalls.
One of the stalls is ‘La Creperie de Hampstead’, which has been operating for 40 years, but the pub launched a stand called ‘La Creperie’ in a tent in November.
A row broke out last month between the stalls, with La Creperie de Hampstead accusing the pub of giving them no notice and confusing its normal customers.
Motorist Gary Wilton tweeted two pictures, including this one, of queues wrapped around the pub which meant pedestrians walking in the area had to move into the road to get past
Twitter user Spinnofflondon tweeted a series of videos filmed from opposite, including the one above, showing a police van at the scene as huge numbers of people stood outside the stalls
But the pub hit back, saying critics had come down on them ‘like a tonne of bricks’ despite them just trying to supplement their income to help the venue survive.
Conflict between the two dates back to 2013, when the pub issued a bailiff notice demanding La Creperie de Hampstead removed a storage fridge located in the pub.
At the time, La Creperie de Hampstead reluctantly backed down and cleared their stock out of the fridge and a kitchen area located in the pub’s garden.
Police had to get involved at the time because the feud became so hostile, with officers speaking to staff at both business in July that year.
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed officers were called and is preparing a statement after being contacted for comment by MailOnline today.