WE'VE been deployed as armed forces overseas, to defend whatever we needed to defend," says Tony McNally, who did 15 years in the Scots Guards. "But who is defending us?" McNally, 67, is the leader of a group of veterans who live at the Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions, and who now fear homelessness after the building their community has been in for more than 100 years was sold to Chelsea Football Club for redevelopment last October.
The row is another headache for Chelsea under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. They bought the club for £4.25 billion in May 2022, leading to several bust-ups with neighbours.
David Knight, 48, who served in Bosnia, proudly gives a tour of the first-floor Stoll flat he's been in for three years. It has a photograph remembering his infantry training on the wall, and a view of Stamford Bridge out of the window.
He has been homeless before, and breaks down as he talks about the idea of losing his house again.
Knight says he feels safe at Stoll. "We live a posh area. They're not going to be able to rehouse 130 people in the borough - if they do it's a miracle," he says.
The Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions was established in 1915 to provide homes for soldiers returning from war. Most of its 157 flats are home to dozens of veterans, who served around the world.
Last year, Chelsea had a reported £80 million bid accepted for the site, meaning only 20 of the flats will remain.
The other veterans will be moved to other sites, but they don't yet know where. In a residents' survey, 92 percent said they were against the sale.
Andy Daniels, 62, who was in the Royal Green Jackets and suffers from PTSD and anxiety, says he fears being moved to a hostel.
Esta historia es de la edición February 08, 2024 de Evening Standard.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February 08, 2024 de Evening Standard.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Actor Millie Bobby Brown romances in Hyde Park, feasts at Sheesh and buys thelot at Harrods
Interview with Actor Millie Bobby Brown
How will Arteta manage without influential Edu?
Arsenal need smooth transition between eras just like Man City
"I had no one in Manchester apart from my PlayStation"
Aaron Wan-Bissaka was a young man rated among the country's most promising footballers when Manchester United came calling in the summer of 2019.
The battle for the soul of Soho
Inside the war between London's porn baron family and the council they say is killing the vibe
At the table: Sad steaks seasoned with despair
Fetch the smelling salts, you're in for a shock: A Restaurant Critic Hates a Famously Terrible Restaurant. Low-hanging fruit? Perhaps.
Class portrait Nobody else writes about middle England so acutely
Tessa Hadley's first novella depicts women in refreshing ways
How a tiny cult radio station in Hackney took over the world
I think the most obscure place I've had a listener email from so far was probably a guy in the Yukon,\" laughs Flo Dill, the host of NTS Radio's flagship morning show.
Was it the chattering classes who lost it?
I'm no Trump fan but I'm glad his insufferable opponents failed
Halloween's grotesque charade is never over in the United States
We are witnessing a prolonged farce that is consuming its talents and might
This is the week America waged a war on woke and won
BLM, Latinx, pronouns, critical race theory, defunding the police it’s over