Squatters take over Princess Diana’s favorite restaurant San Lorenzo

Squatters have taken over the iconic San Lorenzo restaurant, which was once Princess Diana’s favourite eatery and also counted a dazzling array of A listers among its customers, MailOnline can reveal.

The stylish restaurant in London‘s exclusive Knightsbridge served the rich and famous for six decades, becoming known as one of the world’s premier celebrity hangouts.

Located just a stone’s throw from Harrods and Harvey Nichols in Beauchamp Place, its most devoted customer, Princess Diana would often take William and Harry for lunch there.

The Rolling Stones once famously rang the bell on its front door at 3am demanding dinner after a late-night recording session while others who regularly feasted on its fine Italian cuisine included Diana Ross; Joan Collins; Madonna; Jack Nicholson; Kate Moss and Sir Rod Stewart, to name but a few.

Twiggy held her 21st birthday party at San Lorenzo while Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton chose it to celebrate their 1966 World Cup win and any reunions over the years.

The restaurant closed at the start of the pandemic and then failed to reopen, remaining empty for the past four years until last month when it was taken over by 15 squatters who describe themselves as a ‘musicians collective.’

Residents and workers on Beauchamp Place revealed that the stench of marijuana now wafts out of the San Lorenzo along with ‘loud, banging’ music which they cried had ruined one of the country’s most exclusive streets.

Mark Byron, manager of a beauty clinic adjoining the San Lorenzo told MailOnline: ‘It’s heart-breaking to see how such a famous London landmark has been turned into a filthy squat.

‘We have clients from all over the world who pay a lot of money for our treatments and it’s putting them off from coming here because all you can smell is marijuana and the noise pollution is unbelievable.’

Miri, a specialist permanent makeup artist at the clinic, where treatments cost anything up to £5,000 added: ‘I like to put on relaxing music for my clients in the treatment room and all we can hear is booming noise. The windows are shaking and there’s people outside smoking marijuana, drinking beer and making a nuisance.

‘It’s awful and we don’t say anything to them because we’re too afraid. They also have a dog that’s the size of a horse.’

As shoppers meandered along Beauchamp Place carrying bags from exclusive designer boutiques, several scruffily dressed squatters went in and out of the San Lorenzo’s shabby front entrance, which is now a distant reminder of its glorious past.

One man who refused to give his name but said that he was a ‘spokesperson’ for the squatters told MailOnline: ‘We saw that this building was empty and found an opening and have now made it our home.

‘We are all musicians and are actually looking after this building because it was in a really bad state. Squatters get a bad press, but I don’t understand why because we have carried out a lot of repairs, decorated it and made it look nice. What’s wrong with that?’

He added: ‘This is a very exclusive area and it’s hard to find an empty property like this around here. We are speaking with the owners of San Lorenzo because we would like to remain in the building and become its guardians. We are good people and are not causing a nuisance. Many of the locals actually like us.’

The squatter refused to allow MailOnline inside the San Lorenzo but shared pictures of the work he claimed that had been carried out to ‘repair it.’

He added: ‘We have two cats and a hamster and have moved all our stuff in. It’s a wonderful place to live. I didn’t know about the history of this place until we came here. It’s amazing to think that people like Princess Diana and other celebrities visited all the time and now it’s our home.’

The restaurant was opened in 1963 by Mara Berni and her husband Lorenzo Berni, who started with only nine tables but rapidly grew the business as it started attracting glamorous diners.

Princess Diana used to call Mara her ‘Mother Confessor’ because she was such a trusted confidante and was said to have psychic skills.

The restaurant owner picked up on Diana’s unhappiness in her marriage to Prince Charles long before it became public and also famously told Madonna she was pregnant before the singer realised herself.

Mara ran the restaurant with Lorenzo, until her death in 2012 aged 79. Their daughter, Marina, then took over.

Mara’s maternal granddaughter, Marela Berni hit back at the squatters, claiming that they had ‘insulted’ the legacy of her grandparents.

Fighting back the tears she told MailOnline: ‘These squatters are a disgrace and are telling lies. The building was not in disrepair because we were looking after it. It broke our hearts when we decided to close the restaurant but it’s still ours and it’s part of the memory and legacy of our family.

‘Every time I walk past the San Lorenzo I just cry. All I can smell is drugs and all you can hear is loud music. It’s insulting to the memory of my grandparents and their hard work. These squatters are not good people because if they were, they would not be breaking into other people’s property and treating it like this.’

Ms Berni revealed that the family, which divides its time between London and Italy, has contacted lawyers and is in the process of starting eviction proceedings.

She added: ‘It’s absurd that they can just go into a building like this and take it over. They have trashed the place and made life for people living and working around here worse and if they say anything different, it’s rubbish.’

The squatters have been able to temporarily take possession of the San Lorenzo because it is classified as a commercial property.

Under existing legislation, squatting is only a criminal offence if it involves a residential property which can result in immediate eviction, six months imprisonment and a fine of up to £5,000.

But squatting of commercial premises is not a criminal offence, meaning landlords have to pursue legal action that can be lengthy and costly.

Many squatters also raise arguments like freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, which comes under the Human Rights Act, when it comes to commercial properties, further complicating the legal process to get them out. 

They can be prosecuted if it can be proved that they have broken into a commercial property.

The San Lorenzo squatters spokesperson insisted: ‘I’m not going into the details of how we got in, but we did not break in.

‘Let’s just say we saw an opening. We are in communication with the lawyers for the restaurant and showing them that we should be allowed to continue living here.

‘We have no problem with the Berni family. We even wrote a song for them in Italian to show that we mean no harm.’

He also refused to reveal if the squatters had changed the locks on the restaurant but admitted that he moved to live there from Manchester, where he had been squatting a commercial property for the past 18 months.

With a legal battle for the San Lorenzo set to take place and the squatters expected to remain for the foreseeable future, locals feared about the continuing impact on the area.

Tony Mousa, manager of the Maroush restaurant, which is directly opposite the San Lorenzo said: ‘This is a very quiet, exclusive neighbourhood and a lot of my customers don’t like these squatters.

‘They are a mess and behave badly, we’re not used to that around here. But I’m more shocked that they can just walk into an empty building like this, and no one can do anything. The law is a joke, and my heart goes out to the Berni family.’