Asylum seekers at hotel near Bristol say ‘food not fit for an animal’

Asylum seekers have told BristolLive of appalling living conditions in a hotel near Bristol. They have documented the conditions of what they say is bad food, a lack of cleanliness.

Some of the residents, including families, have been waiting more than a year for their asylum applications to be processed. While people wait to see if they can be granted refugee status, they are not allowed to work in the UK and receive £8 a week to cover their expenses.

Several residents commented on the food, saying it was not “fit for an animal” to eat. They claim that the salad is unwashed, the old rice is mixed with new and the chicken is not cooked properly.

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A person currently staying at the hotel, who we are not naming, said she lost 10kg after two months of living there and was given nutritional supplements by her GP because she is underweight.

Another said he had previously been able to access a nearby community kitchen and engage in local volunteering, which is no longer possible in the remote area where the hotel is located.

Although there is a bus that takes residents into Bristol city centre, it finishes at 5pm and is not always regular throughout the day. The difficulty of traveling means that people sometimes find themselves stranded for hours after attending a 10-minute meeting.

Many families staying at the hotel have now been relocated by the Ministry of Interior to other parts of the country. A source inside the hotel claimed that a family with severely disabled children had recently split up. AJ (not his real name), who helped translate for the family and support them to get shared accommodation, said the father was left alone to care for the disabled children while his wife was sent in the north of England.

AJ claims he faced threats after reporting drug dealing and claims he couldn’t tolerate living there because of the dirty floors and another guest who he claims was taking heroin in his bedroom.

AJ said: “It’s disgusting. It’s a hotel, but the management doesn’t care about cleanliness.”

Another man who arrived in the UK after fleeing a war in his own country said the last year of living in hotels had affected his mental health. “When you have papers, you have the freedom to do whatever you want.

“As an asylum seeker you only get £8 a week and you are not allowed to work. It is not enough to do nothing, sometimes I get money sent from my family to help me survive because the food they provide is disgusting and not even good enough for an animal to eat, let alone a human being.

“I’m afraid to complain about the food in case it affects the asylum case. I was previously in another hotel, there was a place where he could go and prepare his food and the chance to volunteer nearby, but here you die of boredom because there is nothing to do,” he explained.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Despite the number of people arriving in the UK reaching record levels, we continue to offer support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be poor. Food provided in asylum hotels must meet NHS Eatwell standards and meet all cultural and dietary requirements.

“Where concerns are raised about any aspect of the service provided in a hotel, we work with our accommodation providers to ensure these concerns are addressed and all complaints are resolved quickly.”