SQUATTERS who have occupied York's former Fibbers music venue say they have been served with notice of eviction.

They say they have been told to leave the building in Toft Green by 9.45 am tomorrow, but have questioned the legitimacy of the eviction notice and say they will try to negotiate for more time.

They appealed for anyone with suitable premises in which they could create their proposed community centre to get in touch.

The squatters chose Fibbers for their second squat after being evicted last month from land near York Barbican, where they had set up a 'Barbican community centre.'

They said today they had not broken into Fibbers and were legally squatting a commercial building, left empty and designated for demolition, for the purpose of creating a community centre that was led by local people and served their interests.

"Squatting is part of a long history of people reclaiming what is rightfully theirs: from the Peasants Revolt in 1381 'claiming their rightful due'; to the Diggers in the 1600s; from the necessity of squatting following WWII; to the 1960s housing crisis; squatting has provided the necessary infrastructure for people to live when the state has failed them," they said.

"In a country where there are over 600,000 empty homes (with 225,845 being classed as 'long-term' empty) and around 500,000 houses are second homes, it is a grave social injustice that roughly every 1 in 200 people in this country are homeless (280,000). We fundamentally believe that all have a right to shelter and community.

"We have seen so many of our community spaces that provided vital connection and support for people close down due to a lack of government funding and pressure from predatory profit-driven developers. "We cannot wait for those with power to graciously hand down spaces to us when they have continuously disregarded and damaged our communities." They said they stood in stark opposition to property developers buying up community venues to turn them into yet more unnecessary offices, unaffordable housing, and short-term 'social washing', which they said involved creating a misleading picture of a company to appease the public regarding social and human rights issues and distract from their harmful practices.

They said North Star had claimed it was intent on turning Fibbers into a music venue and if this was a U-turned as a result of their occupation, they recognised it as a step in the right direction.

"However we believe that if North Star genuinely want to support the community they will desist from any and all eviction processes, giving us the space and autonomy to create a grassroots community centre.

"Promises are easy to make; we will judge North Star by their actions.

"What we want to build goes beyond creating a music venue - as important as that is - to empowering people to run workshops, read books, share knowledge, express their creativity, and provide food and shelter for those who need it. We welcome anyone who believes in co-created and self-organised community spaces prioritising family-friendly and accessible events."

North Star has been given opportunity to comment.