Gisburn hotel Stirk House criticised for hosting far-right group’s conference

Patriotic Alternative (PA) is a far-right activism group which says it “aims to raise awareness of the demographic decline of native Britons and the environmental impact of mass immigration” among other things.

It has a white nationalist ideology and opposes all immigration, and has been described as anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, fascist and racist, and is said to have links to banned group National Action.

On Saturday (October 29), it held a conference at the Stirk House Hotel in Gisburn.

Anti-fascist investigators, Red Flare, have now criticised the hotel for allowing the conference to go ahead, despite being warned against it the day before it was set to take place.

The hotel has said it has no affiliation with the group and does not share any of the views the group holds, adding that the event was lawful and when the booking was made they had no idea they were accepting a far-right conference.

The hotel said it was “left with little practical alternative but to proceed with the booking, which had been accepted by the hotel many months prior”.

It is thought around 150 members of PA turned up to the ballroom of Stirk House Hotel.

Allan Jones, spokesperson for Red Flare, said Stirk House has provided “a safe space for neo-Nazis to organise and a platform for them to voice their abhorrent views unchallenged”.

Mr Jones said: “Does the hotel management have sympathies with their politics?

"Until Stirk House Hotel clarifies if they support this fascist party we would suggest decent people steer clear of this venue.

“PA is a rapidly growing fascist party, the likes of which we have not seen since the heyday of the British National Party.

“PA make no qualms about openly promoting anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia.

“Multiple PA members have shared terrorist manifestos, expressing support for neo-Nazi terrorists.

​​​​​​​“PA are vile Hitler obsessives who are grooming the next generation of neo-Nazi terrorists using the services of big tech companies like YouTube.”

A spokesperson for Stirk House said it accepted the conference booking back in March 2022.

It was made under an individual’s name with “no reference to the event being held in connection with the Patriotic Alternative or any other group”.

On Friday, October 28, the hotel received a call from an individual now understood to be associated with or a member of Red Flare.

Stirk House Hotel in Gisburn (Image: Geograph/ Chris Heaton (cc-by-sa/2.0))

A spokesperson said: “This and other anonymous callers to the hotel provided non-specific details that such event would be the subject of protest, and the hotel received numerous threatening and abusive calls throughout the day.

“The hotel’s management immediately contacted police following the first call, to make them aware of the circumstances and worked with the police throughout the day and over that weekend.  

“Police confirmed the Patriotic Alternative were not a banned group, were not involved in any known criminal or unlawful activity, that it was lawful for them to convene and that there were no grounds for them to interfere.

“Having regard to the calls which had been received, the hotel’s management in conjunction with the police took immediate steps to further ensure the safety of all guests and visitors to the hotel.”

Stirk House invited the PA to cancel the event, but the group declined.

The hotel spokesperson added: “Having regard to all the circumstances, the proximity of the event and having explored all legal options, the hotel was left with little practical alternative but to proceed with the booking, which had been accepted many months prior, in good faith, and before the hotel’s management had any knowledge of these serious allegations.

“Being a private function, none of the hotel staff or management were invited nor did they attend the event.

“The hotel is not therefore able to comment upon the details of the event, the attendees at the event (or their individual views), the identity of the speakers or the nature and subject matter of the topics considered.

“The hotel and its management wish to make absolutely clear they have no affiliation with the Patriotic Alternative, its membership or the other individuals and groups identified as being associated.

“The Hotel and its management do not support or sympathise with the aims and politics of the Patriotic Alternative.

 “Furthermore, neither the Hotel nor its management support or have sympathy with any view of a fascist, neo-Nazi, racist or anti-semitic character or any other view of the kind alleged to be held by the Patriotic Alternative or any of its members and it does not condone any activity of the kind which is alleged to result from that ideology.”

PA was founded in 2019 by Mark Collett who once appeared on a Channel 4 documentary entitled Young, Nazi and Proud, to talk about life as leader of the Young British National Party.

He wrote a book in which he described Hitler's Nuremberg rallies as “something that one would have been proud to be a part of”.

The PA appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, The Enemy Within: The Far Right, earlier this year.

An undercover reporter recorded the group using racial slurs.

A spokesperson for the PA said: “We're enjoying the fact that the far-left, anti-free speech communists at Red Flare are seething at the news of yet another successful, sold-out Patriotic Alternative conference. We look forward to the next one."