Gary Neville allows squatters to stay at hotel site for the winter

Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs are reported to have told squatters at the Manchester stock exchange building they plan to turn into a hotel that they can stay during the winter.

The former Manchester United players bought the site for £1.5m and plan to turn it into a hotel.

According to the Guardian a squatter group known as Manchester Angels moved in on Sunday.

A member of the group, Wesley Hall, spoke to Neville who, according to the paper, told him he had no problem with the squatters staying for the winter.

"From my point of view I'm quite relaxed about this," Neville said to Hall.

Hall said: "We were expecting that as soon as Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville found out that we had occupied the building, they would try to get us evicted and that we would have to look for another building. Having a few months during the winter to work with homeless people without the threat of eviction hanging over our heads is brilliant.

"We undertake not to cause any damage to anything and to leave the building in as good if not a better state than we found it in. I have ordered smoke alarms to keep the building safe. I even suggested to Gary that he might be interested in employing some of the homeless people who are living here as labourers to help with the redevelopment work on the hotel."

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