Gospel Oak was marked for major demolition – whole streets of houses had been left derelict since the war. This outraged a lot of people who were struggling to be housed by the council. Large numbers of people objected to the high rents charged by landlords and squatted the empty properties out of protest and out of poverty. More and more groups of people saw this as their only option until Gospel Oak had the largest squatting community in North London. They renovated their houses and set up communal facilities including a bakery, a nursery and an arts centre.