In what swiftly became a public relations disaster for the Chase Hotel a mere week after it hosted a Help for Heroes charity ball, the British National Party's Trafalgar Club dinner at the Ross hotel on Saturday night triggered condemnation and dismay among local residents.

Several people at Saturday's protest outside the hotel gates were overheard vowing to boycott the Chase, and a local businessman who spoke to The Ross Gazette said he was "appalled by the hotel's misjudgement".

One of the hotel's guests described Nick Griffin's behaviour there as "a vile spectacle", and said: "If I'd known I was going to be sharing a hotel with the BNP, I'd have gone somewhere else."