Two men have been accused of trying to stop food being delivered to a hotel housing asylum seekers near Norwich.

Neil Whitby, 53, and Emils Jankuns, 23, are both alleged to have blocked the path of a food truck in an attempt to prevent it from making deliveries at The Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe.

The 81-bed hotel, which is being used to house migrants, has been the scene of protests and counter-protests since last summer.

Flashpoints during the protests, some attracting hundreds of people attending from as far afield as Colchester and Leeds, have seen a number of arrests for public order offences.

The two men were among a number arrested on September 23 when some protesters were said to have forcibly entered the business premises and acted aggressively.

Anti-asylum protest outside the Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe have attracted hundreds of people (Image: Newsquest)

Whitby, of Popular Close in New Costessey, and Jankuns, of Goodhale Road in Norwich, both pleaded not guilty at Norwich Magistrates’ Court to trespassing on private land with the intention to obstruct or disrupt lawful activity.

Both are accused of having temporarily prevented the delivery truck from entering the hotel premises.

They will stand trial on January 8 next year.

Ian Fisher, representing Jankuns, said the allegations were disputed, that he had been misidentified, and that the accounts of the incident from two security guards and the delivery truck driver differed.

District Judge Matthew Bone said there was no suggestion the pair had caused intimidation or disruption.

“The whole issue will turn on whether they entered as trespassers and what they did to obstruct,” he added.

It costs an average of £56,000 to police each hotel protest (Image: Newsquest)

Both men were released on unconditional bail after the district judge decided against continuing previous conditions which banned them from being at any hotel housing asylum seekers or going within 100m of The Brook Hotel.

Norfolk’s Chief Constable Paul Sanford has previously said the £56,000 cost of policing each protest has affected the force’s ability to deal with crime.