STUDENT squatters have vacated a landmark York building declaring: "Give it back to the community".

The group of University of York students, calling themselves the Bonding Warehouse Collective (BWC), broke into the Grade II Listed former pub, off Skeldergate, last week.

They changed the locks and claimed "squatters' rights", which prevented the authorities evicting them unless they acquired a special court order.

Dozens of people attended arts and community events put on by the collective in the building at the weekend. A classical concert was performed in the squat on Thursday night and local DJs were also booked to play.

"We have all left now," said Chris, 22, a University of York student and one of the chief organisers.

"It turned into something quite a lot bigger than we first thought. We felt like we had achieved everything we wanted to during the week.

"If we had stayed any longer the council would have evicted us.

"We wanted to illuminate the potential of using that building as a community space.

"We tidied up after ourselves and recycled the rubbish into bin bags.

"We left everything pretty much how we found it."

Chris said the ten-strong BWC had now disbanded, but revealed they would not rule out the possibility of squatting in another empty building to highlight the need for community facilities.

City of York Council, which owns the building, vowed to evict the group if they were not out by yesterday and revealed that plans to sell it were "progressing". It is not yet known what the building could be used for.

A council spokeswoman, said: "The squatters have moved out and as far as we are aware, they have not caused any damage to the property."

A University of York spokesman said they recognised the right of anyone to protest, as long as they remained within the law.

A spokesman for York Police said they were made aware of the squatters but did not take any action.

In August 2004, 12 members of the York Peace Collective squatted in the building, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.