Multiculturalism in London

the UK’s capital is one of the world’s most multicultural cities. Roman soldiers, Huguenot silkweavers, Jamaican airmen, Bangladeshi sailors and a whole host of other people from around the world have helped to shape its history and its future.

During the London Olympics there were people from every competing country already living here.

Festivals, exhibitions and other events are other entertaining ways to get to know the city’s layers.

Walking around East London is a good way to see how different communities have played

their part in the city’s development

Spitafields

Brick Lane

-16th and 17th centuries: home to Huguenots, Dutch and Flemish refugees fleeing religious persecution on the continent. -London has had Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities since the 18th century. - Slave trade: Afro-Caribbean people arriving as slaves or servants, formed a community that agitated against the slave trade in the 1780s. The next big wave of Afro-Caribbean migration came in the 1940s and 50s.

The market sells a wide range of foods and goods but is best known for its African and Caribbean produce, which reflect the diverse community of Brixton and surrounding areas of Lambeth

Brixton Market

Irish people have been here since James I. They built London, from the docks through to the sewerage systems and the railways. Later came a group of Anglo-Irish professionals, including authors such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw.

Seven Dials

Bermondsey

Whitechapel

Other multicultural hotspots far away from the centre include Ridley Road Market in Dalston, with a mixture of people from Turkey and

West Africa; Green Lanes in Haringey, which has some great Turkish restaurants run by people with Anatolian heritage; the

Portuguese and Moroccan shops around Goldborne Road, just off Ladbroke Grove in West London; and Korea-influenced New Malden.

Ridley Road Market

Green Lanes

New Cross Thriving and multicultural, hugely historical and with excellent access,

New Cross is one of the gateway areas of Southeast London.

New Cross is a vibrant area,described by The New York Times as a hub of creative talent, the area has a thriving music and arts scene, fantastic restaurants, buzzing cafes, and a genuinely diverse and eclectic population. What's more, it was recently voted the best place in South East London for renting. 

It's fantastically well provided for in terms of high class education, certainly more than most boroughs of its kind. It's home to one of the best known city schools, Haberdashers Askes, Addey and Stanhope School, and of course the excellent Goldsmiths College. Furthermore, it has some of the nicest places to live in Southeast London.

New Cross Inn

It remains one of the best inner city boroughs for families because of this. Great houses are everywhere you look here. There are very large, well apportioned and designed Victorian houses lining the largely quiet (despite the busy main roads) sidestreets.

The area is also excellent for nightlife

and eating, with splendid restaurants.

New Cross doesn't seem like a countrified area but it provides access (within a few minutes' walk) of some of Southeast London's nicest open spaces. It has its own conservation area around the lovely Telegraph Hill, and Brockley's beautiful Hilly Fields is also very close.

Brockley’s Hilly Fields

Telegraph Hill

VideoGoldsmiths -NewCross