News
Arabic community, Migration to the
UK
began in the 1940's
It is estimated that around half a
million Arabs live in the UK.
London has attracted the majority who has
settled here largely from Egypt, Morocco, Palestine,
Yemen,
Lebanon,
the Gulf States
and Iraq.
Migration to the UK substantially began in the 1940's
by the Egyptians. It started up again during the 1960's. A mixture
of the professional and unskilled - they came in search of
employment, and mostly from
Egypt
and Morocco.
During the oil-boom days of the 70s, Arabs
arrived from the Gulf to set up businesses in the UK. Civil war in Lebanon during
that decade produced a further influx of people from the Arab world
and by the 1980's there was an exodus from Iraq of Arabic, Kurdish
and Shi’a political refugees and asylum seekers.
Some have had to leave behind highly skilled
careers in their own countries. Unable to resume the same path in
the UK, they have
instead taken advantage of the growth of
London’s café society, opening up lucrative
coffee shops and patisseries all over London, including suburbs
such as Richmond
and Harrow.
The hotel and catering industry in general has
attracted skilled and unskilled workers, largely from Morocco and Palestine.
The centre of
London, including SW1, NW London, W2 and W1 -
particularly around Edgware Road - has a thriving Arab
community. The Borough of Westminster has the highest density of
Arabic speakers in the capital and is one of the most expensive
areas to live. Knightsbridge is another example, with its
nightclubs, banks, restaurants and the famous department store owned
by the Egyptian Al Fayed brothers.
Associations such as the Council for the
Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) are geared towards
the intellectual Arabs who find in these a forum for debate on
current affairs, as well as a platform for the arts. This particular
association was founded in order to give the Arab perspective of
Middle East affairs to the British public.
In contrast, some Arabs, Moroccans amongst
them, lead a completely different lifestyle, sometimes in the
deprived areas of London – a far cry from the opulence of Bond
Street, where it is not uncommon to see chic Arabs adorned in the
finest jellabas (an Arabic robe), their princely heads swathed in
the traditional ghutra (white Arabic head dress), shopping for
high-class goods.
BBC
LONDON
06/06/05
