THE BIGGEST POLISH COMMUNITY IN U.K?

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all are good. I am doing some research on Polish People in the U.k, and need
your help.

I need to find out what city/Place in the U.k has the most Polish People, like the indian have a big community in Wembley, and Leicester etc. but where are the most polish people settled...?

If anyone knows by having family here or where I could get the information I would be greatful, a list of top five places would also be helpful.

Many thanks for all your help.

John

Southampton has about 10% Polish population.

Are you looking for percentages or absolute numbers?

Thank you for getting back so soon, and your input.

Convex: I dont need absolute numbers but I need the correct information.

So for my research I can write or make reference to like "here in the uk the biggest community of polish people live in i.e Tottenham, London....followed by so and so etc.

Torq: So does southampton have the biggest community in the u.k ? also where abouts in Southampton....

Thanks,

you don't say which period.

at one time Newcastle/Gateshead had the most Polish folk.

however, the Polish community in the past was made up of (and to this day) Polish Jews.

the modern day addition of Polish folk would bring the total up, but the modern folk don't mix with the old folk.

your question is not so easy to answer.

But do you mean "largest" as in percentage of the local population, or "largest" as in total number of people?

Wroclaw: thank for your reply- Im talking about current period 2010/11 post ww2 period, if you know what I mean.

I understand the old were mostly jewish because of germany (WW2 maybe), but strictly speaking I would be more intersted in the modern day addition of Polish folk. - So would you know were the majority are stay in u.k ?

convex: Thank you for your reply also again - I would mean the largest in terms of numbers.

Thank you, Sorry for not being more informative in the starting post

This might be a good start:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_migration_to_the_United_Kingdom#Population_distribution

Southampton my home town, home of the Spitfire and the start of Titanics maiden voyage.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southampton

I'm afraid I don't have any exact knowledge about the Polish community in Southampton,
but I guess a city which local team's nickname is "The Saints", and they play on St. Mary's
Stadium, is bound to attract large Polish immigration :)

Same as above cant give exact numbers,But Llanelli and wrexham in wales have large numbers of Polish and Doncaster the same,New Quay wales has about 30,so you can cross that of your list,

For sure Peterborough has a very large Polish population, strangely they have started to take over an area of town which is heavily populated by the Pakistani community.

Are you not counting London?

That's what I was thinking. As far as absolute numbers, London would take the top spot by a country mile.

"The main hub of the London Polish community is Hammersmith in west London, as well as Ealing, Balham, Enfield and Haringey."

Ealing is usually referred to as the biggest Polish community in the UK, I guess its now big enough to encompass Hammersmith as well.

Top link this is, Convex. Now there's a surprise, Ed & David Milliband have Polish roots, i'm totally gobsmacked. Chances are in 4yrs time we'll have a Polish PM!


London - Ealing, Hammersmith, Acton, Balham & possibly Slough!

It's tough to know the exact numbers but hopefully after the Census2011 in March you'll get a somewhat legit figure!.

Ed Milliband appeared on Andrew Marr's BBC politics show and here's what he had to say about the Polish:

"I'm not anti-Polish but they came here and reduced living standards by undercutting wage rates."

Odd really. What's more true is that they were so desperate that they were exploited by British employers to undercut wage rates. Some good news is that more and more Poles in the UK are joining Unions.

Exactly - bizarre statement by Milliband.


I wouldn't call that good news as such myself. Talk about reduced living standards - rampant, intransigent unions are one of the biggest obstacles to economic growth that there is.

Good that poles are protecting themselves but unions are rarely necessary for this these days IMO. Employment law and a solicitor's letter is usually more than sufficient.

Soufhampton innit?

The fact is that Milliband never said that: https://polishforums.com/uk-ireland/miliband-new-labour-leader-talking-immigrants-46783/2/#msg985704

Ah OK - thanks. Was beginning to wonder.

I remember watching the show then re watching it on the iplayer to check that I had heard correctly.

I'm not a fan of Ed Milliband..he's too right wing..but I dont like lies.

Well,I live in Eds constituentsy,and that sounds like a reasonable thing for people to say to him.
Wages have been driven down since 2004 and for a couple of years it really was silly season,80% of employment agencies were run by and soley for Poles,avarage warhouse wages went from £11 +ph to minimum wage of £5.50 odd......

But,anyhoo,like I say,Im in Doncaster,and as someone above has said there is a large Polish community here post 2004,but to be honest there was a large population here post 1945 too so you will have great difficulty say if you go by a list of names, 3 of my teachers were Polish origin, the phone book always had lots of entries near the back,W Z etc, and before 1945 there was also a Polish community who had come here for the Coal mines. So thats 3 large "waves" even after the 19th century Jewish emigration that the Milipeads were involved in.

Inverness and NE Scotland has (surprisingly) a large Polish and Lithuanian community. About 10% in some of the towns.

Inverness itself is the fastest growing city in the UK and has immigrants from everywhere.

There's nothing unusual in this, there was huge Polish and Lithuanian immigration into Lanarkshire before WW2 to work in the coalfields, and a lot of SS Galicia who were a mixture of Poles and Ukrainians settled there as well.

nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2005/highlights_aug/aug3/default.htm

Aye,we got the other half in Doncaster,must have made for interesting times in the local Pubs,Pawel from the 1st Polish airborne bumping into Pawel from the w SS !!!

My sincere condolences

You don't have to apologise, it really gets much better after you've left.

Sorry for not replying back any sooner,

I would like to thank you all, for replying back.

I will draw from the information you have stated here. ANd if anyone else has any more input I would be greatful.

Thank you.

The irony, eh?