Are there any diverse market towns?

[MuswellBill]

Just been watching Escape to the Perfect Town on BBC which was quite interesting. A London couple with 2 kids looking to move to Yorkshire to get more fur their £250k than a 1-bed flat. As someone in (almost) their initial position, I can see lots of benefits to finding a lovely market town somewhere and moving outside London to grow our family. But I can't think of anywhere that isn't 99% white. Are there any ethnically diverse market towns in England? I suspect the answer is no and cities like Bristol or Brighton are a better choice.
Are there any people of colour on here who have made the move to a market town?

Exactly @AgeLikeWine - which is what I suggested in my OP really- I guess that it's just not really possible. A different city with access to country is probably a better option.

Yes @CheddarCheesy most, in fact all I've come across are.

@GrumpyHoonMain most market towns in Buckinghamshire & Hertfordshire are diverse? Really? We've been on a few weekends away to those areas and it's been a case of spot the brown face! Can I ask which towns?

@HepzibahGreen as per my OP I was referring to ethnic diversity but as @Age said you generally don't find one without the other.

@Oblomov19 would be genuinely interested to know market towns in Surrey that are ethnically diverse.
Can I ask what area you live in?

Bradford and Loughborough seem like cities to me rather than market towns.

To be fair OP being ethnically diverse is not necessarily an indicator that a place is nice to live and there’s no racism - in my experience I have found that the most racist towns in the UK are Bradford and Luton!

Skipton
Burnley
Hebden Bridge

Tonbridge. Many brown faces but many other white non Brits

In Surrey, Woking is meant to be a little more diverse?

I live in a market town, no chain stores, lots of gastro pubs and wine bars with farmer’s markets etc. It is semi rural and it’s been voted one of the 5 best places to live in greater Manchester. But it is very white unfortunately

Also OP, if you’ve got the budget sufficient for a property in a market town in the London commuter belt, why don’t you just move to the outskirts of London? You’ll get more diversity and the coutryside on the doorstep anyway.

Loughborough is totally not a city. It doesn't even have a proper M&S or department store.

It's definitely a diverse market town though.

In reply to your question about Hertfordshire, my friend's son goes to a private school in Hertford and there are lots of black / Asian kids there.

Bradford is a city (although I see the myth of “no-go areas” won’t die).

Skipton isn’t particularly diverse, although some of the areas around are slightly more so.

I don’t know in answer to your question OP, but I suspect from the traditional “market town” type area, probably not.

Having driven down a road in Bradford by mistake and having to turn round to get out as it was a dead end and being glared at by the residents in the most intimidating way I stick by what I said about there being areas where you are not welcome if you are a different ethnicity to the people living there.

We live in a market town currently going through gentrification. There are a handful of families that aren’t 100% white. You can spend the entire day out and only see white people. It’s not necessarily a problem though. Some of the hangers on are a bit racist but most of the local population have been replaced or is at least in the process of being replaced by former Londoners/people coming from SE for cheaper houses who are obviously much nicer.

@MuswellBill - all of them. I have links to Wilmslow but pretty much all the Buckinghamshire market towns have affluent brown people due to the London / Oxford / Cambridge /Milton Keynes commutes. There are significantly sized Indian communities across Buckinghamshire - who all, like you go away for the weekend - London is popular as the weekend fares for 1st class commuters is often free / heavily discounted. Same applies to Hertfordshire.

I think you can get often skewed idea of a place’s diversity when you visit on a weekend, especially in affluent areas within commutable distance to London, because most brown people (even the rich ones) tend to have familial and religious links to cities particularly at this time of year. So as you may go to their town for a bit of R&R or see family / friends they will often go to Leicester / Manchester / London / Birmingham etc — for Hindus Sikhs and Muslims these places tend to be the centres of religious worship too.

I never understand about this diversity hysteria, isn't it a bit racist?

@BlackSwanGreen private schools tend to have more ethnic minority children in wealthy white areas. It’s pretty rare for no white kids to attend state schools in our town.

Having driven down a road in Bradford by mistake and having to turn round to get out as it was a dead end and being glared at by the residents in the most intimidating way I stick by what I said about there being areas where you are not welcome if you are a different ethnicity to the people living there

And having lived in/around Bradford most of my life it is oft exaggerated. The only place I have ever felt unwelcome was an area of high social deprivation, however they area is predominantly the same ethnicity as me!

What is the problem for you living somewhere 99% white?

I'm sure it is exaggerated often, especially by the media. I can only speak of my own experience, I have no idea if it was an area of high social deprivation but it was a small, cobbled road with densely packed terraced housing so I doubt it was the most prosperous area of the city.

I guess you’re framing your experience from what is portrayed in the media.

You’re assuming you were unwelcome because of your ethnicity, which is of course problematic.

Bradford, Blackburn, Burnley = all have the same problem, it's not exaggerated!

High Wycombe (40 mins from Central London) is diverse and a market town. Aylesbury is further away from London, but still somewhat diverse too. I wouldn't want to live in either, personally, but not because of their ethnic make up.

@GrumpyHoonMain

Brown people?

OP... Brown face?

Really

Loughborough a city.

Amazing

Hitchin.
Bedford.