To ask how multicultural is the area you live in?

[Startingoveryetagain]

I'm seriously considering moving out of london, I'm mixed race and also have to DS's who are due to go onto secondary school in a couple of years.
With all the knife crime and violence going on I'm terrified they will get caught up in it all once they get a little older.

So I would like to get some information on where would be good to move to. I know it sounds awful, but I don't want them to be the only black child in the class as I do want them to have people around them who they cam also relate too, so where do you live and is it multicultural?

You need to delve a bit deeper than looking for just not totally white, because some areas have a mix of ethnicities, but there’s no mixing between them. Depending on your background, you might not want that.

I’m in Bristol which is a lovely city but sadly street crime is on the rise here in certain areas.

Another one in East Reading here. Its very culturally diverse on this side of the cemetery. I love it. On my road alone there is a Gurdwara, a Masjid and a Church at either end. Plus the community centre is used as a Gospel Church.
My DC have friends from almost every nation, and all (and none) religions.

I live in Dorset. I think in my DCs primary of 600 there are two black families. We have huge amounts of eastern Europeans though.

N Somerset, predominantly white but very liberal residents mostly ex Bristol and quite a few non white families out yesterday where we were walking. Can't help you about the schools as my kids had flown the nest before I moved.

@Startingoveryetagain Hi OP. I am black and live in Brighton with 2 DC. I have always found it diverse and my DC fit in easily. I am actually thinking of coming back to London because although Brighton is lovely with a young family, the secondary schools here leave a lot to be desired and there is a fairly big drug problem in some schools. Be careful you don't swap one problem for another. I find most affluent families go private or leave when their kids grow up a bit. As a PP suggested what about a different part of London?

@ClaudiaWankleman where do you live?

I used to live and go to secondary school in County Durham. We did not have 1 single person in school who wasn't white, not 1.

I live in Co Durham. There's parts of this region that I wouldn't recommend people live in with the 'wrong' colour of skin but the middle class areas of other towns are much safer and while not very multicultural by London standards do have up to 10% non-white faces. More asian than black though and I can't comment on the levels of hidden thoughtless racism (people wanting to touch hair etc) people experience.

I live just outside Leicester, which is minority white. Once you get just outside, the demographic reverses. My village is 10 mins from the city. Mostly white. Very few black people. A few Indian families / or mixed (white / Indian) and Eastern Europeans.

Sadly, I think there is violence and knife crime everywhere. I live in a nice area in the West Country and there is crime here. Obviously not as bad as London, but then it is much smaller.

@romeolovedjulliet

formerbabe it's locally known as chavley, outsiders call it crawley, others just call it a total dump.

I’m from Crawley and have never heard it called that, yes it’s one of the cheapest towns to live in the south east but isn’t as bad as you made out.

Reading? There’s all sorts of every nationality here

Brighton here. DSs school has a real mix of ethnicities, as did his nursery

Not multicultural at all sadly. In DS's class of 30 only one child is not white. I've lived in a lot of cities so am used to more diversity and miss it and think it's a shame DS is growing up with less exposure to different people. It's not very diverse in terms of age either being quite an "old" place.

That said we are looking to move back to York once covid is over which is pretty diverse and I would wholeheartedly recommend as a place to live

Leicester is very ethnically diverse. There are people from most countries and cultures here. It's great.

Bristol, some areas here are very white and others are very mixed. Where we live, it’s usual to see a White person. In the school I teach in there’s about 4 White children per class of 34. But 10 min down the road is the complete opposite

it’s usual

I meant it’s unusual, sorry long day!

We're in North Hampshire. More than half of each of my DC's class are Eastern European. Mainly Polish and Slovak with a high number of Roma too.

@romeolovedjulliet

formerbabe it's locally known as chavley, outsiders call it crawley, others just call it a total dump.

West side is rougher than the east side. Pound Hill has good schools and is multiracial.

I live in a south oxfordshire village. To be honest, black and asian people are a fairly small minority. But we are close to Reading (where my children go to secondary school) and Oxford (where are work), which are much more multicultural. Especially Reading and East Oxford. My children's grammar schools are minority white.

I'm in Bristol and it's very multi cultural! Love it here!! I also moved from London

West Midlands? My son was one of 2 white children in his class.

Well Birmingham and Wolverhampton in the Midlands rank pretty high in terms of diversity.

Were in Walsall, live near the Sikh temple so our estate has lots of Asian families (and the amazing smells coming from the temple as you wait for the bus is near intolerable!), DSs school is also mixed across the board. In his yr1 class we have Asian (generally Indian) children, Polish children, white children, black children, duel heritage children. I know two of the kids are Muslim, some are Sikh as well as Christian and agnostic/non religious. Possibly one pagan/wiccan.

I’m in Leeds. There’s an older Muslim couple over the road (Mr over the road is awesome, always trying to feed us ). There’s a family of Asian decent next door, they’re very much ‘British’ Asians. We have lots of black and polish families at school. Probably some other countries too, but my ignorant ears can’t tell the difference in the languages A couple of families at church from the Philippines. I met some lovely ladies from Eritrea at the children’s centre when I went with DC1. There’s a large Irish contingent.

I like it. It’s never boring.

Brighton
Leeds if you can come slightly further north
Bristol

We're in a small-medium sized town in the East Midlands. On the whole, I'd say it's pretty diverse. (We are a mixed race family if that makes any difference).

My dd's primary school was incredibly multcultural and very well integrated (both parents and children). The school did an amazing job of really celebrating diversity. Her secondary school is quite a bit less diverse - partly because of the ethnic mix of the wider catchment area and partly because quite a few of the BAME children from her primary school opted to go private for secondary. However, there is still a decent mix and although we have been aware of a few racist incidents, the school has dealt with them pretty well and dd doesn't experience it as a significant issue.

My workplaces have been pretty diverse and well integrated too. Overall, the town feels like it's a nice mix to me.