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?

What about moving to west London - Twickenham, Teddington, Kingston upon Thames, etc. Good schools, some of the lowest crime rates in London and loads of green space.

Thanks again for all the information.
To answer a few questions, I don't have to commute as I recently lost my job due to Coronavirus, so it will be a completely fresh start. I work/used to work in the events industry which has taken a hard hit, so its unlikely I will go back into that when looking for a new job.

I love london and if I was a single woman I'd stay, but I need for my dc to have some sort of freedom.
We currently live bang in the middle of one of south London's worse estates and although my dc have never been bothered by anyone, they have been caught in the middle of a few huge fights and have witnessed two stabbings.

I have considered Brighton before, but decided it wasn't for us. I will have a look at areas on the outskirts of london, but my main issue now is affordability and what I'd be able to rent, obviously the further out I go the more house I would get for my money and another thing is trying to find a landlord that accepts housing benefits.

Leicester is very diverse and pretty well integrated without being a huge city. Lots of cultural stuff going on and only 1hr 15 mins to London by train.

How about moving further out in South London? Eltham, Sidcup etc. Thomas More in Eltham is a great comp but you'd also be in catchment for the Grammars (all diverse and excellent) if you live on the Bexley side. Or the Hayes, Beckenham side of Bromley?

Depends how you approach being the only one.

We are rural and Polish is our biggest minority. There is one black person - but she is married to the ex-chair of the parish council, they have mixed race kids and the rest of us are more 'in-comers' than they are. She is the village, knows everything and everyone.

So appearances can be deceptive and places can be very welcoming even if they look 100% white..

Did someone really say Peterborough. I mean sure if you want to live milfield/New England which is a run down dump. Out of that particular area you still get entire schools with maybe five black/mixed children in the entire school.

Definitely not Suffolk or Norfolk, I grew up here but on and near USAF bases and interracial relationships seemed pretty normal to me. My dad is triracial and most of my siblings are in mixed race marriages . But being a mixed race family out in the general population was dreadful - my oldest child is now 30 and only just feels able to express how much she resents growing up in a completely white area like this. My neighbours even got up a petition for the vendor to not sell me my house when I bought it, in case we devalued their properties.

Some areas of the UK are not ethnically diverse at all.
My kid's secondary school- 800 pupils in total has one black student.
He was elected as head boy in his final year.
I never see black people in my town- population 8 thousand or so.
By a strange twist though I think black people are treated highly here.
I had a friend who was black move from East London to my area and she loved the environment. Job offers flooded in, overall maybe an indicator of "tokenism", but suited her well- she had the pick of jobs.

Information on diversity by area is readily available if you google "diversity of population uk by area"

www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest

My town is similar to the PP above.
Although there are pupils in the DCs schools of different ethnicities, they are mainly South Asian or Eastern European. We live 8 miles away from Scotland's capital, which is itself not hugely diverse.

I live in Crawley. It's very multicultural. It has a bad reputation but I love living here. Most of the schools are good, there are a couple I would avoid.

@speakout

Some areas of the UK are not ethnically diverse at all. My kid's secondary school- 800 pupils in total has one black student. He was elected as head boy in his final year. I never see black people in my town- population 8 thousand or so. By a strange twist though I think black people are treated highly here. I had a friend who was black move from East London to my area and she loved the environment. Job offers flooded in, overall maybe an indicator of "tokenism", but suited her well- she had the pick of jobs.

Maybe tokenism has nothing to do with it all, and any potential employer could see that she would be a credit to their organization. Care to say where this place is that apparently treats black people highly, I have a friend who is interested!

The thing with some of these places is that although they might have a decent ethnic minority population, in reality they are quite segregated. Just thinking about somewhere like Peterborough where you have a primary school full of Asian and Eastern European children and a mile down the road you have a primary school full of white British. I wouldn’t make a decision based on percentages, rather look for a university city (get the Brexit vote map out!).

Leeds is very multicultural and has a great vibe.

Are you currently in council housing or private rent?

Do you have enough savings to be able to make a move? Deposit, first month's rent, moving costs etc?

Even if you find somewhere that will accept housing benefit, you'd need a sizeable sum to make the move.

Brighton, Cambridge are not that much cheaper than London in terms of rent. Bristol is cheaper but it's not cheap - you will need quite a chunk of money to hand.

Perhaps looking at job opportunities in various places would be a start? Approach any agencies etc that have lots of roles in an area.

Are you applying for new roles in London at the moment? Would be good to do so because you can potentially save some cash and it's always easier to get a job when you already have one

OP I've posted and been crucified about this before but I stand by it: I can understand your concern about knife crime and violence but to be honest I would think quite carefully about moving somewhere "rural" if you want a better outcome for your kids. Particularly if you're black or mixed race.

A lot of people romanticise the idea that more rural places are safer for kids but that statistics don't really bear this out if you're non-white I think the downsides probably outweigh the upsides.

Quieter, more rural places will probably have better knife crime statistics: they will have less pollution and be prettier in all likelihood, if that's what you're looking for.

It depends where you're moving to obviously as some fairly small towns have a diverse population mix but people's attitudes in the country can be surprisingly backwards if you've grown up in a city. There's more racism and if not overt racism just a sense of not being especially welcoming to outsiders, its much harder for people who look different to fit in.

There are tend to be worse problems with drugs in seaside towns than there are in big cities, living standards are lower and there are fewer jobs. Plus your kids will far less choice of things to do.

I can totally understand the draw of the countryside and I don't want to scare you off if you've done your homework, but I'd think carefully about this. It may well be that the reality doesn't live up to the allure.

Cambridge is very diverse and feels very safe. We are a mixed family and OH is very reluctant to move anywhere without a certain level of diversity and I can understand why. Hes very comfortable here though. I grew up in Essex and its a very white area, you can feel difference. Most rural areas lack any diversity in my experience.

Maybe tokenism has nothing to do with it all, and any potential employer could see that she would be a credit to their organization
Absolutely. That individual could well be head and shoulders above the rest.
I live in a town a few miles from Edinburgh.

I’m a Londoner in Bristol which is very multicultural in parts and some days I feel like I'm in London, the vibe is so similar - it has it’s own issues but it feels safer than where I came from. That said, make sure you’re absolutely sure you want to move out of London as once out - like me - you may be priced out of ever going back. It took me 10 years to get over the homesickness. I know you didn’t ask for advice but it’s quite exciting moving and it’s only when you’re settled in that it hits you. If I had my time again I’d have looked at the outskirts of London. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bristol but I’m a Londoner.

@speakout

Maybe tokenism has nothing to do with it all, and any potential employer could see that she would be a credit to their organization Absolutely. That individual could well be head and shoulders above the rest. I live in a town a few miles from Edinburgh.

Thank you. I will let my friend know.

Come to Manchester😁

Mid Wales and its almost 100% white here.

But I don't think anybody non-white would face any racism. Doesn't feel like a racist area.

I have family in Cambridge and their kids' school is extremely diverse. CB4.

I live in bucks. There's quite a noticeable south asian population, but very few black people in the smaller towns and villages.

The thing is, only 3% of the UK population is black, so out of 66m it's about 2m black people. But over half of those live in london. So outside london, you have 1m black people, and 58m of other ethnicities. So most places will have relatively few black people.

@catgirl1976 I'm (pleasantly) surprised you've said that about York. I was at uni there in the 90s. The university itself was very white, you could count the number of non-white students on one hand. The town seemed to mirror that, extremely white and with some active right wing groups.