Any recommendations of places to live outside of London that will be accepting?

[Rosyflamingo]

Trying to work out places that I’ll feel safe. We are a mixed race family white dh with a dc.

Wondering where we can move to without he £££ of London that we’ll get on ok. Dc is in secondary school in year 7 and hating it so would have to move schools as well.

A few black families I know or know of have moved to Wellingborough and are really happy there

Milton Keynes is slower paced and cheaper.
The air is fresher and they have decent schools too.

Birmingham is a really diverse place. You'd definitely be accepted there

Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Sussex, MK, Rugby, etc as well as others mentioned above. You’re spoilt for choice.
I think the real restriction race and culture have on moving which are worth giving serious consideration are perhaps desire for a black or mixed church, ethnic market, neighbourhood with some diversity etc. These are social and physiological needs not safety reasons. I can safely walk through Peckham, Upton Park, Dalston etc at night. My age and colour means I’m likely to be fine but not most youngsters. Children generally will need more protection and guidance. A safe, aspirational hardworking community whether nearby or further afield is priceless.
Pinpoint where you have to commute to often ie family, work etc then go out as far as you’re comfortable and being searching with your parameters on property sites. Don’t let your race prevent you from moving to where you wish to.
Many moved here from continents away, some unable to speak the language but came for a better future for them and their children. The world is your oyster.

@Maggispice are you black and have experience moving out of London? I’m looking to move out of London, I don’t have problems in London. I used to live in Essex and was racially abused a couple of times. Someone riding a bike slapped my head through the window and shouted a derogatory term as I sat in my car waiting for my dh outside a shop. There were more incidents but that’s the one that’s sticks in my head the most. That was 2018 though so hopefully things have changed but it’s not that long ago?

I have been trying not to limit where we live but with dc I can’t just move somewhere as this sort of thing is damaging.

Also went on a trip to a church in Buckinghamshire on a day out and as soon as I walked in the whole church went dead silent, everyone stopped and stared, the whole place went silent, it was awful. They were having an afternoon tea and the board outside said everyone welcome. My dc said hello to someone to break the silence and the man turned their back on them and grunted and no one said anything. It’s not so simple just to move anywhere, even now unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestions will look at them as well though.

I truly wish the world was our oyster but I travel a lot and it’s definitely not there yet!

Oxford is ok

Bradford , Birmingham,Manchester

I live in Central London, looking to move to either Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire. I lived on the Hertfordshire border yonks ago.

I moved to England about three decades ago and I’ve experienced “recently off the boat” discrimination from black and brown sisters.I remember a black girl being violent and hit me at a salon in North London over a decade ago; never had that from a non black person but that’s on her not others.
I’ve experienced tribalism and in my experience it’s a bigger problem for black people. You can move to the West and be anything you want to be with hard work and determination but it doesn’t work like that on the African continent. It’s why moving to an English speaking country in the West is the preferred country for most Africans; not another African country or the Middle East.
Yes, I’ve traveled widely and lived on 3 continents as an African woman.
However, we’re discussing neighbourhoods within England; so that’s the oyster we’re analysing.

I know people do have a preference and can be horrid.
Children are like blank pages. Parents get to help them fill them in. Which is why I said, access to a mixed or open church, ethnic market etc as most neighbourhoods especially in Bucks and Herts will be accepting for a black family as much as it is for other families.

Bristol?

Bloody hell, that's shocking OP.

I'm in Calderdale, West Yorkshire and you'd be welcomed here. I work in an office where we have people whose ancestors came from all the world: The Philippines, Poland, Africa, The Caribbean, Pakistan, New Zealand. Likewise our communities are mixed and we all rub along just fine. Racism is regarded as ignorant and socially unacceptable. I cannot believe you've had to put up with that sh*t. Awful.

I think London is the only place that accepts mixed race families.

We’re a mixed race couple (no kids admittedly so might be different in the schools), but we’ve never had any bother in Edinburgh. Friends with mixed race kids have found it fine in the schools here too, they’re enrolled at high schools in Leith and in Morningside. Even out in Penicuik friends kids have been fine.

We live in Bath - I don't think anyone here bats an eyelid- friend of mine is a black single mother here - I think just go somewhere that's pretty liberal - the 3Bs - Brighton , Bath and Bristol all good - as is the West Midlands ( although I'm not fond) - Nottingham is very mixed and I much prefer in the midlands. West yorks also I find very open minded.

Agree, but v. expensive like London.

@Rosyflamingo This will probably be an unexpected suggestion, but a black female friend (age 60) moved to Belfast a few years ago, has a white Catholic boyfriend, and hasn't experienced any racism at all. No problem getting jobs. The only inconvenience for her is that there are zero black hair salons, as so few black woman in Belfast, so she has to fly back to get her hair done from time to time.

Don’t know your budget and yes, Oxford is expensive. But…

My sister is mixed race (black dad/white mum). She lives near Harwell. Bit rural. Never been anything overt there, or in school she works in around Didcot, but not very clued in.

My niece (white dad) splits time between Botley and Littlemoor (council estates originally). Much more diverse, some good schools.

In case that helps!

We're a mixed race family and live in Wolverhampton. I'm mixed, husband is white, DC is white presenting. It's a very diverse little city and very accepting. It's also a good commuter town for Birmingham.

Everybody we've encountered has been pretty friendly and there's been no issues at all in terms of racial abuse. Which is completely new to me. There's also a lot of other mixed race families which is quite nice.

Nottingham.

Your experience’s are shocking op - awful that you’ve been treated like that and I’m genuinely shocked! I grew up in Herts, several mixed race families in our close community and no one batted an eyelid. It literally wouldn’t have occurred to me it could be problematic for them at all- my own opinion is they were just another family like everyone else. I read your story here about living in Essex. Shocking! Sorry someone has treated you like that, it’s not normal imo.

I'm in Wolverhampton too and it really does seem to have got multiculturalism down to a tee.

I'm white, no children but I have been welcomed at Vaisakhi celebrations in West Park.

If I go in to a sweet centre the person in front of my might be ordering in Punjabi and the person behind me in the queue chatting away in Polish.

If you look on 'Just Eat' you can see a reflection of the diversity in the city, as well as the usual Indian, Chinese and Pizza there is Iranian / Persian (I love their bread), Caribbean, 'African' - they are not specific as to country but one of the dishes is Edikaikong, apparently served with beef, cow skin and tripe - I have not tried this. Also Japanese, Italian, cakes, Mexican, Korean.

The diversity is in contrast to the Northern towns I grew up in where you have parts of the town for various cultures / ethnicities and rarely if ever do you visit another area.

With respect, there is no point in white people commenting about their experiences of racism in these areas. Especially when bringing up Punjabi or Polish experiences. This is Black Mumsnetters. Punjabi or Polish people are not Black and would not be able to answer OP’s question any more than a white Brit would.

There are three mixed race families in my son's year 2 class. Private prep school in York!

It's a class of 18 children by the way.

It sounds like this was aimed at me.

Why is my experience of racism not valid?

As I said I grew up in a couple of northern towns where people do not mix.

I now live in a city where people do mix and I was agreeing with the previous poster who is in a mixed race family as is the OP.

It wasn’t only aimed at you. Your experience of racism isn’t valid because you won’t have experienced racism. I think this thread may have popped up in active, but OP was asking for the experiences of black people, which is why she posted in Black Mumsnetters.