Areas to live in Glasgow? Afro-caribbean

[Judou]

Hi there!

We're looking to move to Glasgow from London and hoping to find an area where the kids wont be the only black children at school. Im aware there is a big south Asian population but am wondering where the pockets of black African/Caribbean families are? Many thanks!

Hi. Welcome (or nearly welcome) to Glasgow! I'm not sure the population of black African/Caribbean families is large enough in Glasgow to have developed pockets yet. Glasgow itself is very diverse though and my kids' school certainly supports numerous different cultures and several races (including around 5 black African/Caribbean families).

Same it's fairly a mixed where we are but this is fairly recent. You could try looking at the evening time primary one photos but really its unless your chinese or eastern european there are not aby pockets.

Govanhill used to be Irish and then they settled made money and moved out of that area, then came the Lebanese and other middle eastern immigrants and they did the same as the Irish. Now it's the eastern Europeans and their at that point now too.

It's fairly unlikely they won't be the only kids in the school.

Hth

Yeah I wouldn't say that there's pockets of African/Caribbean families. We're in the suburbs and there's a handful of families. Glasgow is very accepting though with only a few areas as exceptions.

Do you have an area in mind that you like the sound of?

Maybe ask on this facebook page too- in any case it might be useful for you for afro-caribbean-centric events!

www.facebook.com/African-Caribbean-Cultures-Glasgow-174408692668432/

Thank you all! Very helpful :)

We were thinking Pollokshields?

Pollokshields has plenty of diversity. Good luck with your move!

Hillhead primary is very diverse. You need to live in the catchment though to get in.

What’s your budget? Buying or renting?

There’s some Afro-Caribbean food shops on Great Western Road in the west end but I have no idea if that reflects the population living there. It’s where University of Glasgow is so will be at least diverse from students but maybe not fsmikies. The west end is the most expensive area though and you won’t get a house unless you can afford a £1m town house!

But lots of large flats in Hillhead for under £350k, plenty of them occupied by families

I live in the East end. My daughter goes to a small primary school but it has a lovely mix of different cultures, races, religions and mixes. Given there are less than 170 kids, it's amazing that within that there are over 25 languages spoken.

I know our area is not the usual location people think of but I love it and the real community feel and mix of classes and cultures.

The West End has families from all over the world due to the university and teaching hospitals. It’s a lovely area and schools are fine.

I’m from London and have lived here for 24 years. Bring your wet weather gear!

I found Pollokshields not particularly diverse when I lived there- population was about 50/50 south asian origin and white - but it was a really friendly community!
In the west end it was more diverse- lots of families from all over due to the university and hospitals. My DN's primary class has kids with parents from malaysia, nigeria, india, pakistan, china, poland - loads of places! I wouldn't say there are particular pockets of afro-caribbean people, however.
I live in the west end and my immediate neighbours are indian, chinese and nigerian. I'm white scottish, husband is irish. It's a very friendly place and we all get on grand.

Pollokshields will range from probably about 80:20 Asian:white European to other parts where it is 20:80. Albert Drive and East Pollokshields is very Asian - but I love it. It gets progressively "whiter" as you move further west into the bigger houses - but still pretty mixed. (we're technically in "West" Pollokshields - ie the big houses - but close to East Pollokshields). There is now more diversity because of the influx of Eastern Europeans as well as the existing Asian community.

Shawlands is very vibrant and multi-cultural and has a range of housing. There are currently 54 languages spoken at Shawlands Academy . There are quite a few black pupils - but it is a real mix. 10% of the school roll is Roma which causes its own challenges but the school is very proud of its ethnic and demographic diversity (everything from millionaires to extreme poverty) and still expects and gets good results from its pupils.

The current head boy is Asian and his deputy is white Scottish, while the Head Girl is black Scottish (can't remember who the deputy head girl is, so no idea of her ethnicity - and it's not something ds would notice).

The Asian community is historically from the Punjab (rather then in England, where it was primarily Bengali, apparently).

Ds is a placing request to Shawlands - otherwise he would have gone to Bellahouston Academy from our catchment primary of Glendale (which was/is a brilliant primary school). He's now in S6 and has done well at the school. You don't mention how old your kids are.

The better class the school catchment area, the less chance of there being bullying or even acknowledgement of differences in skin colour. Glasgow is a friendly welcoming city and I hope you will be very happy here.

You will be absolutely fine in all of the areas already mentioned upthread, I would focus on school catchment, are your children at primary or secondary?

Have recently moved to Glasgow and am house hunting. Love the Pollokshields area, joined mumsnet to specifically link with PrettyBird and other mums who’ve provided tons of helpful advice and comments on living in this area ( which I’ve been reading over the last few months!). Something I have noted is that there is an almost 100k difference in price between East and West Pollokshields for a flat! Has this difference always been as pronounced or is it getting worse? Thanks for the insights and once again so grateful for all the info on this site.

Also would really appreciate advice on figuring out catchment areas for schools!