Source: BBC
More French people live in London than in Bordeaux, Nantes or Strasbourg and it is now thought to be France’s sixth biggest city in terms of population. What is attracting a new generation of young French professionals to the city?
On a wet Friday night in Hackney, a group of young professional women walk into a pub. Laughing about the British weather, they shake their umbrellas, peel off their raincoats and make their way to the bar.
Like many Londoners at the end of a busy working week, they have come to unwind over a few drinks.
But if you move a bit closer, you realise they are all speaking French. They are not tourists, exchange students or off-duty au pairs. They all work in creative industries, have lived in east London quite some time and consider it home.
London has a long-standing French community – but it is no longer confined to the streets around the embassy in South Kensington, where you will find French bookshops, patisseries and pavement cafes patronised by impeccably dressed mothers dropping off their children at the posh Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle.
Today there are French people in every corner of London and their numbers have been growing, with the result that in next week’s parliamentary election in France they – along with expats in Scandinavia – will be voting for a candidate to represent them in the National Assembly.
The French consulate in London estimates between 300,000 and 400,000 French citizens live in the British capital – many in London’s cutting-edge creative hub, in the East End.
“I came to London from Paris straight after graduating from art school, just to have a look,” says Malika Favre. “That was seven years ago and I’ve no intention of going back.”
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