BBC news - May 2012 - Lucy Ash
More French people live in London
than in Bordeaux, Nantes or Strasbourg and some now regard it as 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.
The biggest French cities
- Paris - 2.3m
- Marseille - 859,000
- Lyon - 488,000
- Toulouse - 447,000
- Nice - 344,000
The French Embassy in London says: "More or less 120,000 French are registered at the general consulates in London and Edinburgh, but we assess the real number of French living in the UK as being between 300,000 and 400,000, a huge majority of them living in London."
This fluidity makes employees less risk-averse too.
"I changed careers a year ago but I would have never done that if I was still in France. I'd have thought, 'I'm so lucky to have a job - I must hang on to it.'"
Nadege Alezine, a journalist from Bordeaux, says life in London is not for the faint hearted. She runs a website aimed at the French community called bealondoner.com
"If you want security and nice holidays you stay in France. If you crave adventure and want to get new skills, you come here," she says.
That is not to say she does not miss France. Sipping her drink, she sighs.
"Life in France was easy. You know, good food and wine. I lived near the sea and not far from the ski slopes. And sometimes when London's grey and rainy I think, 'What on earth am I doing here?'"
All the young women I met complained about London's overpriced property. London rents are twice those in Paris.
"In Brick Lane, we had bedbugs and rats," says Malika, "and for the same money I paid for one room, friends back home had their own flats."
Of course, many people living in London have it far worse, but by choosing the East End Malika and her friends are following in the footsteps of her compatriots centuries ago.
The French first came en masse to the East End in the 17th Century. These Huguenots, who had endured years of persecution in France because of their Protestant faith, were offered sanctuary here by King Charles II.
They called their flight Le Refuge - coining the word refugee.
Many settled east of the City of London, where food and housing were cheaper. There are many French street names around nearby Spitalfields Market such as Fournier Street, Fleur de Lys Street and Nantes Passage.
The Huguenots were skilled craftsmen but some feared that they were depriving Londoners of work. A protectionist priest, a certain Dr Welton, called them "the offal of the earth".
Today competition for jobs is intense, especially among the young, and cross-channel migrants are not always welcomed with open arms.
Recently the French consulate commissioned a report called The Forgotten People of St Pancras. It focuses on the young French who arrive in London on a one-way ticket and sometimes find themselves in desperate straits.
The Centre Charles Peguy, a French charity in Shoreditch, helps new arrivals to find work and a place to live.
Cedric Pretat, one of the advisers, says the numbers have shot up this summer.
"Many French people imagine that because of the Olympics, lots of new jobs have been created in London which is not true. But people arrive with this dream."
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