Where do the French live in England?

[Quillan]

Having just bought my new car in France I phoned up Peugeot UK to see if I can get a manual in English, no problem at all and they post it to me FOC via a dealer.

How do I like France said the French chap at Warick Wright in London, a lot better than London I said. I then asked if there were many Franch living in London, he said about 300,000 at the last count so there you go. I forgot to ask him how many in the UK. So now I don't feel so bad living here in France, not that I should I guess.

[Dick Smith]

By coincidence the train I travelled on today (to Victoria) had the usual half-dozen or more French kids who meet up every day, and the 'training day' - aaaargh! - was at the Natural History Museum, which is opposite the Lycée Charles de Gaulle. So a lot seem to be in West London (at least les jeunes).

[Tourangelle]

I think they all live in London.  I have twice been asked what part of London I was from, on the grounds that the inquirer had found out I was British, and therefore thought from  London.  Well, somewhere north of London, I tell them.  If I say Birmingham they hear Buckingham, if I say York, which is where I was born, they think I'm American. 

[Richard-R]

The funny thing i have noticed about the French in London, is that they do not seem to have an area to call there own, unlike many other expat communities. I wonder why that is? given that there are so many living in London.

[Russethouse]

South Today featured three French people that lived in Portsmouth/Southampton area, only last night.

I think there is a few around Oxford too

BTW one of last nights interviewees said she thought the English were far warmer natured than the French, contrary to her expectation

[Anton Redman]

There were at least 60 working on the former 'Sittingbourne Research Center' last year.

[WJT]

It would be very interesting to find out how many English live in Paris. Anyone know the answer?

[GRT17]

There are a lot of French ladies married to English husbands and living permanently in Surrey.

[Will]

[quote]South Today featured three French people that lived in Portsmouth/Southampton area, only last night.I think there is a few around Oxford tooBTW one of last nights interviewees said she thought the Eng...[/quote]

The French people interviewed also said they liked the greater opportunities, in both professional and personal life, and the lack of bureaucracy in England compared to France.

[Teamedup]

There are certainly french people up in the NE too. My french friends here laugh about that, but it is true never the less and think it would be far too cold. Then I show them where Adrian's Wall is and say that the romans were there for quite some time and it somehow becomes more acceptable...... funny old life isn't it.

[leray]

Where I am based in UK I know at 6 French women married to Englishmen, one lives opposite from me and at my daughters senior school one of the Art teachers was French

[Renaud]

Quillan, I feel it is curious that you feel so bad about living in France, that a few French people in the UK makes you feel not so bad.

I could understand it if the entire Millwall Supporters club had bought farmhouses around your area but most Brits I have met in France seem rather pleasant souls.

[Quillan]

[quote]Quillan, I feel it is curious that you feel so bad about living in France, that a few French people in the UK makes you feel not so bad. I could understand it if the entire Millwall Supporters club ha...[/quote]

It's really to do with the old integration chestnut that comes up here now and again and has been debated to death so I won't go there. The thing is we are getting more and more Brits moving to our area and my French friends didn't mind so much when there were the odd few but now we have areas in which the French are dramatically out numbered by the Brits. Anther village next to Quillan had a new mayors office open and a big party was held. Over 70% of the attendees were Brits, even the Brits were a bit taken aback. So knowing there's 300,000 French living in my old stomping ground makes the two or three hundred living in and around Quillan look very small.

I'm very happy living here in France but being here has also made me feel more European than I ever did in the UK so I guess I feel Europe is my home and at the moment I choose to live in France. I guess that many French wonder why we come here whilst I wonder why on earth the French want to live in the UK and London in particular and in such big numbers and I also wonder what they do to integrate with the English in the UK. I only ask the latter as I have only ever come across one working French person in all my working life back in the UK. And before anybody says anything I was not making a snide comment about the French.

[Hegs]

There appears to be a very big French contingent in Reading. One friend was the only English in a block of 8 flats, all the rest French except one Spanish. Taking the trains around there I usually tuned into one conversation in French.

In my companies office in London I used to drop into, 7 or 8 of the 40-odd employees were French (all mid-20s to early 30s), in addition the team I worked with had a Francophone Canadiene, and English guy and a Swede with French degrees so French was the language there...

I found it funny that most of the young French planned to leave London, go home to France, start a family without the stresses and strains of SE England life... different nationality same dream :-)

[zeb]

My neighbour's son lived in Ealing for a year, as a sabbatical, and worked in Pizza Hut to improve his English. Returned to France and got promoted.

Says it's normal practice if you want a good job.

regards........helen

[Patf]

Why should the French want to live in London? Because it's a fantastic place to live when you're young and single. I lived and worked there when I was in my early 20s and loved it. Now I enjoy going for days out when I'm over there but wouldn't want to live there now as I haven't got the energy. But why Reading? Pat. 

[Hoddy]

There are a few French living around here who work at Nottingham East Midlands Airport. The ones I know are married to local people. Perhaps this applies to other provincial airports too.

Hoddy

[Russethouse]

I read that Reading is the new 'Sex in the City' town ! (You could have fooled me )

There is quite a bit to do in Reading, and there is certainly a lot more within reach. Paddington is only 29 minutes, in fact thanks to the archaic Earls Court station, it took me as long to do Paddington - Olympia as home to Paddington, last week.

Still quite a bit of work here and a very cosmopolitan population.

[Hegs]

The world famous Reading and WOMAD music festivals, when the whole town turn into a freak show, are probably why it is known abroad and considered cool by the young.

As well it is a pretty big center of the UK IT industry, but also a lot of the French I knew worked in the big new retail developments there, pubs and bars. Before I left the UK a couple of years back unemployment practically doesn't exist in Reading and so it's pretty easy to get a job even with a low level of English fluency.

Also there is a pretty large university, good transport links to the whole of the south east and Wales, etc.

[Russethouse]

Yes Hegs, as is often said by those of a certain age,(me for one) the best thing about Reading is just how quickly you can get out of it !

[Sprogster]

At a recent high level intergovernmental meeting between France and the U.K. a senior French politician was heard saying to his British counterpart, "You send us your old and we send you our young"!

Apparently, there is increasing concern in French government circles about the large numbers of  well qualified young entrepreneurial French people moving to the UK. Whereas, they perceive that the majority of Brits moving to France are older and downshifting, retired or only semi economically active.

I read somewhere that there are now more French living in London then any other city in France apart from Paris and Lyon.?

Also apparently, there is an area near Ashford in Kent nicknamed mini-France because of the large French resident population and number of French owned businesses. Presumably, because of the  Channel Tunnel rail link station there.

The perception by some, that the large number of people moving from the UK to France is one way traffic, is and always has been a myth.

 

[letrangere]

It would be very interesting to find out how many English live in Paris. Anyone know the answer?

Having been one, I'd be curious too but can't see how we could find out for how is this statistic recorded?   We always register at the Embassy wherever we live in the world but, of course, that's purely voluntary and I suspect few bother to in France.  With the exception of the drunken British GP recommended by the Embassy (ha, ha) and a couple of Embassy people themselves who lived close by, I never met another British permanent resident expat.  My only English speaking friends were die hard francophile Americans.  I suspect there are lots of us but we're probably quite well integrated.  M

[opas]

When I worked in ASDA before moving here we had a French student from Nimes working on the checkouts with us, she was studying at  Manchester (along with quite a lot of other french students) to be a teacher and had a part time class room support teaching post at a local secondary school as well as her part time supermarket job. Would give anything to have heard her teaching English to the French(her goal) with the accent and local phrases she picked up from us and the customers.

[RayB]

[quote]The funny thing i have noticed about the French in London, is that they do not seem to have an area to call there own, unlike many other expat communities. I wonder why that is? given that there are s...[/quote]

Perhaps it is because most Frenchmen 'know who they are' as individuals and don't find the need to 'huddle' together.

[Teamedup]

I must disagree Ray. I imagine that the french huddle as much as people from other societies are apt to huddle. There are the free spirits who don't, but many people do. Even of the people I know who travel, of my friends there are very few of them who will go to non french speaking countries. Some will say that they travel a lot and they do, but it is always to french speaking countries.