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2012-05-30 10:55:20
By Lucy Ash BBC News
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 Lyc e Fran ais Charles de
Gaulle.
Start Quote
I came to London from Paris straight after graduating from art school, just to
have a look - that was seven years ago
Malika Favre
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."
Malika is much in-demand as an illustrator. Her commissions include a bold,
playful design for a new edition of the Kama Sutra, an album cover for a French
rock band and artwork for a Californian beachwear company.
Marine Schepens Marine Schepens says London's employers are more willing to
give young professionals a chance
Being in London and speaking English gives her access to a wider client base -
Malika sees the city as a gateway to globalisation and also relishes freedom
from French bureaucracy.
"With a new venture in Paris you always think first of what is going to go
wrong. I find the system much easier here - you don't have so many rules and so
much paperwork," she tells me.
Marine Schepens, who works for a fashionable advertising agency, says UK
companies are more prepared to give young people a chance because it is easier
to terminate their contracts than in France.
This fluidity makes employees less risk-averse too.
The biggest French cities
Paris - 2.3m
Marseille - 859,000
Lyon - 488,000
Toulouse - 447,000
Nice - 344,000
French Embassy in London: "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."
Source: Population figures from Insee (National Institute of Statistics and
Economic Studies)
Insee official populations (2009)
"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 over-priced 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.
1572: Grieving Huguenots seek to comfort the bereaved during the St
Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France The Huguenots came to London's East End to
escape religious persecution in France
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."
He adds: "Others are escaping from things in France such as family problems,
educational problems and areas like Department 93, because people who live in
that part of Paris sometimes have trouble finding a job."
Department 93 is shorthand for Seine Saint Denis, just north of Paris - the
French suburb which is home to many French nationals of African origin and a
large immigrant population.
To the average French person, it conjures up images of riots, bleak high rises,
youth unemployment and racism. It is the most-discriminated-against postcode in
France, although ethnic minorities from other suburbs have also had a tough
time.
Hamid Senni, a business consultant based in London, was one of eight children
born to Moroccan immigrants in the south of France. A well-meaning teacher at
his school suggested he change his name to Lionel.
Start Quote
Cleo Soazandry
It's like my eyes opened up when I came here - I think the American dream is
also present here in the UK
Cleo Soazandry
"Because of your name you will be discriminated against, because of your skin
colour, and even the address on your CV can stop you from getting a job," he
says.
"As for your skills and competencies - none of that counts in France if you
don't fit in the box - so I left," he adds.
Hamid now advises many French companies on how to diversify their workforce and
he lectures at Sciences Po, one of the country's most prestigious universities.
But he says that in the early days it was much easier to get someone to pick up
the phone, if he called from London than from Paris.
I first met him five years ago when he had just written a book. It was called
De la Cite a la City and focused on his journey from a rundown suburban estate
(Cit ) in Valence to London's booming financial district.
Hamid suspects the success of the far right in the first round of the recent
presidential elections, the highest share of the vote ever achieved by the
Front National in a nationwide poll, might have pushed more young French people
across the channel.
"France is really struggling to create jobs and things have got worse because
some people are saying the whites should come first," he says.
Cleo Soazandry, another young French national with African roots, has a mother
from Madagascar and a father from Guinea. Her parents met in France where Cleo
was born. In her early teens, the family moved from Paris to London.
"I was really pushed by my teachers here," she says. "Suddenly I realised I
could actually become somebody here, be ambitious."
Cleo adds that seeing black presenters on television made a deep impression on
her as there were virtually none in France at the time.
"It's like my eyes opened up when I came here - I think the American dream is
also present here in the UK."