I lived for 30 years in South Ealing in West London, which originally was a model little London village. The Poles who arrived after the war were thoroughly integrated, the Hindu shopkeepers got on with everyone, including the local Muslim residents, and although there were new immigrants from perhaps 20 countries, the pace of change was slow and unthreatening. We knew that nearby Southall had long since become an ethnic ghetto, but we were sure this would not happen to us. There were, perhaps, more Indian restaurants in South Ealing than anyone could possibly require, but the only local grumbles I can recall were about some Somali refugees who had trashed their council house. We all ticked along in our own way. I liked living in South Ealing. But things changed. What ruined our community and the personality of our neighbourhood were the young Eastern Europeans who poured in from 2004 onwards. I am not criticising the character of these young migrants. They were generally hardworking, eager and ambitious. But they arrived all at once in large numbers and, most significantly, had zero interest in integrating. They lived and socialised exclusively together, watched Polish television channels via their satellite dishes, chatted to family back home for free on Skype, set up Polish shops to sell Polish food, newspapers and books, and they learnt only as much English as they had to. Seeing shop after little shop put up the words Polski sklep marked the end of the village I knew ...

• published: 01 Jun 2012
• views: 15629
• author: BrickOutOfTheWall