I first arrived in Hull in 1999, and it was rather famously as I discovered, a very ‘white’ city. Even in 2021, according to the census, Hull was 93.9% white. It was noticeable on the streets, in the university and in our church. While the rest of the UK was only 81.7% white our new home, and nearby towns such as Grimsby (95.7% white) seemed to be enclaves of white supremacy, at least in terms of numbers.
I had only a handful of black colleagues at the university, and the only evidence of which I was aware of an ‘Asian’ community (ie South Asian) was a nearby shop selling Asian and Oriental food with a halal butcher shop at the rear. This was the ‘go to’ place for rice, spices and advice on cooking curry. And we often went. The staff were friendly and helpful.
Another feature of late 1990s and early 2000s Hull was economic decline. One thoroughfare from the centre of the city to the area where we lived, The Avenues, and beyond was largely composed of empty shops. The few that were there when we arrived gradually closed and there are, at most, only a handful of the original shops left. All but one of several pubs closed and you could be forgiven, if newly arrived in Hull, of thinking that you had entered a ghost town.
Hull is, noticeably, a very different city now. My parish church, where once you could count the number of black and brown faces on one hand is markedly different. Black Africans and South Asian Indians are prominent members of the congregation. Some are students and families of students; some work in the NHS, while others work in local businesses.
One thing that is noticeable about this group of people is that they are not noticeable – by which I mean that outside of the church I hardly see them. I don’t know where they live or where they shop. They don’t appear to have stamped their identity on the city.
Another significant group, evident in our church and, to some extent, on the streets is the Polish community. They comprise 3.4% of the population of Hull and use our church (Catholic naturally) to hold Polish Masses. As many Polish people attend those Masses as attend the normal parish Masses. They are like a parallel Catholic community and, while not always the best behaved bunch – one murder which took place at the end of our otherwise quiet street was the result of inter-Polish group rivalry – they go largely unnoticed. There is usually one Polish shop on each main street of the city.
Contrast that with the Muslim community. While comprising only 2.3% of Hull’s population, they are unmistakably here. You can hardly miss them, both by women and men in Muslim attire, and by the proliferation of shops and the three Muslim centres (mosques).
On the street described above, sometime in the mid 2000s a kebab outlet and restaurant appeared and then another. The few shops that were open were in Muslim hands and then, almost overnight, it appeared that all the shops were in Muslim hands. The next stage involved one shop displaying fruit and vegetables on the street, then another…and then another. Before long you could be forgiven for thinking you were in a back street in Bahrain.
This street is not alone in being transformed; another thoroughfare out of Hull to the north is lined with Islamic food shops. Yet another street near the university is changing similarly – and there is another Islamic phenomenon: no longer that a mile, it has eight ‘Turkish’ barber shops. Remarkably we seemed to survive in Hull with a handful of barber’s shops before their arrival. Now you can barely walk a hundred yards without seeing one. Described as ‘Turkish’, these shops are common in many high streets in the UK. However, they are not, strictly Turkish. I use one nearby occasionally and the barbers in it are invariably Kurdish having fled Iraq.
While they provide an excellent service, it is hard to imagine how they can all survive. They are kitted out immaculately, always have a team of barbers waiting, but never seem to be too busy. Reform UK are convinced that these are nothing more than fronts for money laundering, and that they are involved in the trade of illegal drugs. It is also suspected they lever local council grants to get set up, and plenty of these are available in Hull. However, the records of to whom these grants are paid is not in the public domain.
I have previously praised the Muslim immigrants in Hull for their enterprise. The streets referred to above were in decline; locals did not seem interested in creating businesses, and probably were unprepared to put in the long hours required to make a living. I happen to like the back streets of Bahrain, and when I walk up these streets in Hull the colourful displays and the smell of fresh vegetables is vibrant and reminiscent. I also praised these shops for staying open during lockdown, where others complied, and for not imposing ridiculous mask mandates on customers. I thus benefited from the untouchability of the Muslim community.
But there is a new phenomenon. First, there was the appearance of the Arabic symbol – حلال – on the shop signs indicating that they sold halal meat, followed by the occasional addition of Arabic writing on signs to provide the shop name in Arabic. Arabic writing is more common now and very recently, one shop only has a sign above it in Arabic, with no English equivalent. It is to be assumed that this will become more common, raising the question of whether this is integration, separation or domination? Time will tell.
(photograph: Shops on Spring Bank, Hull by Ian S, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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Time is already telling. Hull is behind other towns where the Msulim takeover is more or less complete with openinmg prayers in councils now in Urdu. It is colonisation as the indigenous culture is extinguished.
Is this “integration, separation or domination?” Certainly not the first.
Whilst you praise the ‘untouchability of the Muslim community’, the vibrance and smells of the streets and the fact that they stayed open during lockdown, with none of that silly mask wearing stuff which some of we plebs agreed to because we were willing to try anything that sounded reasonable at the time…would it be insensitive of me to ask if you have any opinion at all on the national scandal of the rape gangs which shames us all?
The national scandal of the rape gangs certainly doesn’t shame us all; exposure, shame and punishment only should be applied to the perpetrators, their probably knowing families and places of worship and their British establishment/professional class enablers (regardless of origin, race, colour, religion etc.). The enablers now need to be publicly brought to justice, fined, imprisoned and barred from any public facing or positions of authority for life – it won’t of course happen.
This has little to do with ethnic shops as businesses being used by British indigenous shoppers/customers.
there are many boutiques etc around Knightsbridge that haven’t had any English signs for years now. We natives are not welcome in these shops, whether they are aimed at rich Arabs or poor Pakistanis, these are not for us. The so-called ruling elite in this country are gullible fools to facilitate these people – they all abuse our hospitality one way or another.