Case Studies: Bristol and Leicester

The main Bristol example concerns Caribbean migrants in the mid-twentieth century. Leicester’s story follows Asian migrants arriving from 1945 onwards, including people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and East Africa.

Bristol: work, housing and community

Bristol had suffered bombing during the war and needed rebuilding. Labour shortages in transport and industry encouraged Caribbean migration. By 1962, around 3,000 Caribbean migrants lived in the city.

Many settled in St Paul’s, where relatively cheap housing was available in an area affected by war damage. Their choices were also restricted by racism: landlords elsewhere often refused to rent to Black tenants. Settlement in St Paul’s therefore reflected both affordable housing and exclusion from other neighbourhoods.

Over time, migrants developed a strong Caribbean community. Community organisations and welcoming social spaces became particularly important where people experienced hostility in housing, employment and everyday life.

The Bristol Bus Boycott, 1963

The Bristol Omnibus Company operated a colour bar, excluding Black and Asian people from employment as bus drivers and conductors. This continued despite staff shortages and had support within the local trade union organisation. It shows that demand for workers did not automatically overcome racial prejudice.

The West Indian Development Council, formed in 1962 to support Caribbean migrants’ rights, helped organise resistance. Paul Stephenson arranged a job interview for Guy Bailey, but the company cancelled it when it discovered that Bailey was Black. This exposed the discriminatory hiring policy through a specific case.

In April 1963, campaigners including Roy Hackett organised a boycott of Bristol’s buses. Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the United States, supporters refused to use the service until the colour bar ended. A boycott challenged discrimination by putting public and economic pressure on the company rather than relying only on individual complaints.

The campaign gained national attention. Local MP Tony Benn, church groups and university students supported it, showing that opposition to the colour bar extended beyond the Caribbean community. After four months, the company ended the policy. In September 1963, it employed Bristol’s first non-white bus conductor.

This was a clear local victory: an organised campaign had changed an employer’s practice. It also contributed to wider pressure for racial equality during the period leading to the Race Relations Act of 1965. However, removing a formal barrier did not immediately produce equal representation or eliminate racism.

Bristol’s cultural and social changes

Migrants also created institutions that made Bristol’s social life more inclusive. Tony and Lalel Bullimore opened the Bamboo Club in 1966, providing a welcoming venue for the African-Caribbean community. It hosted performers including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Desmond Dekker and Jimmy Cliff. Theatre workshops and its role as a headquarters for local sports teams made it a community centre as well as a music venue. It was destroyed by fire in December 1977 and was not rebuilt.

St Paul’s Festival, which began in the 1960s and developed into St Paul’s Carnival, celebrated Caribbean music, food and dance. It brought people together locally and grew into a major Bristol event attended by different communities. Its significance lay not only in preserving Caribbean culture but also in making that culture part of the wider city’s identity.

Individual migrants connected campaigning with community work. Roy Hackett helped organise the boycott and later co-founded the carnival. Barbara Dettering, who arrived from British Guiana in 1961, participated in the boycott and later became a social worker and activist. Princess Campbell became one of Bristol’s first Black ward sisters and challenged racism in the NHS. These examples show migrants influencing employment rights, public services and culture, rather than contributing in only one area.

Leicester: arrival and support networks

After 1945, Leicester’s textile and shoe industries attracted Asian migrants seeking work. Arrivals included people from South Asia and from East African countries such as Uganda and Kenya. Many East African Asians were twice migrants: they or their families had previously moved from South Asia to Africa during British colonial rule before moving to Britain.

Community support helped newcomers establish themselves. The British Asian Welfare Society assisted with housing, employment and settling into British society. By 1972, Leicester had Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras and mosques. These institutions provided places to practise religion and helped communities maintain shared identities while building lives in Britain.

By 1981, Leicester’s Asian population was around 60,000. This growing population included people with different origins, religions and experiences; it was not a single uniform community.

Hostility towards Asian arrivals

Asian migrants also encountered opposition. In 1972, Leicester City Council placed an advertisement in Ugandan newspapers describing the city as “full up”. It aimed to discourage Ugandan Asian refugees from coming to Leicester because of concerns about housing and public services. The advertisement illustrates how local authorities could present new arrivals as a burden rather than welcome them.

The far-right National Front exploited anti-immigrant feelings and organised marches in Leicester during the 1970s. In the 1976 city council elections, it received approximately 18.5% of the total vote. This demonstrates the strength of organised hostility at the time, although it does not mean that all Leicester residents shared those views.

The Imperial Typewriters strike, 1974

Discrimination was also experienced at work. At Leicester’s Imperial Typewriter Company, Asian workers challenged unequal pay and restricted opportunities for promotion. In May 1974, approximately 500 South Asian workers, many of them women, went on strike.

The Transport and General Workers’ Union did not support the strike. Without that backing, the strikers relied on community donations and anti-racist organisations. Their experience shows why migrant community networks mattered: workers could not always depend on established organisations to defend them.

The strike lasted 14 weeks and ended in August 1974. Strikers faced attacks by National Front members and arrests by police, and the company dismissed many of them. The factory closed the following year.

Unlike the Bristol boycott’s clear success in ending a hiring ban, the Leicester strike did not secure a comparable victory for its participants. Nevertheless, it demonstrated Asian workers’ willingness to organise against unequal treatment, including the active role of migrant women.

Building a lasting place in Leicester

Alongside these difficulties, Asian migrants developed businesses and community institutions. In the 1970s, migrants bought empty shops on Belgrave Road, helping transform it into the Golden Mile, known for jewellers, clothing shops and eateries. This gave migrants opportunities to earn a living through their own businesses and changed the character of the neighbourhood. By 1994, Leicester had approximately 1,400 Asian-run businesses.

Religious and cultural life also became more visible across the city. Leicester’s Diwali celebrations developed into one of the largest outside India, attracting thousands of visitors. The Mela festival celebrates South Asian arts, music and cuisine. These events connect community traditions with Leicester’s wider public life.

The Race Equality Centre, established in 1967, provided another form of support by challenging discrimination and promoting equality. Leicester’s experience therefore combines exclusion with community organisation and economic achievement. Like Bristol, it shows that migrants were active agents of change, even when they faced substantial barriers.