It was in 1948 the first group of West Indian immigrants arrived in Britain to help rebuild the country after World War Two; over the next two decades, the number of West Indians that moved to the UK continued to grow. Those come to settle in the UK, with the promise of a bright economic future, were confronted with bleak winters and arguably an even colder local population.
With the “No Irish, No Blacks” signs confronting would-be tenants, even finding a place to live was hard. Unsurprisingly, the largest communities established themselves in the deprived inner-city areas, often occupying run down ex-middle class areas like Brixton, Harlesden and Notting Hill in London, St Pauls in Bristol, St Anns, Nottingham, Toxteth Liverpool, Handsworth in Birmingham.
The majority of the immigrants were from Jamaica and brought with them their culture of late-night ‘blues’ dances at illicit drinking dens called shebeens. These would sometimes be in a friend’s front room, where they met to play dominoes, drink rum, and remember the Caribbean and more importantly to listen to the latest American R&B.
