Migrants In Britain: 5.2

Question 1

Why did many black migrants move to Notting Hill ?

Answer 1

• people who arrived by ship would often catch the boat train to London, which stopped at Paddington (close to Notting Hill)
  [] Jamaican, Barbadian and other Caribbean High Commissioners would often wait there and welcome new migrants, helping them to find accommodation
• most white landlords in Britain didn’t rent to black people, and racist signage like “no coloureds” would be common under adverts for rental of rooms and housing
  [] no laws or regulations preventing this; nowadays, this refuse of service would be illegal
  [] thus there was limited choice of accommodation, and migrants were forced to choose whatever was given to them, which were often poorly kept, dirty, overcrowded and mouldy rooms in Notting Hill
• there was already an existing black community in Notting Hill due to many black servicemen residing there during the war
  [] thus black people felt safer moving to Notting Hill than in other places
  [] new black migrants often knew people living in Notting Hill already
  [] landlords were used to black people and didn’t mind renting to them, though took advantage of the lack of housing elsewhere to charge as much as possible, not improve rooms/housing and overcrowd their rooms to extract as much profit as possible
• many markets and restaurants like Portobello Road Market and the restaurants and cafes on All Saints Road catered to African and Caribbean tastes

Question 2

What was a HMO ?

Answer 2

• House(s) of Multiple Occupation
  [] one house could be rented out to many tenants - LUCRATIVE
• many landlords applied to change their properties into HMOs
• insane lack of privacy
  [] 2-3 people shared bedrooms and even beds
  [] the whole household shared facilities like the kitchen and bathroom
• facilities in the houses were poorly maintained
• each person paid their own rent, often as expensive as the landlord felt they could get away with

Question 3

How did landlords in Notting Hill exploit white racism to create ‘slums’ ?

Answer 3

• moved Caribbean/black tenants into houses next to white people
  [] these white people often had statutory tenancy (couldn’t be evicted without certain legal requirements being met)
  [] due to their racism, the white tenants moved away, and the landlords could turn their houses into HMOs or overcharge new black tenants’ rent
• ‘slum’ = area with houses rented by often Caribbean tenants who were overcharged for rent and could be evicted at any time without notice

Question 4

Who was Peter Rachman ?

Answer 4

• extremely successful Jewish landlord in Notting Hill
• owned 80 properties by 1959 and made £1.5 million+ in today’s money annually from renting to Caribbean migrants

Question 5

What did Peter Rachman do ?

Answer 5

• rented out overcrowded homes to extract as much profit as possible
• turned every part of his properties into rooms to be rented out, often in poor conditions with high rent
• many don’t know whether to consider him a ‘hero’ or discriminatory, as he did rent to Caribbean migrants when few others would, but the lack of maintenance, improvements and high rents on his properties argue otherwise
  [] however, this is representative of the wider problem of the lack of regulations surrounding renting at the time; Rachman was not uniquely cruel or greedy

Question 6

When did Peter Rachman die ?

Answer 6

1962

Question 7

What was the Rent Act and when was it passed ?

Answer 7

• passed in 1965
• ensured a system where all tenants would be charged fair rents instead of the ridiculously high prices imposed on black tenants as opposed to white tenants

Question 8

Who was Bruce Kenrick ?

Answer 8

• founder of NHH (Notting Hill Housing)
• minister at the United Reformed Church, moved to Notting Hill in 1963

Question 9

Why did Kenrick found NHH ?

Answer 9

• was shocked at the housing conditions when he moved to Notting Hill in 1963
• believed that resolving the poor housing situation would fix other problems too

Question 10

How did Bruce Kenrick found and run NHH ?

Answer 10

• gathered popular sponsors like The Guardian and the Church
  [] first campaign raised £20 000
• bought a property, fixed it up and rented to poor families, both black and white (majority black)
• founded NHH in 1963
• in NHH’s first year, bought 5 properties and rented to 87 tenants
• by 1970, NHH housed over 1000 people in West London

Question 11

Where is Portobello Road Market ?

Answer 11

runs through the centre of Notting Hill

Question 12

When did Portobello Road Market first appear ?

Answer 12

• 19th century
• sold vegetables and foodstuffs

Question 13

After the war, what was Portobello Road Market used to sell primarily ?

Answer 13

• antiques and people’s belongings
  [] many living in bombed houses had to sell their possessions to get by

Question 14

In the 1950s, what changed about the wares sold in Portobello Road Market ?

Answer 14

• vendors noticed that the black population in Notting Hill often travelled to Brixton to find foods from the Caribbean and Africa like yams, breadfruit, sweet potatoes and chillies
• took advantage of the demand for these foods and began to stock them for the black community
• some black people like the parents of Charlie Phillips (famous Jamaican-British photographer) opened their own cafes and restaurants on Portobello Road, like Las Palmas
  [] these cafes/restaurants often faced racism and police persecution unfairly

Question 15

When and how did music become an important part of the Portobello Road Market ?

Answer 15

• black community valued music a lot
• 1969, Island Records (Jamaican music company) moved its base near to Portobello Road
  [] started with stocking/managing jazz musicians, then expanded to ska, rock, blues, calypso and folk
  [] one of the artists it managed was Bob Marley, leading to the spread of his music in England
• encouraged more music shops and live music venues to be established and further the black music scene in Notting Hill