A snapshot of Britain in the 80s.
Beachgoers in the seaside town of
Bournemouth, a place which has always
been a magnet for holiday makers and
seasonal workers.
Fast forward to the final days of this
summer, and the change is undeniable. In
the Bournemouth area between the 2011
and 2021 censuses, the non-Britishborn
population went up by 47% and
immigration everywhere has risen
significantly since then. On the
seafront, we find immigration is
something white British people want to
talk about, but not openly and not on
camera. The whole atmosphere of the
place has changed and it's strange to
hear foreign languages spoken so
frequently in our country.
>> Does that make you feel uncomfortable?
>> It does.
>> Is it the number of migrants that's
coming? What What is it?
>> Reportedly so. And visually that seems
to be the case. I mean, we all look at
we see what we see.
>> What do you see?
>> I don't see many,
I suppose, white British people around.
Why does that trouble you?
>> Sorry, I can't actually can't answer
that question.
>> The woman we're talking to asks for a
minute to gather her thoughts. It's a
question at the heart of Britain's
tortured relationship with migration and
for some can be uncomfortable to
consider.
>> It's like a sensitive emotional I
remember how it was. I remember the
community. I'm worrying that our society
as Brits is being undermined by the
people who are coming in.
>> For decades, Britain has wrestled with
the thorny issue of migration. Who
should be allowed into the country and
from where. Migration to the UK has
changed since Brexit, but not in the way
people who voted to leave Europe might
have expected.
Nine years ago, I visited Bournemouth to
talk to people about migration ahead of
the referendum. We've come back to the
Cumberland Hotel. The EU flag no longer
flies. It's a hotel where a decade ago
the majority of the workforce were
non-British EU citizens, many from
Eastern Europe.
Sha Nell is the general manager and has
worked at the hotel since before Brexit.
>> Morning. A lot of our workforce were EU
nationals and obviously Brexit a lot of
them have have left. They find other
work other than hospitality. Uh a lot of
our workforce what we're seeing now that
we can recruit from is probably South
Asia.
The staff gathered together for their
own breakfast after the morning service
tells the story of where most of the new
recruits now are coming from.
28-year-old Shardell Thomas is from
Delhi and works part-time at the
Cumberland Behind the Bar. He did a
master's in sports management and like
many others came to the UK on a student
visa. He says postrexit trade agreements
with India opened up new opportunities
for South Asians.
>> After Brexit, the Europeans were less.
So we get we were able to get good jobs.
It's good about like people
coming for good life, getting good life,
upgrading their life.
>> When I first came to the Cumberland
Hotel, Margaret Cubic from Poland was
the assistant restaurant manager.
>> We enjoy breakfast, ladies.
>> 9 years later, we tracked her down.
>> So, the first roundabout we do nice and
easy, left first exit.
>> We discovered she's left the hospitality
industry to work as a self-employed
driving instructor.
When we've meet nine years ago, we as
the Polish people, we were very much
accused of taking the jobs from English
people. Yes. And then now we are
replaced by the South Asian people. Now
they start at the bottom.
>> In Bournemouth, just like many other
towns in the UK, protests have sprung up
outside hotels housing asylum seekers.
The hotels have almost become a focal
point for wider concerns about
migration. We find the subject isn't as
difficult to discuss amongst a crowd of
like-minded people.
>> We don't know who they are. We don't
know who these people are.
>> Who are they?
>> It makes you feel
it's not England anymore.
>> Refugees are welcome here.
>> The asylum Hotel protests are generally
countered by groups who are more
sympathetic towards migrants. Do you
feel the fabric of your town, if you
were born here, has changed
significantly because of migration?
>> No, because it's always been a a um a
place where foreign language students
visit. I think this lot down the road,
they need somebody to hate. Now it's the
Muslims, now it's the refugees. 10 years
ago, it's the Poles, the Eastern
Europeans. With more councils vowing to
launch legal challenges over the
government's use of asylum hotels, the
immigration protest movement shows no
sign of abating. And Bournemouth, like
so many other places, continues to
wrestle with its identity. Lisa Holland,
Sky News, Bournemouth.