London has been called France’s sixth biggest city but the stereotype that Britain’s capital is overrun by French people is far from reality. In Camden Market or the streets of South Kensington, French restaurants jostle with French bakeries and bookstores, and the French language is part of the background noise.
“France travels, France moves. We are an international country,” President Francois Hollande said as he opened London’s second French high school, opened to ease pressure on the century-old Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle.
Whether business leaders or students, bankers or artists, bartenders or footballers, there are a lot of French people in London.
Exactly how many, though, is unclear – and it’s a subject of much debate.
A total of 120,000 French citizens are registered as residents in the United Kingdom. But European Union citizens are not required to register with authorities.
The French consulate believes the figure 120,000 represents about 40 per cent of the actual number, estimated to be about 300,000, two-thirds of them in Greater London.
That makes the British capital about the 50th French city, equivalent to the urban area of the coastal city of La Rochelle in western France.
If so, London is far from “France’s sixth biggest city”, as it was once branded by London’s colourful mayor Boris Johnson.
France is nevertheless well represented in London with its 200,000 “Londoniens”, but no more than other major European countries.
The consulates of Spain and Germany estimate there are 300,000 citizens each in London.
The Italian embassy said that 250,000 of their citizens are registered but estimates that there are probably double that in Britain, with “at least 200,000 in London”.
