Poles in Britain trickle home, but most here to stay

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Walk down some streets in west London these days and you could be in downtown Warsaw: from thriving Polish supermarkets and cafes to the hum of Slavic chatter and rich smell of Polish dumplings.

And while some of the hundreds of thousands of Poles who have flooded into Britain since 2004 are starting to trickle home, the majority plan to stay, community leaders say.

"I would say about 20 to 30 percent of them are leaving now. The weak pound has been a big factor," said 38-year-old Chris Tadel, who runs a Polish bookshop in Ealing, west London.

"They have worked two or three years here and now they are buying property in Poland and want to live there again. I'm not going though. Both my children are in school here and I have the businesses...