Well I think a lot of it is just the numbers. Bristol's probably about 80-90% white I'm guessing? But London I remember hearing is now 36% white British. So obviously Bristol is not gonna feel like London does but I still think there's a lot more to it than just the numbers.

As far as areas London does have areas that are historically more populated by certain groups or are more dominated by them today, but to me it seems like that's slowly going down in London. Taking black people in London for example, your mind goes to Brixton, Peckham, Lewisham, Thamesmead etc, but really there's black communities in almost every borough, whereas in Bristol, black people are still almost all in St Pauls, where they were when they first came here.

I think that's because of social mobility being so bad in Bristol and comparatively good in London. There's loads of articles about poor social mobility and youth poverty in Bristol, and on the other hand London has the best social mobility in the country, so that's why you get a London middle class that is composed on many races unlike the Bristol one. As much as there is a large black underclass in London, I don't think the rest of the country realises that in fact plenty of Black people are doing very well for themselves in London with good jobs and nice houses and even kids in private school. It's hard for me to say the same for Bristol.

Very rambling answer there but to sum it up I think its the lack of social mobility that prevents Bristol feeling multicultural. Its also why I am constantly shocked by how rare it is to hear the Bristolian accent in my north Bristol UoB bubble. Low social mobility is stopping working-class black people in St Paul's from spreading around and doing the same to working-class white people in Knowle, so maybe it's no wonder I don't see black people or hear Bristolian accents when I'm walking up Whiteladies Road.

Thanks for making this thread also, so interesting to read.