By Dr Alicia Chrysostomou

Cypriots living in London, particularly in those pockets of north London traditionally associated with the community, will have witnessed much change to their surroundings over the years. Sometimes this change has been incremental, so slow as to be barely noticed, an altered shopfront, a café or restaurant changing hands, a drip feed of movement. Sometimes change has been seismic such as in the large scale demise of the rag trade. A chance glance at a photograph taken decades ago stirs memories and tells the story of change. Yet few may have taken snaps of something as ordinary and mundane as say a parade of shops. Such snapshots would have a profound story to tell when viewed from the distance of time.

Fortunately such photographs do exist. Snapshots in time, not just of the changing face of the High Street but of the community itself. Taken during the late 1980’s by the then nascent Cyprus Centre to document the community, these photographs have now been revisited and a selection will be exhibited at the forthcoming Cypriot Wine Festival & Business Expo to be held on the 2-3 June at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre (the display will be on the mezzanine between 12 noon – 6pm). This exhibition will be presented by the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus and the Cyprus Centre at the University of Westminster and will comprise of both archive and contemporary photographs depicting the Cypriot Community in London. Original archive material will predominate but comparative images depicting a modern revisiting of selected locations will also be on show. But how did all this come about? That too is a story worth telling.

Our story begins with emigration. The first serious influx of Cypriots occurred in the late 1920’s following the annexation of Cyprus as a Crown Colony. By the mid 1930’s some 3,000 Cypriots arrived, mostly men, and mainly to London. Unlike later groups of immigrants these first groups had not been ‘invited’ by the host country for any particular function. The war years brought a few more immigrants, again, mostly men but also some women who had married British servicemen. The 1950’s saw the arrival of the largest group of Cypriots. This was a guided migration because of the desire for cheaper labour however some also came for education and others because of the political situation in Cyprus. Unlike earlier streams, this time there was a balanced movement in terms of men and women coming to the UK. A large proportion of this group of Cypriots came for further education, stayed on after their studies, then embarked on various careers and ultimately made Britain their home. Prof John Charalambous was one such émigré.

Further waves of migrants, whether displaced by the 1974 Turkish invasion on Cyprus or for economic reasons, added to the community which had traditionally grown primarily in those areas to the north of London such as Islington, Camden and Haringey. As the years passed, Prof Charalambous noted how the community had changed since his arrival in the 1950s, a change of which his daughter and the children of other émigrés were not aware. Seeking to highlight these transitions, John gathered evidence to chart the progress of the community. In 1987-8, exhibitions were organised and the Cyprus Centre formed.

The original exhibition (and a subsequent 1989 extension), largely portrayed the community in photographic form, showing Cypriots in action, whether in their work place or at places of leisure or worship. At that time a great number of Cypriots had undergone a transition period. Having originally worked primarily in the catering trade they had now moved into the rag-trade and diversified into other areas such as import/export, the service area and manufacturing. Certainly, in the former area women were a vital part of the development of the community and indeed of the wealth subsequently accumulated as businesses and trades found niches in the market and prospered. These building blocks have given rise to British-born Cypriots who enjoyed prospering companies and could take their place amongst the tycoons and giants of British trade and industry.

At the time of this original exhibition, food and travel formed an important and integral part of the Cypriots’ impact on British society with many traveling to Cyprus and wishing to enjoy the tastes and experiences they encountered when there. Furthermore, it was at this point that there was a flourishing of the arts within the community, who at this time developed and cultivated its own cultural activities, then baring a close affinity with those of Cyprus. Noteworthy strides were made in several areas including sculpture, painting, music, photography, film production as well as education, academia and architecture, amongst many other sectors. The Cypriot youth were noted to be engaged in activities that enabled them to retain a link to their Cypriot identity but also to forge bonds with the UK and surrounding communities. This was a time when Cypriot journalists not only catered for their own Community but also contributed to British publications. At this time too an attempt at establishing a community radio was made. The church was then seen as an important lynchpin in the community, not only in its religious life by providing a place for worship, but also providing a venue to explore a cultural and social life as well as in the provision of education and welfare.

Another generation has grown up since the original telling of this story and the children of those mid-century émigrés now have children of their own and those images depicted in the 1980’s photographs themselves contain an air of nostalgia. The community has not stood still in the intervening years. Immigration continues of course but not in the waves seen previously. Cyprus has changed, so too has the community. Haringey once synonymous for Cypriots living in London has transitioned as now waves of migration from other cultural groups move in. Gone are the plethora of shop and restaurant fronts bearing the names of Cypriot proprietors, gone too are those visible services catering for the community such as the banks and many health professionals, such as dentists, opticians and pharmacies.

However the community has not disappeared. Dotted through Haringey there remains a familiar name or Greek script declaring the business within, but these are now scant. The linguistic capabilities of new emigrants and of the younger generations make such notices redundant. Some businesses do remain but many are indistinguishable from those around them. As the older shopkeepers move on, their children do not always wish to follow their footsteps, they take on other careers. Sometimes the global economy influences trade. The rag trade once synonymous with the community has largely moved abroad. Factories and warehouses now give way to apartment living. Few remain extant.

Palmers Green tells a different story. Here much remains familiar from a generation ago. Many shop fronts have been modernised, some businesses have changed names or even function but a Cypriot hand is still evident in many replacements. Where once a short walk along the Haringey stretch of Green Lanes would inevitably lead to knots of locals conversing in Cypriot dialect, such encounters are now rare. Not so in Palmers Green. A visit over the Easter weekend saw Cypriots busy with their preparations, many Cypriots spilling onto the streets from the butchers and bakeries, each doing a roaring trade. Cafés were busy in the warm spring sun with Greek coffee consumed. Snatched conversations held the familiar cadence of Cypriots unique blending of their own dialect and English.

The 29 bus, omnipresent in the life of the community still snakes its passage through those familiar haunts. But now it is to those further reaches that many travel. Leafier suburbs and other towns and cities beckon from Southgate to Enfield and beyond. Many of course remain, integrated into the whole, second and third generation Cypriots who fill the ranks of workers from solicitors and accountants to doctors and dentists, academics, scientists, politicians and now an MP. The radio station did of course transpire. It too made its move from Haringey to Finchley but remains to provide that communal link so important to many. Now the radio transmits to a wider populace thanks to the internet. In addition, there is so much more available to those wishing to retain links with Cyprus and others of the diaspora. This now encompasses the radio, television channels, and social media. The community continues to flourish, integrate and adapt, let’s see where the next thirty years takes us!

Acknowledgements

This exhibition would not be possible without generous support of The AG Leventis Foundation to whom we extend our unwavering thanks. Many thanks are also due to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth – Cultural Services, Cyprus for their additional sponsorship. We would also like to acknowledge with thanks Nigel Harris whose extensive photographs taken on behalf of the Cyprus Centre during 1987 – 90 provide the backbone of this exhibition.

Digitalisation of the originals and additional contemporary images were provided by Sebastian Rezai. Original research into the community was conducted by Prof John Charalambous, George Hajifanis, Litsa Kilonis and Jackie Morgan. Additional research and text was supplied by Dr Alicia Chrysostomou.

A dedicated webpage featuring “Snapshots in Time” has been created by the Cultural Section of the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus, under the curation of Cultural Counsellor, Dr Marios Psaras, and will be available soon at www.culturalchc.co.uk.

Photos:

Green Lanes, Haringey with Barnaby’s bakery and Cyprus Popular bank in the background

Greek school

The old Parikiaki Office on Windsor Road, Holloway