“We usually visit the Argyle area because we can find a lot of restaurants here, I think it’s because Fanshawe College has so many Indian restaurants here, because the demand is high.”
— Londoner Khush Singh
The London borough of Argyle has a new nickname: Little India. Some business owners and clients refer to the Argyle area of as the city’s ‘Little India’.
Around Fanshawe College, the East London community has become a one-stop shop for new immigrant families, along with international students. “We usually visit the Argyle area because we can find a lot of restaurants here, I think it’s because Fanshawe College has so many Indian restaurants here, because the demand is high,” said Londoner Khush Singh.
Singh came to Canada in 2019 as an international student from Punjab, India. In the few years that Singh has lived here, he has noticed that the number of people new to the city is increasing rapidly.
“Some people have called it ‘Little India’ which is fantastic because Argyle is a homegrown community and everyone in the area is happy to support people who live in the same area.”
“The Punjabi community has grown significantly,” he said. “When I visited the London Sikh Society before, there weren’t many Punjabis there, but now you can hardly find a parking space there.”
Newcomers from India made up the largest number of recent immigrants to London over the past six years, according to Statistics Canada. The number has more than tripled from about a thousand people in 2016 to 3,810 in 2021.
Argyle’s demographics are significantly influenced by Fanshawe College’s population, said Leah Thomas, who works with the Business Improvement Association (BIA).
“We’ve reflected that in the businesses that have opened up in our area as well,” she said. “We have quite a few Indian restaurants or restaurants with an Indian aspect.”
Thomas believes Argyle’s immigrants have thrived with their own businesses, she said. “Some people have called it ‘Little India’ which is fantastic because Argyle is a homegrown community and everyone in the area is happy to support people who live in the same area,” she said.
*****************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com
