London Bulgarian Choir at The Anvil, Basingstoke

Bulgarians in the United Kingdom include citizens of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

who trace their

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

ancestry. The number of Bulgarian-born people resident in the UK has risen from 5,351 at the time of the 2001 Census to an estimated 103,000 in 2018. Since 1 January 2014, Bulgarians have freedom of movement and work in the United Kingdom as

citizens of the European Union European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additio ...

History

A true Bulgarian community in the United Kingdom was formed relatively recently as compared to Bulgarian communities in other countries in Western Europe. Few Bulgarian students enrolled at British universities before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

; political and economic emigration was also scarce. It was only around 1944–1945 that a more apparent circle of Bulgarian political emigrants was formed in the United Kingdom. During the Cold War, when Bulgaria was a socialist state known as the

People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

(1944–1989), the Bulgarian community in the United Kingdom numbered some 3,000–4,000, mostly in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Emigration to the United Kingdom was very active in the 1990s and 2000s. By 2000, the Bulgarian community numbered over 10,000 according to unofficial data. Other estimates from the early 21st century claim over 30,000 Bulgarians live permanently or temporarily (as students and workers) in the capital

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

alone. The

2001 UK Census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

recorded 5,351 people born in Bulgaria. When Bulgaria joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

in January 2007, the British government placed transitional restrictions on the rights of Bulgarians to move to the UK, which were subsequently extended and these transitional restrictions expired on 1 January 2014. The

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for t ...

estimates that 69,000 Bulgarian-born immigrants were resident in the UK in 2015. By 2018, this estimate had risen to 103,000.

Notable people

Elizaveta Karamihailova Elisabeth Ivanova Kara-Michailova ( bg, Елисавета Иванова Карамихайлова), alternatively Elisabeth KaramichailovaRayner-Canham, p. 205 was a Bulgarian physicist of a Bulgarian father and an English mother. She was amo ...

, physicist *

Dobrinka Tabakova Dobrinka Tabakova ( Bulgarian: Добринка Табакова; born 1980, Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian-British composer. Early life and education Dobrinka Tabakova was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to medical physicists Vassilka and Slavik ...

, composer *

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(b. 1972), Scottish footballer * Boncho Genchev (b. 1964), footballer, first Bulgarian in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, currently residing in London * Stanislav Ianevski (b. 1985), actor *

Georgi Markov Georgi Ivanov Markov ( bg, Георги Иванов Марков ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Repub ...

(1929–1978), dissident writer *

Gerri Peev Gerri Peev is a Bulgarian-born, New Zealand-raised British journalist. Peev is known for an interview for ''The Scotsman'' of Samantha Power, a foreign policy advisor to U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. During an interview, Power said o ...

, journalist *

Silvena Rowe Silvena Rowe (née Lauta, born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian chef, food writer, television personality and restaurateur. Biography Rowe was born in Plovdiv to a Bulgarian mother and a Turkish father. Rowe's father, who was a newspaper ed ...

, chef *

Dimitar Berbatov Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...

(b. 1981) (footballer) former

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, Manchester United and Fulham player

References

*Ivancheva, M. 2007. Strawberry Fields Forever? Bulgarian and Romanian student workers in the UK. – Focaal – European Journal of Anthropology, 49 (2007), pp. 110–11

* Maeva, M. Organizations and Institutions of Bulgarian Emigration in the United Kingdom – In: Karamihova, M. (ed.). European dimensions of Culture and History on the Balkans. Sofia: Paradigma, 2010, pp. 276–291

* Maeva, M Memories for Socialism into the Internet Forum of Bulgarian Emigrants in the United Kingdom – In: Wilson, P., P. McEntaggart. Navigating Landscapes of Mediated Memory. Oxford, Interdisciplinary Press, 2011, pp. 29–38 (https://web.archive.org/web/20130821114416/https://www.interdisciplinarypress.net/online-store/ebooks/digital-humanities/navigating-landscapes-of-mediated-memory). * Maeva, M. Internet and Bulgarian Emigration to and in the Great Britain - Ethnologia Balkanica, 2011, vol. 15, publishing by International Association for Southeast European History (InASEA), Munich, pp. 349–362

* Maeva, M. Language as a Border: the Case of Bulgarian Emigrants in the UK – In: Hirstov, P (ed.). Migration and identity: Historical, Cultural and Linguistic Dimensions of Mobility on the Balkans. Sofia, Paradigma, 2012, 312-325

* Valkanova, Yordanka. 2009. Being a Rara Avis: Education Experiences of Bulgarian Children in Schools in London - In: Eade, John, Yordanka Valkanova (eds.) Accession and Migration: Changing Policy, Society and Culture in an Enlarged Europe. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, pp. 133–142

External links

London Bulgarian Choir

Bulgarian Party London

Bulgarian London

BG London — Bulgarian Newspaper London, UK
{{EuropeansinUK British people of Bulgarian descent,

Immigration to the United Kingdom by country of origin

History

Notable people

See also

References

External links