The stadium that stands on the site of a mock-African village from the Twenties. A Soho nightclub where Britain’s first all-black band was founded. The Old Kent Road restaurant where Harrison Ford tucked contentedly into Nigerian pounded yam and stew. Though they are not always marked by blue plaques, London teems with locations that relate to the long, complicated history of black African settlement in the capital.
That was the lesson that I learned, over and over again, during the writing of my first book, Settlers. And, of course, the capital’s fidgety aversion to standing still has only expanded this map. What may once have been merely a tour of inter-war institutions and culturally significant buildings now encompasses markets, amapiano-fuelled day parties and sleekly appointed restaurants.
