At first glance, London is just like many of its European counterparts. Buzzing, diverse and rich with culture. But a sunny afternoon spent people watching in a West London restaurant served to confirm my suspicions. London is full of people – Spanish people. Young men and women taking in the sights, sipping on pints of beer and experiencing what London has to offer. However, it soon becomes clear that – a few eager souvenir carriers aside – they are not tourists. They are immigrants looking to change their lives and\u00a0make London their home away from home.<\/p>\n
British politicians have scared the public with the unequivocal consequences which Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK would bring on our daily existence. But the truth is that there is a far bigger migration underway, which rather surprisingly comes from some of Europe’s oldest members. In the first quarter of 2012, 5,350 Spaniards and 5,370 Italians were allocated national insurance numbers<\/a> in London. Year on year the number of national insurance registrations for Spaniards across Britain has soared by 25 per cent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Spaniards, like the other PIGS (Portugal, Italy and Greece) are moving to London because the opportunities on offer far outweigh those at home.\u00a0Spain’s dismal unemployment rate increased to 25.93 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 from 25.73 per cent in the last quarter of 2013.\u00a0<\/a>Figures from the\u00a0Guardian’s Data Blog 2012\u00a0<\/a>show that there were 71,000 Spaniards living in London but the\u00a0Spanish embassy\u00a0<\/a>estimates\u00a0that there could five times as many studying, working or looking for a job. However, Spanish immigration to the UK is not a new phenomenon.\u00a0In fact, it dates back to the reign of Henry VIII, whose first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was Spanish. Spaniards from poor rural areas have been coming to London since the immediate aftermath of the second World War and continued to do so until Franco’s death in November 1975.<\/p>\n Pedro P\u00e9rez M\u00f3squera was born in October 1936, a difficult year for Spain as it became embroiled in a bloody civil war. Born and raised in rural Galicia, Pedro was the youngest of seven children. His parents, both farmers, worked hard to provide for their family and although Pedro insists that they “never went hungry,” he admits that times were tough. After he married his girlfriend, from a neighbouring village, the newlyweds decided to make a life for themselves away from Spain’s frontiers. The couple arrived in Dorset in 1960 following a 48 hour journey and settled\u00a0\u00a0quickly. After a short stint in the countryside, Pedro and his wife moved to London where they worked a series of jobs to make ends meet. “I came to London looking for a better life,” he says.<\/p>\n CLICK FOR FULL INTERVIEW\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n