A Jamaican story in Barton and Tredworth, from a corner grocery to the All Nations Club.
From Jamaica To Gloucester
Many of Gloucester's African-Caribbean families arrived from Jamaica in the decades after the Windrush docked in 1948. They came to work, many at the request of the British government and many in the NHS.
They have told their own stories. Carlton Green and Bernard Westcarr, both born in Jamaica, came to live in Gloucester in 1957 and 1960 and have written memoirs, High Hopes and Great Expectations and Memoirs of A Peasant Boy. Gail Johnson's book A Long Five Years follows older Black citizens of the city, most of whom came from Jamaica as young adults.
The All Nations Club
Newly arrived Jamaicans of the Windrush generation built and paid for the All Nations Club themselves, so the community had somewhere to come together. For half a century it has been a cornerstone for Gloucester's Black and minority communities, a place for celebrations, big occasions and solidarity, and in recent years the community has worked together to restore its reputation and legacy.
The First Black-Owned Business
The Gloucester History Festival's map of Barton and Tredworth marks the place where Black business in the city probably began: a grocery shop at 7 Vauxhall Road, thought to be the first business in Gloucester set up and owned by a Black person. The same map is honest about the city's older ties to the Caribbean, including Bakers Quay at the docks, named after Samuel Baker, who with Thomas Phillpotts owned property in Jamaica.
Black Gloucester Today
The St Ann Society of Gloucester keeps the Jamaican connection alive with events like Windrush 75: Welcome to Gloucester in 2023, and the streets of Barton and Tredworth carry the history the first families made. Black-owned food spots, barbers, salons and brands are part of everyday Gloucester.
Shop Black-owned businesses in Gloucester on CashBlack.
Photo Credits
Barton Street, Gloucester. Photo: BazzaDaRambler, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons