Close
Welcome to Czech/Slovak London online!
Through these pages you can follow London’s Czech/Slovak language and culture trails to find out more about Czech and Slovak community in London.
The Czech and Slovak community in London started to grow before and during the Second World War, when United Kingdom and especially London became a refuge for many Czechoslovak Jews, intellectuals, politicians and diplomats fleeing Nazi-occupied Bohemia. The Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš established his Provisional Czechoslovak government (in exile) in London in 1940. At that time many Czechoslovak men came to the UK to join the Royal Forces to fight in a war.
After the war, the community grew especially in the years following the communist coup in 1948 or after the Soviet occupation in 1968.
When the Czech and Slovak republics joined the EU in the 2004, the Czech and Slovak community gained in numbers. The current estimate is approximately 40.000 Czech and 50.000 Slovak nationals living in the UK, large proportion of which would be in London.
On the map below you can explore places connected with the Czech and Slovak community.