Bristol, in the south west of England, is a city with a 1,000 year history of trade and movement.  From Bristol, people like John Cabot set out on voyages of exploration, and merchants sent out ships to trade for olive oil, wine, enslaved Africans, sugar and tobacco.  To Bristol came people from around the world: amongst them kidnapped Inuit from the Arctic in 1577, Huguenot refugees from the 1680s and Jamaican workers in the 1950s.  People come for many reasons – some are political refugees at risk in their own countries, others move for work, or for love. Today Bristol is proud to consider itself a global and racially diverse city, but it has not always been an easy journey.

In 1963 four West Indian men launched the Bristol Bus Boycott, in reaction to the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ Black and Asian bus crews. At this time in England, racial discrimination was wide spread and affected the employment and housing opportunities of those targeted. The boycott called for all West Indians to stop using Bristol Omnibus Company buses.  This action received national attention and was supported by Bristol University students, church groups and politicians across the UK.  Months of negotiations and a mass meeting of bus workers resulted in an end to the ‘colour bar’ and it was announced on 28th August 1963 that there would be no more racial discrimination when employing bus crews, the same day Martin Luther King gave his speech in Washington: ‘I have a dream…’. Later that year Raghbir Singh, a Sikh, joined the bus crew as Bristol’s first non-white conductor, followed by two Jamaican and two Pakistani men. In the same year the Race Relations Act was passed, declaring that racial discrimination was unlawful in public places. Many believe that the Bristol Bus Boycott was influential in the passing of this act.

In 1978 Bristol Sweet Mart opened: now a large supermarket and deli selling ethnic foods and spices to the general public and restaurants of the South West of the UK, the original small shop was set up by Kassam Majothi. Mr. Majothi and his family had to leave their home and business in Uganda in 1972, when Idi Amin expelled all Indian and Pakistani residents.  After a spell in a refugee camp in Somerset they moved to Bristol and started again. From small beginnings, the Sweet Mart is now a much-loved, much-used institution in East Bristol.