For decades the story of Jamaicans and Britain ran in one direction: Kingston to London. Windrush, NHS jobs, London Transport, Brixton and Harlesden. But over the last ten years a quieter, more personal current has started flowing the other way – from London back to Jamaica.
This isn’t a mass exodus. Jamaica still loses more people than it gains overall: net migration is around -10,000 people a year, meaning more Jamaicans leave than return. But within that big negative number there’s a small, steady stream of people doing something radical: selling up in England and starting again in Jamaica, usually with property at the centre of the plan.
This piece looks at that movement using real figures and weaving in real-life patterns of people who’ve made the jump – often with a house key in each hand.
