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Tower Hamlets has like 250k people- but yep, it's strongly Bangladeshi! Brampton is 38.4% South Asian and has 523,911...still don't know of any contiguous London area of over 500k that's that strongly South Asian.
I totally wasn't trying to "one-up" you or anything and definitely respect you as a poster...I was just genuinely curious. My family is from India, and I visited London in 99, when I was a kid, but I haven't been back since...I've checked out the demographics of South Asian areas of its various boroughs and even looked street views, etc. I definitely wish Toronto had a vibrant south Asian retail/dining strip like Brick Lane in Tower Hamlets or The Broadway in Southall...Gerrard India Bazaar just doesn't cut it. Even though places like Mississauga and Brampton have Indian strip malls, the "feel" just isn't the same as a jam-packed strip like Brick Lane in Tower Hamlets or The Broadway in Southall.
Fair enough i didn't mean to be snarky, apologies. The difference is that Brampton et al are recent suburban developments whereas the Desi areas in London are way more urban and relatively historical. I would argue that the same is true of Queens as well, despite the fact that it's "only" 9% south Asian, as you pointed out. Suburban ethnic development vs an Urban one makes a big difference, regardless of numbers.
Yep, the Desi areas in Queens are more vibrant than the ones in Toronto, but London's are on an entirely different level! On that same subject, I think a big reason some people find the Bay Area to be more Chinese than GTA is because San Francisco's Chinatown is much more densely populated/larger/expansive than Toronto's downtown Chinatown...since most casual tourists don't venture into Agincourt,Markham,North York, etc., their perception is that the Bay Area must be more heavily Chinese than Greater Toronto. What's interesting is that most of the immigrants in the city of Toronto live on the outskirts of the city (Scarobourgh, Etobicoke and North York) and a MUCH smaller share live in Old Toronto. This isn't all that different from the situation in NYC- with a disproportionate share of the immigrants live in Queens and Brooklyn- especially OUTER Queens and Brooklyn- with Manhattan and the closer-in parts of Brooklyn not having nearly as many immigrants.
Yep, the Desi areas in Queens are more vibrant than the ones in Toronto, but London's are on an entirely different level! On that same subject, I think a big reason some people find the Bay Area to be more Chinese than GTA is because San Francisco's Chinatown is much more densely populated/larger/expansive than Toronto's downtown Chinatown...since most casual tourists don't venture into Agincourt,Markham,North York, etc., their perception is that the Bay Area must be more heavily Chinese than Greater Toronto. What's interesting is that most of the immigrants in the city of Toronto live on the outskirts of the city (Scarobourgh, Etobicoke and North York) and a MUCH smaller share live in Old Toronto. This isn't all that different from the situation in NYC- with a disproportionate share of the immigrants live in Queens and Brooklyn- especially OUTER Queens and Brooklyn- with Manhattan and the closer-in parts of Brooklyn not having nearly as many immigrants.
Toronto has two large chinatowns each bordering the DT core on the East and West... The larger of course is on the west but the one on the east is nothing to dismiss either.. Having said that yes, the Chinese community is spread far and wide across the GTA with pretty large nodal concentrations of businesses throughout. The Pacific Mall in Markham is definately of note 450 stores in one indoor mall for example. There are a total of Six Chinatowns in the GTA.
According to the Gerrard India Bazaar website it is the largest Marketing place of South Asian Goods and Services in N.A... Not too shabby..
Gerrard India Bazaar
Hmm, that's interesting they say that. In my experience Oak Tree Rd in Edison/Iselin,NJ, Devon Ave. in Chicago, and Jackson Heights in Queens have more retail and are a bit larger than Gerrard India Bazaar, even though the South Asian populations themselves are much smaller in those areas...argh, if only the Hurontario/Dundas area of Mississauga densifies and explodes into a massive Indo-Pak district...that'd be awesome...or heck, even if the Sri Lankan business in Scarborough somehow consolidated under one umbrella and spearheaded a "Little Colombo"district somewhere near one of the Scarborough RT stations, that'd be pretty awesome.
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