Cultural Relations and Greek Community

There are between 130 and 150 thousand Greeks residing permanently in the UK, and the Greek Orthodox Church has a strong presence in the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. The British cultural presence in Greece is promoted mainly through the British Council.

There is a significant Greek presence of Greek students in tertiary education in the UK. A large Cypriot community – numbering 250-300 thousand – rallies round the National Federation of Cypriots in Great Britain and the Association of Greek Orthodox Communities of Great Britain. There are some 20 Greek cultural, philanthropic and professional organizations.

There are seven chairs of Greek and Byzantine studies at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, East Anglia, Royal Holloway, Birmingham, King’s College and the London School of Economics, and two Greek Studies Centres, at the universities of Bristol and Reading.

The Greek shipping presence remains significant in the economic life of the United Kingdom. Despite the trend towards moving shipping offices to Piraeus in recent years, there are currently some 75 to 80 Greek shipping offices in London (in the past there were over 150).