The Documentary Podcast · BBC World Service

Iranians in London

·24 min·1 clip

Erfan describes visiting Iran once or twice a year and watching his parents age rapidly across the gaps — and notes that when he saw his grandmother a year ago, 'it was quite clear to all of us that it was going to be the last time,' and she died a few weeks before this recording.

1. The Documentary Podcast episode 'Iranians in London' centers on a conversation with Iranians in a Persian restaurant in central London. 2. James Reynolds hosts, and Reza, Raha, Amira, Erfan, and 26-year-old Kayleigh matter because they each describe a different Iranian migration path. 3. The episode asks what the Israeli and American airstrikes on Iran have meant for people living in London and how exile shapes daily life. 4. Reynolds says the group met at Naroon, just north of Oxford Street, and that the conversation was paired with Persian food and drink. 5. Reza says he co-owns Naroon and employs Iranian staff who are still connected to events in Iran. 6. Raha says the start of the strikes left her overwhelmed while she tried to contact family in Iran and family in the UK. 7. Erfan says the Iran he lived in for 25 years was very different from the Iran of today, including women going out without hijab. 8. Reza describes 'survivor's guilt' as a major feeling for people who recently left Iran and now watch events from abroad. 9. Kayleigh says she grew up in the US and Iran and remembers wanting the kind of ordinary family visits her friends had. 10. The group talks about summer trips to Iran, long gaps between visits, and the feeling that the city and people may have changed too much to be the same. 11. Reza names Kashka Baramjoon, Mastakhiar, Mirza Qasimi, Salad Olovye, and Zeytun Parvade while explaining the dishes served at the table. 12. He says Iranian food is bound to family memory, dining together, and the histories of Esfahan and Shiraz. 13. Raha says students were pushed abroad after the 2009 Green Movement and that Sharif University is known as 'West Terminal.' 14. She says Harry Potter and BBC Sherlock Holmes helped sell her London as a destination when she was ten. 15. Raha says her political speech since arriving in London means she has not returned to Iran after arriving in October 2019. 16. Erfan says every unusual call from Iran makes him fear that 'someone's dead,' especially after losing relatives and his grandmother. 17. Reza says Naroon was designed as more than a restaurant, and he mentions a non-ticketed event on the 40th day after the protests as a support space. 18. The tone is conversational, reflective, and emotionally direct, with Reynolds prompting long personal answers and occasional food descriptions. 19. Listeners interested in Iranian diaspora, London migration stories, and family separation will get the most from it. 20. Listeners looking for a fast politics rundown without personal testimony may skip it.

As heard by us

A calm central London conversation that uses a Persian meal to trace why some Iranians leave home and what they still hope for back in Iran.

James Reynolds uses a Persian meal in central London to widen the frame, moving from dinner table conversation into the reasons some Iranians leave home, the pull of university life, and what they still want for the country they left behind.

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