“Yes, I came here illegally and I had to, I had no other choice”.
Javed was a master craftsman in Iran, specialising in double-glazed aluminium doors and windows. He says he “had everything” – a house, a car and a good living.
He is now an asylum seeker living with seven other men in a home in Nuneaton.
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Tensions over migration at boiling point
A few years ago, the number of asylum seekers in the Warwickshire market town was in single digits.
Now, it has become another community facing anti-migrant unrest after two men reported to be Afghan asylum seekers were accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
Unlike other towns where protesters gather outside hotels believed to house asylum seekers, Nuneaton’s situation is different.
Here, they live in residential homes, integrated side by side with the community.
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Javed says he had no choice but to leave Iran
I was able to gain access to one of these homes – offering a rare glimpse inside a story often told from the outside.
“I wouldn’t leave Iran if I didn’t have to,” Javed tells me. He asked us to change his name and conceal his identity, out of fear for his family’s safety.
He’s unable to work or study while his asylum application is processed – and has no idea how long that will take.
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We spoke to Javed through a translation app
We sit around the kitchen table, the only communal area, its walls plastered with health and safety posters issued by government contractor Serco.
Javed speaks little English, so our conversation is facilitated via a translation app and later verified by a translator.
“I’ve been here for about four months,” he says, explaining his family paid €11,000 (£9,520) to smugglers to cross the Channel in a small boat alongside 70 other men, women and children.
“I didn’t know how to swim and I was very scared, but they forced me to get on the boat.
“Beatings and harassment are common on this path,” he continues. “You are beaten, you starve, and there’s also the risk of death.”
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Javed’s bedroom with Bible study materials on the desk
He says he fled Iran after converting to Christianity. “Because in Iran… if you’re a Muslim and choose another religion, they will arrest you and your life will be in danger.”
Before showing me his single room – furnished with only a wardrobe, chest of drawers, bed and a suitcase tucked underneath – Javed expresses gratitude.
“The people here are good people, thank God. I go to church here and the people here are really nice.”
But he’s aware tensions are high after the arrests of two men in Nuneaton.
Both have pleaded not guilty and are due to face trial in January.
A rise in asylum seekers
Until March 2023, very few asylum seekers were placed in Nuneaton.
Sometimes there was a single person, though only on one occasion was this person staying in government-supplied accommodation.
By June of this year, the number had grown to 247.
“Because I do quite a lot of work with refugees, I do know that most of the people that come here have a very good reason to,” says Heather Kincaid, a volunteer for charity Care for Calais.
She acknowledges Nuneaton has seen an increase in asylum seekers, but says: “I don’t want to overemphasise that, because we’re still talking about around 200 people in a town of like what is it, 134,000 [people].”
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Heather Kincaid says asylum seekers have a very good reason’ to come to the UK
Latest figures show 19 asylum seekers per 10,000 residents – placing Nuneaton 87th in terms of concentration.
Statistically low, but the town’s residents say it’s being felt socially.
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The conversation around immigration has largely been steered by the Reform UK party.
The leader of Warwickshire County Council, George Finch, is Reform’s youngest councillor and has also been vocal on the issue.
‘The world is going mad’
“They can’t be put up into HMOs [houses of multiple occupancy], they can’t be put into the streets,” says the 19-year-old council leader.
When asked where asylum seekers should be housed, he said the national party leader, Nigel Farage, is the man with the answers.
“What Nigel said is crystal clear… about having them in disused army bases or so on, we may be able to try and find our Warwickshire equivalent.”
He was also asked about community tensions in Nuneaton, and whether Reform has contributed to divisions in the town.
“They think that you, going out protesting – that’s racist, and that’s the world going mad.”
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Nuneaton has seen several anti-migrant protests
It was clear during my time in Nuneaton that many felt hesitant sharing their views on camera, out of fear of being called far-right, or racist.
But some of the most insightful conversations I had were with residents who didn’t want to go on record.
“No one will buy a house next door to an HMO,” says one resident living near a property housing asylum seekers.
‘It feels like they’re a priority’
They expressed concern about processing delays, saying: “It just doesn’t feel like they’re [asylum seekers] being processed properly.
“It feels like they’re a priority.”
They also feared that if the locations of HMOs in Nuneaton are discovered, they could become targets.
“I must admit, walking around, if you walk around now, there is more… I don’t want to say ‘coloured’, but yeah, people like that walking around the area,” says Alan, 77, who’s lived in Nuneaton for more than five decades.
We’re speaking outside Nuneaton’s town hall, which has seen clashes between police and protesters during anti-migrant demonstrations.
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Protesters outside Nuneaton’s town hall call for ‘remigration’
“It’s the ones that are trying to get here illegally I don’t like,” says Alan.
“I’m not too happy about that, because we’ve got young, 20-year-olds getting married… that are struggling to get on the property ladder.”
Concerns about housing and immigration’s impact on local resources were common.
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Many in Nuneaton are divided over immigration
As Alan walked away, a man and woman nearby agreed to be interviewed.
Zahin, a 32-year-old businessman, began to talk but before he could say more than how to spell his name, our interview was interrupted by a group of women shouting and swearing at the camera, directing their anger at him.
They were accompanied by children and had clearly been drinking – one held a pint of lager. “You’re trying to rape our kids,” one woman shouts.
The confrontation lasted around five minutes, with several raised voices.
One woman tried to explain her fear: “I hate it. I’m scared, I am afraid for my kids.”
After several failed attempts to de-escalate, our team walked away.
Shortly after, Natalie, who works at a bookshop on the high street, approached us.
“I’m really sorry, I apologise for that,” she says. “Nuneaton is actually a really warm town. Believe it or not.
“Most people… they’re kind, they are welcoming.
“But I think there’s something in the air that’s given a racist element real permission to be horrible. And I find it kind of upsetting.”
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Natalie says she fears there is ‘something in the air’ in Nuneaton
Divides in the community
Once the confrontation died down, we spoke to Zahin again.
“For them to accuse us of a crime, that’s unfair, that is unjust,” he says. He believes he was targeted because they assumed he was Muslim.
Zahin relocated to Nuneaton with his family from Malawi when he was six years old.
“I love this town,” he says.
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Zahin says he loves Nuneaton despite the abuse he sometimes faces
But that love is sometimes conflicted, because it hasn’t always been reciprocated.
“When I was in school, there was a lot of racism,” he says, adding that growing up, being called the p-word at school wasn’t uncommon.
Despite this, he says being a part of his community is important to him.
“But it has to work both ways though, we have to feel accepted in it, included.
“Right now, I don’t think we’re a part of a community, it’s more like sides.”
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Scuffles between anti-migration protesters and counter-demonstrators on 9 August. Pic: PA
When asked how he feels about the anti-immigration protests in Nuneaton, he says: “We have a right to protest for whatever cause we want to: that’s the beauty of living in England.
“And we’re really happy about that because we can speak freely about these issues like we are today.
“But there has to be a solution. And I think that solution comes through dialogue, not ranting off, swearing at each other. I mean we are in 2025 now.”