The people of Oldham have reacted to Nigel Farage's comments - and haven't held back

Nigel Farage made headlines earlier this week when he claimed there were streets in Oldham where nobody spoke the English language. The comment was made during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The newly announced Reform UK leader was defending his previous claim made on Sky that there is a 'growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values', referring to Muslims, and pointed to the borough as an example.

Speaking to the BBC on Monday, he said: “I could take you to streets in Oldham where no-one speaks English... I have been there and even The Guardian agrees."

Labour council leader Arooj Shah hit back at Farage’s comments describing them as ‘stupid and inaccurate as they are offensive.’ With the streets of Oldham being a hot topic, the Manchester Evening News headed to the town centre and the streets of nearby Glodwick to see how the people felt.

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'My grandkids don't know my language'

Speaking to the M.E.N this week, local business owner Sarosh Rehman agreed with Ms Shah’s sentiments, dismissing Farage’s comments as ‘rubbish’.

Indeed, Sarosh, who has lived in the Glodwick community for over 20 years, feels it's the native languages of the large South Asian community in Oldham that are endangered.

“I’m a grandmother, my grandkids don’t know my language, they only speak English," she exclaimed.

"My kids speak English, I have no education from this country and even I speak English! Everybody can speak English.

“What he said is simply not true. We are the ones worried about our kids are losing heritages.”

The youth of Oldham is something Adila Rafa knew all about. A 25-year-old teacher, she told the MEN: “The older parents are saying they are struggling to speak to their children because they aren’t very fluent in English.

"There are schools on every corner, and surely we get educated and learn the language. We need people to stop believing stupidity, people to come and see for themselves. I think what Farage said was just ‘bullsh** to be honest.”

'There are certain areas of Oldham where I don't feel safe - but you get bad people in every walk of life'

However, not everybody disagreed with Farage. 35-year-old Sean Redmond was on his way home when stopped by the MEN in the town centre.

A former Oldham resident who has since moved away, he said that he believes Farage’s claim, based off his own life experiences.

“I can believe that," he said. "As a white guy there are certain areas of Oldham where I don’t feel safe. Obviously there are other white people there, but it feels very hostile.

"The way they speak to you and you can get a vibe in the areas. You wouldn’t catch me anywhere between the town centre and South Chadderton, Glodwick is one of the areas also.

“It hasn’t changed the way I see a race or community. You get bad people in every walk of life but once you view a certain thing a certain way it’s very hard to change.”

However, he did say that he was not a supporter of Farage. “I’m not a fan of the guy whatsoever, He’s saying it for attention," he added.

"Instead of saying something about it, do something about it.”

'Community wise it's really good. Come and visit, see for yourself'

Back in Glodwick, corner shop owner Mahbub Alom, 33, couldn’t help but laugh at Farage’s comments: “It’s a joke, a bad joke.” He said.

“I’ve been in this area for over ten years now, community wise it’s really good, friendly and everybody knows each other.

“As a local shopkeeper I know better than anyone else. I serve the Pakistani, Bengali and even Jamaican.

“We deal with all kinds of people here. For anybody who believes Farage, tell them to come and visit, see for yourself.”

Glodwick barber Mohammed, 33, saw Farage’s comments as an attack on the intelligence of the residents. “There’s nothing like that here," he told the Manchester Evening News.

“I have got clientele that are judges, barristers, NHS workers, my brother is a doctor himself. Everything is going here as normal.”

The latest census on Oldham showed that around 198,900 residents said they were born in England, representing 82.2% of the local population.

Pakistan was second, with around 12,800 Oldham residents reporting the country as their place of birth. That figure was up from just over 9,400 in 2011.

The report stated that 68.1% of people in Oldham identified as 'White' (compared with 77.5% in 2011). 24.6% of Oldham residents identified as 'Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh' category, increasing from 19.2% in 2011.

'We're four generations in now. If you spoke to me over the phone, you wouldn't know what colour I am'

Glodwick resident, Samir Reman, 47, said Oldham was being scapegoated by people with outdated ideas.

“We’re all about bringing communities together," he said.

“We’ve got enough problems as it is and he’s causing more division. We’ve got such a diverse town and people like this are using Oldham as a scapegoat just to push their own agendas.

“It’s 2024, he’s talking like we’re still in the 90s or 2000s. Our parents have been here since the 60s and 70s, when they came obviously, they had trouble communicating.

“We’re three to four generations in now though. Everyone has been born, raised, and educated in this country. If you spoke to me over the phone, you wouldn’t even think I was Asian.”