I’ve been commenting for some time on the number of Brits living in New York (particularly in Brooklyn, where I live), and have been warning American friends that a “stealth recolonization” by Her Majesty’s Subjects is already well underway.

According to a recent New York Times article titled “URBAN TACTICS; Close Your Eyes And Think Of England,” it seems that I was correct:

“IF you live in one of the more gentrified swaths of Brooklyn — Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene — you can’t mistake it these days: a British presence so strong you have to pinch yourself to realize you’re not in Hampstead or Manchester, but rather the borough of New York that brought the world the Dodgers, Walt Whitman and fuhgeddaboudit.

“It’s not just the cacophony of British accents, it’s the creeping growth of Brit establishments. Bars have mutated into pubs, with darts, microbrews, trivia competitions and even cheese-and-onion-flavored crisps. Fish-and-chip shops do booming business, and food products (American friends might dispute the term) like Marmite and spotted dick are available in local bodegas and supermarkets.”

Thanks to Jamie (another Brit in Brooklyn!) for spotting this one.