The Union Jack proudly flies next to a framed photograph of the late Queen Elizabeth II, while an iconic red telephone box is placed on the corner of the Britain Resto Lounge as automobiles with UK license plates speed by.
If not for the breathtaking mountainous backdrop, it would be easy to assume that you are standing in the British capital.
The town of Has in Albania’s northeast, nicknamed “Little London,” now serves as a tribute to the nation that has taken in so many of its inhabitants, despite intentions in Westminster to restrict the influx of over 12,000 migrants this year.
The roughly 22,000-person region was mostly constructed with funds sent home by men of working age who undertook perilous crossings over the English Channel in search of a better life.
Children pose for a photo in a British phone booth near ‘Britain Resto Longue,’ a new bar in the city of Hastings.
There are now monuments to their adoptive country in Has, including automobiles with license plates and plans for a statue of the late queen.
People in Has, like Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania, are incensed by London’s claims that they are part of a “migrant invasion.”
Has inhabitants report that emigrating to the United Kingdom lets them to earn a living, although at the expense of uprooting, perilous travel, and laborious work that also benefits their British employers.
Albanians are now the greatest single group crossing the Channel by small boat, according to official UK figures.
This year, more than 12,000 immigrants landed in Britain, compared to 50 in 2020.
The majority of the newly constructed villas in the town of Has were constructed with remittances from migrants.
In the Albanian city, there are memorials to their adoptive country, including a bar named “Britain.”
A salesman displays traditional attire in a Has city shop that has been altered by the migratory exodus.
Has mayor Liman Morina told AFP that 80% of his citizens “survive because of the hard work and integrity of their relatives in Britain”?
Citizens of the 2.8 million-person Balkan nation have been escaping unemployment in Britain for decades.
In his office, where British and Albanian flags fly side-by-side, Has mayor Liman Morina told AFP that eighty percent of his citizens “survive thanks to the hard work and integrity of their relatives in Britain.”
Has-based sociologist Klodian Kastrati stated, “Emigration is an epidemic that strikes all young people infected with the notion of departing for the United Kingdom in the hope of a better future.”
The Has region is the poorest in Albania, and emigration is the only viable option for its population, he added.
In the region, which has a population of approximately 22,000, additional emigrant-owned homes are being constructed.
Granit Gojani recently opened his own bar in Has following a decade of residence in London.
Granit Gojani
There are memorials to their adopted country in Has, including automobiles with license plates and plans for a statue of the late Queen.
Since the country’s borders were opened in the 1990s, citizens have fled en masse, desperate to escape poverty and isolation after suffering under the cruel communist government.
According to official data, about 1.7 million Albanians have emigrated, primarily to Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom.
According to the national bank, emigrants sent home £323 million in the first half of the year.
Approximately 140,000 Albanians reside in the United Kingdom, where some joined Kosovo Albanians who sought safety there during the conflict with Serbian forces in the late 1990s.
While the wealthiest Albanians are able to send their children to British institutions, the majority of Albanians work in catering or construction.
Residents attribute the recent increase in Channel crossings to word-of-mouth.
Albanians are now the largest group making small-boat Channel crossings, according to official UK figures.
Granit Gojani told AFP that rumors regarding the necessity for labor in the United Kingdom due to the combined effects of the pandemic and Brexit have been circulating with lightning speed.
After spending a decade in London, the 31-year-old just moved back to Has to launch his own bar.
He stated that social networks also offer more affordable costs for crossing the English Channel in inflatable boats.
‘The need to believe rather than to know quickly mobilized the masses,’ he continued, adding that the concept had spread ‘like a virus.’
Has’s high school had 40 fewer students this year than in 2021.
Authorities on the French side of the English Channel have confirmed an increase in the number of Albanians, including smugglers, while Iraqi Kurd gangs continue to dominate the market.
Youths play pool in a billiards establishment in a city where males of working age have fled.
This year, 40 fewer pupils attended the high school in Has than in 2021.
Ani, a young man who requested anonymity, deeply regrets having traveled from Dunkirk in northern France.
He described it as a “hellish voyage of over six hours in a crowded boat on a hostile sea.”
Ani left in late September in search of a well-compensated construction job in London.
He resisted for a month before giving in to the pleadings of his mother, who closely monitored the remarks made by British politicians towards Albanians.
“I’m not a criminal, I just wanted a better life in a big nation,” Ani told AFP, appalled by the anti-immigrant climate in the United Kingdom.
He stated, “To hell with the £4,000 this trip cost me.”
Now he intends to pursue his legal studies at the University of Tirana.
Suella Braverman, the British home secretary, has referred to a “invasion” of migrants and singled out “Albanian criminals,” provoking outrage in Tirana.
“Albanians in the United Kingdom work hard and pay taxes,” tweeted Prime Minister Rama in early November.
Rama stated that the United Kingdom must “stop discriminating… to justify policy failures.”
In 2016, Drita Meshi’s family experienced a tragic loss, and she has since made it her mission to persuade young Albanians to remain.
Some migrants engage in illicit acts, especially to compensate smugglers.
Gojani stated, however, that a small number of lawbreakers cannot hurt an entire town, which includes businesspeople, teachers, physicians, construction workers, and children yearning to grow up.
In addition to the money, red phone booths, and royal photographs, emigration to the United Kingdom has left Has with a legacy of suffering.
In 2016, Drita Meshi’s family experienced a tragic loss, and she has since made it her life’s mission to persuade young Albanians to remain.
Her son, who traveled to England in search of a better life, was murdered by two British adolescents who threw a flare into the vehicle in which he was sleeping. He was 32.
She mourns daily at his tomb.
Meshi, an employee of the Has town hall, has two further children who still reside in London. She desires to attract investment so that young people will be incentivized to settle closer to home.
“Emigration is a wound that is continuously bleeding for me,” Meshi told AFP through tears.
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