When considering the history of racism in Britain the constant refrain raised is that there were commonly signs up in pubs stating 'No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish'. There is significant personal anecdotal evidence that at least one of these signs existed, but I have been stumped in any efforts to determine the actual number.
I have read numerous examples of racism in Britain (My dissertation was on the internment of aliens during WW2) and this is not intended as a whitewashing of racism, but having some form of scope or comparison would be helpful.
This is my first post, I believe I have followed the rules and I don't think this topic has come up before. If it has, or I have not, then I am truly sorry.
I remember seeing on an Andrew Marr documentary that segregation was pretty non-existant in pre-war Britain as there were far fewer people from ethnic minorities that people didn't really take issue with it. During the second world war segregation took place to accommodate the American army that was based in Britain in the build up the the Normandy invasion, as the US Army was segregated at the time.
Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Up3lNeET5rM#t=438 (also, earlier in the episode they talk about Italian internment on the Isle of Man)