‘Freshies are less spoilt and better workers than British-born Asians’. If you made a suggestion like that some years ago you may have been laughed out of your nearest barbers. But not so much now.

Immigrant Asians, some would suggest, are at the bottom of the barrel in the community. But they have a real sense of pride that supercedes their distant cousins.

The term ‘freshie’ is a term used to describe those who have recently arrived in the UK. Coined in the UK in the late seventies and eighties it was used by the generation of British-born Asians.

However the term continues to be used to describe those who have come from abroad and have settled here. Some see it as a derogatory term but as we found out there is a new sense of pride from those ‘immigrants’ who are termed freshies or mangaytors.

Safraz is 43 and came to this country 20 years ago. He is still referred to as a ‘Freshie’. “I have been here for two decades. My accent might be a giveaway but I am as British as those who were born here.”

He says there has been a real shift in how people behave. “When I came here I began working in a factory. It was very hard work. Almost every other person working in the place was from Pakistan or Bangladesh. I got married here and worked long hours for little pay.

“It was tough. But I saw it out.”

Safraz now drives a taxi and the hours are still long.

“The truth is the work ethic amongst my type is a lot better than those who are born here. They have been given everything on a plate and they abuse it all.”

Uwais agrees. He is now 49 and came to the country in his 30s.

“I had to work hard to get where I am and now run a takeaway. But you can’t find British-born Asians willing to put a proper shift in.

“That’s the reason we are here. I know there are some who abuse the system but I can tell you it is British-born Asians who give our community a bad name and not the freshies.

“I am actually proud to be a freshie. I wouldn’t have said that when I came here but when I look around me I see that many of those from abroad are genuinely better people than those born here!

“They are the ones who are spoilt and have no sense of real honour and respect for themselves. Not so much the Asian females but Asian boys because they get mothered too much.”

Amina, 39, is a hair stylist who came to the country 15 years ago and has built her own business.

“I see what goes on around me. As well as raising a family I have managed to hold down a full-time job.

“But hard work pays off. All this about people coming here and sponging off the system is wrong.

“From what I have seen it is the people who are born here that are lazy, not us.”

Bakery store owner Faisel said he only hired immigrants. “The sad fact is the British work ethic stinks. There is no work ethic anymore. People want money for doing nothing.

“I have had people born and brought up here coming to work at my place and they last a few weeks and then just leave. Those from abroad will work their socks off if they have to.

“They are reliable, honest and realise that work is work. I have stopped hiring British-born workers. They are a waste of time and effort. That goes for all British-born people, not just the Asians!

“They don’t want to work. I’m sorry but they don’t.”

Mahroof, 53, explains how he was ridiculed by his cousins for many years. “If you can’t speak English properly or dress a little different you automatically became a ‘mangaytar’ (married from abroad).

“I worked in a shoe factory for many years and it was not easy.

“But my wife realised how hard I worked and we saved up and bought a house. I see my children grow up and I want to instill that same work ethic into them as I have but it is not easy.

“People work hard when they know it is something they must do to survive.”