Brexit: Views from Boston, Britain's most Eurosceptic town

In June 2016, 75% of voters in Boston, Lincolnshire, voted to leave the European Union

Five years ago, on 23 June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48%.

Boston in Lincolnshire was the most Eurosceptic town in Britain with 75% of voters choosing to leave the EU.

From 2004, Eastern European workers had flocked to south Lincolnshire to work in the thriving agriculture and food production industries.

Lincolnshire as a whole is sometimes referred to as the "breadbasket of the UK", due to the amount of food produced in the county.

About 30% of the nation's vegetables are grown in Lincolnshire and 18% of the country's poultry is produced within its boundaries.

According to the 2011 census, Boston had the highest population of Eastern European residents of anywhere in the UK.

Since the Brexit vote, the county's major farms and packing houses have said they have struggled to recruit workers, with many having returned to their home countries.

Five years on from the referendum, I have spoken to several people who live in the country's "leave" capital to get a snapshot of what they think of the vote and what it means in 2021.

'I will never go home'

Iga Paczkowska, who helps migrants in the town, says she is a "Bostonian at heart"

Iga Paczkowska, 38, who runs an advice agency for migrants in Boston town centre, said many of her friends and countrymen went home after the Brexit vote.

"It's sad. They felt unwelcome," she told me.

"Our company was set up to help newcomers who come here to work. To help them get a bank account, a National Insurance number and things like that.

"But at the moment, our main bread is from settlement status and people leaving the UK. So, closing their accounts and getting deposits back from their house."

With a reduced number of migrants in Lincolnshire, Iga said they could be finally be appreciated for the valuable work they do.

"We are getting there. I believe that is going to happen. But we are still waiting for the wake-up call for employers," she said.

"From all the bad press that said Boston is divided, we decided that we don't want to be divided," said Iga, originally from Poland. "We want to work together. We want to get to know each other.

"So the beautiful things like the Boston More In Common group, and the European Market that we had recently were wonderful. We had food from all over the place."

Iga, who is engaged to a British man and who has one son who is Polish and one stepdaughter who is British, added: "I have a mixed family, which is nice. I will never go home. I am a Bostonian at heart."

'More of an island than ever'

Adam Taylor says the period since the Brexit referendum has been a "testing time" for his firm

Adam Taylor, 46, is a director of Taylor's Bulbs and whose family has specialised in growing flowers and bulbs for over 100 years from Spalding, just 15 miles from Boston.

The firm employs over 100 migrant workers every year, who Adam says are crucial to the company's success.

He feared Brexit would make running a business more difficult and he believes he has been proved right.

"Brexit has made us more of an island than ever before," Adam told me.

Taylor's Bulbs has set up two new businesses, one in Ireland and one in the Netherlands, in an effort to ease trading with the rest of Europe.

"We will, therefore, of course, syphon off a proportion of our turnover into a Dutch business and report that into Dutch tax."

Adam said his predecessors in the business would be horrified when he was told the solution for his fourth-generation firm was that they simply packed everything in Holland.

"I find it upsetting. Why should we?" he asked.

Adam said that the past five years since the Brexit vote had given him more of a headache than a hangover: "It's been a testing time."

'Brexit can create a new Boston'

Moroccan-born Anton Dani believes integration is the key to Brexit success in Boston

For Anton Dani, the 2016 vote was not about people, it was about Brussels and the power he feels the EU exercised over not just the UK but other European countries too.

Pro-Brexit Anton, who is a Conservative Boston Borough councillor and sits on Lincolnshire's county council too, was into his second year as mayor of the town when the UK left the EU last year.

The Moroccan-born businessman, who has also lived in France and Iceland, said: "Brexit hasn't make a big difference in Boston yet, people who voted to leave here, many voted for one issue: immigration."

Anton, who recently opened the Cafe de Paris on the town's Bridge Street, said that when workers originally came, the then-Labour government did not consider the long-term effects it would have.

The dad-of-two added: "They came here to work and go home one day? No, they came here with kids and families and were given no help to integrate."

He believes the settled status deadline, which means EU citizens need to apply to remain in the UK to retain the same rights of residence, travel, employment and access to healthcare and benefits, may be a turning point which sees some people go home, but other workers from non-EU countries arrive.

"Boston is still a vibrant town... we still have our neighbours in our hearts. We are still Europeans and can use that diversity and we can think about integration," he added.

"People who are here can integrate and become part of the community and let's create a new Boston."

'I don't blame people for voting leave'

Rafal Dlugoaz says he is "happy here" in Boston and understands the vote to leave the EU

Rafal Dlugoaz, 24, who moved to Boston from Poland nine years ago, told me he was not surprised that British people had voted to leave the EU.

"The British people wanted to get rid of those migrants who are taking advantage of the system and trying to claim benefits," he said.

"Myself and my friends work hard, we pay taxes. We came here to have a good life. But since the list of allowable countries was extended, not everyone is the same," said Rafal.

Speaking from the convenience store in Boston where he works, Rafal said many of his friends had gone home.

"British businesses now realise the departure of hard-working migrants workers like myself was a big mistake," said Rafal.

He told me it would be difficult for him to return to Poland, having been in the UK since he was a child.

"For now, I am happy here. For now," he said.