The largest British Pashtun populations are principally found in Greater London, followed by the cities of Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester in England.

The Pashtuns, also historically referred to as ethnic "Afghans" and as Pathans in other parts of South Asia, speak Pashto and originate from the Pashtunistan region of northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[5] After the partition of British India and Pakistan's independence in 1947, emigrants from the erstwhile NWFP – now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – were among the first group of Pakistanis to arrive in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, alongside Mirpuris and Punjabis.

[13] These early migrants tended to be from rural areas in the NWFP and they too found employment in various British manufacturing industries, helping plug workforce scarcity in the post-war economy.

[5][13] It was not uncommon for men to migrate first, in order to support extended family members back home through remittances, before settling their wives and children in the UK permanently.

[7] As the British census only collects data based on national origin, Pashtuns usually self-report their ethnicity as Pakistani or Afghan for statistical purposes.

[5][20] In the 2021 census results, there were 48,163 speakers of Pashto in England, 1,796 in Scotland, 542 in Wales and 96 in Northern Ireland, reflecting an overall increase in the British Pashtun population.

[1] The London boroughs with the largest Pashtun populations are Barnet, Harrow, Brent, Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Newham, Redbridge and Croydon.

[5][22][4][23] The village of Saleh Khana in Nowshera District has been referred to as "Little England" due to its large expatriate population in Britain, primarily in the West Midlands region.

This latter group includes, for example, the Punjabi-speaking Pathans of Attock, located in the Chhachh region of northern Punjab, whose history of emigration to the UK dates back to the pre-independence era.

Popular dishes include the gosht karahi, Kabuli pulao, chapli kebab, naan bread and various kinds of barbecued tikka.