from The Times of Israel:

Stable census figures mask key changes among British Jewry

Confounding expectations, the size of the UK Jewish community appears stable, with a decline in the mainstream Jewish population offset by growth in the Orthodox sector, newly released figures from the 2011 census indicate.

The numbers, published Tuesday, show 263,000 people in England and Wales identified as Jews in 2011, compared to just under 260,000 in 2001, the year of the last census. The slight rise will surprise many, as the community has long been perceived as being in terminal decline, dropping steadily from a high of 410,000 in the 1950s.

… While the questionnaire did not ask respondents to identify the stream of Judaism to which they belong, the figures show strong growth in Orthodox areas such the London borough of Hackney – home to the Hasidic neighborhood of Stamford Hill – as well as parts of Greater Manchester and the city of Gateshead, which grew by an astonishing 92 percent. Meanwhile, areas on the periphery of London and towns such as Leeds and Liverpool, once home to substantial Jewish communities and now to mostly non-Orthodox populations, have shrunk significantly.