What is the setting of The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi?

The novel is set in England and America in the 1970s. The first part of the novel takes place in the suburbs of London, mostly the suburb of Beckenham. Karim attends a school that has a mix of races and classes. He lives in a lower middle-class neighborhood and he cycles wherever he needs to go. Karim lives in a mostly white neighborhood, which is accepted because he is half-white and half-Indian and because his father holds a respectable job. His friend Jamila lives in an Asian neighborhood which is under constant threat of violence from racist groups. Karim is bored in the suburbs and longs for the excitement of the city.