Category Archives: Art
Cultivating culture is year-round project, not just three weeks
CROYDON COMMENTARY: In a previous column, DAVID CALLAM argued for a festival celebrating the borough’s heritage. But next month’s Croydon Heritage Festival misses the target in a number of important respects E viva la fiesta! Time to party in Croydon, … Continue reading
Croydon hooker manages to come third (with Clare Balding)
Local author Steven Gauge last night had his book, My Life As Hooker, named as the third-best rugby book of the year. That’s surely over-achievement for a book about life with the Warlingham 4th XV, once reckoned to be the … Continue reading
Livingstone’s having a laugh in Croydon: May 17
It’s a good job Ken Livingstone says he will not seek elected office again, because he would never again be able to refute suggestions that he’s a right comedian after this Friday night in Croydon. The former Mayor of London … Continue reading
When Croydon’s first couple were actually a laughing matter
Local comedian ANTHONY MILLER says that the success of Purley comedy couple Terry and June was no joke A running gag of this website is a reference to the borough’s first couple as Terry and June. There is something of … Continue reading
Earl of Eldon stages music festival: May 26
For a second year, South Croydon’s Earl of Eldon pub is staging a music festival, on Sunday May 26. Promising 12 bands in 12 hours, the South Croydon Music Festival will run from noon in the pub grounds on the … Continue reading
Council’s Mr & Mrs act that defies proper declarations
The move by Croydon Council to take over the running of the Fairfield Halls has thrown a supertrouper spotlight on some of the interests, and potential conflicts of interest, of leading members of the borough’s Establishment. After all, with senior … Continue reading
The Sugarloaf, the school and the lost Lawrence connection
What hope for Croydon’s future when so little interest is shown in its past? Local author BRIAN MELICAN on how the area’s links with one of the outstanding novelists of the 20th Century have been ignored, forgotten and … re-developed … Continue reading
Lords of the dance: Purley’s Morris Men are on the march
The next couple of weekends will be busy for the area’s merry band of English folk dancers, the North Wood Morris Men (they’re actually based in Purley; North Wood is a reference to ancient wood which dominated the hilly slopes … Continue reading
A future for the Fairfield Halls? Public meeting tonight
Interesting times for Croydon’s major arts centre, the Fairfield Halls, with the Conservatives who control the council pushing through a £27 million capital works project and announcing this week that they effectively want to “re-nationalise” the struggling centre. Tonight, the … Continue reading
Council announces plans for takeover of Fairfield Halls
Croydon’s Conservative-run Council wants to put professional wrestling and Roy “Chubby” Brown on the rates. At a meeting of the ruling Tory group’s cabinet tonight, proposals to take over the Fairfield Halls and the London Mozart Players will be discussed. … Continue reading
Green Dragon offers real ale, good food and all that jazz
Good beer and free music performances continue to make the Green Dragon, on the High Street, probably the best pub in the centre of Croydon. With jazz groups performing at the Green Dragon every Sunday, the pub also has some … Continue reading
Playwriting Festival lives on after Warehouse closure
The International Playwriting Festival which for the past 26 years has been staged at the Warehouse Theatre has found a new producer and a new home. Warehouse Phoenix, a company formed by members and friends of the Warehouse Theatre in … Continue reading
Benched: Council still can’t get borough’s greats’ names right
It is almost a year since Inside Croydon highlighted another botched PR effort by our council, the staging of a “public vote” on leading figures from Croydon’s past (and present), to provide three subjects for a “portrait bench” on a … Continue reading
Rhymes and reason offered by Poets Anonymous
Local arts group Poets Anonymous is holding the latest meeting at Purley Library next Saturday, April 20. From 2pm to 4pm (at least), the event welcomes all to attend, for free, and to bring with them poems on the subject … Continue reading
Ooo errr, missus: Music Hall jokes return to Streatham
Up the A23 in Streatham, the bill-writer for the South London Press must have been on a Frankie Howerd fan club weekend.
