What it’s really like trying to get to work from New Addington

Posted on February 18, 2026 by insidecroydon

Track works: for whatever reason the trams are not running, again, to and from New Addington, causing huge delays and gridlock on the roads

Getting to or from New Addington by public transport has become a nightmare journey in the past week, due to the latest tram closures coinciding with road works. Reporter GIANELLA A BASILE has to make the trip into central Croydon every day

Bus stopped: even the buses are on diversion around New Addington and Shirley

It’s grey outside when I open the curtains to get ready to go into work. By the time I’m walking to the tram stop, the rain has eased off to a few droplets every so often. It isn’t enough to pull my hood up, but enough to be a reminder that February weather is awful to travel in when you don’t own a car. Or possess a driving licence.

I can see the bus stop ahead of me, and the queue’s looking long. This is a regular feature of working life in New Addington: this week there’s more tram works, or repairs, or whatever reason has been given for the trams not to be running again.

I join the back of the queue. It’s cold, as well as wet. I realise I’ve been waiting for 15minutes by the time I reach for my phone, my hands already feeling numb from the cold.

It’s fine. I’ve still got time to get in to work. My feet ache from standing for hours yesterday, but there’s nowhere to sit. So I shift my weight from one foot to the other. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, East Croydon, Gianella A Basile, New Addington, TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

MP writes to TfL over New Addington’s ‘inadequate’ transport

Posted on February 18, 2026 by insidecroydon

Local MP Natasha Irons has fired off a letter of complaint to Transport for London over what she calls the “inadequate” replacement bus service being provided for her New Addington constituents while they endure “significant disruption” caused by the latest closure of the tram network for engineering works.

Asking questions: MP Natasha Irons has taken up the poor transport service for her New Addington constituents with managers at Transport for London

Irons describes the bus replacement service provided since last week’s closure of the New Addington tram branch line as “limited” and “often unreliable”.

Inside Croydon reported on Monday how a road closure at Kent Gate Way and a ruptured water main on Upper Shirley Road had caused traffic gridlock between New Addington, Addington Village and Selsdon, and had undermined the tram replacement buses, which were unable to use their diversion route. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, Croydon East, East Croydon, Natasha Irons, New Addington, TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon College gets ‘remarkable’ praise from Commissioner

Posted on February 18, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon College has been highlighted as a national case study of successful improvement and transformation in the Further Education Commissioner’s 2024–2025 annual report, published by the Department for Education.

Transformation: Commissioner’s annual report describes Croydon College’s turnround from ‘inadequate’ as ‘remarkable’

The Commissioner reports on how Croydon College, which includes Coulsdon Sixth Form College, went from an “Inadequate” Ofsted rating in February 2023 to being rated “Good” in all areas 20 months later, describing the turnaround as “remarkable”.

Croydon College is based nnear East Croydon Station. The report notes that Croydon College serves one of London’s most diverse and disadvantaged boroughs, and plays a vital role in its community, providing education and skills training across its Croydon and Coulsdon campuses.

The report says: “In February 2023, the college faced its biggest challenge – an Ofsted inspection graded it as ‘inadequate’. Whilst this judgement was unexpected, significant weaknesses at the Coulsdon campus had increased the risk of an inadequate grade. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Caireen Mitchell, Coulsdon Sixth Form College, Croydon College, Education | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bookings open for Scherzo Strings music courses: Apr and Jul

Posted on February 18, 2026 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Farage and Tories in calls for MP Reed to resign as minister

Posted on February 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

No laughing matter: The Times cartoonist’s take on the latest Labour scandal

It’s a case of Foxtrot Oscar for CLP chair Harman, as his former boss comes under increasing pressure over his role with Labour Together and his ‘deeply unprofessional and possibly unlawful’ handling of local elections. On the fifth anniversary of the hack of this website, our Political Editor, WALTER CRONXITE, reports

A proper B’stard: Steve Reed, possibly, according to the leader of Norfolk County Council

Steve Reed OBE, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North if he can ever be bothered) is coming under increasing pressure to cling on to his role in Keir Starmer’s cabinet, as the scandals around Labour Together, the fringe group he helped to establish with Morgan McSweeney, threaten to undermine his political career terminally.

Reed’s flawed judgement has been called into question once again, this time over his decision to suspend local elections in 30 areas of England, which has seen Starmer’s government forced into yet another U-turn, while tax-payers have been left to foot Nigel Farage’s and Reform UK’s legal bill, estimated to be more than £100,000.

Reed has been compared to 1980s sitcom character Alan B’stard, as Kay Mason Billig, the Conservative leader of Norfolk County Council, has called the Secretary of State for local government a “two-faced bully” and a “bastard” (without the apostrophe), as Labour’s plans to delay local elections descended into farce. Continue reading →

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Police name fatal stabbing victim as 22-year-old Lorik Abazi

Posted on February 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

Scotland Yard this morning named the victim of the fatal stabbing in an affray at Valley Retail Park in the early hours of Sunday morning as 22-year-old Lorik Abazi, from Croydon.

Murder victim: Lorik Abazi ‘had his whole life ahead of him’

Abazi was one of three men found with stab wounds when police and ambulance attended a call out to Hesterman Way, off the Purley Way, soon after 1am on February 15.

Seven arrests were made, three people on suspicion of murder.

“Lorik was a caring, smart young man with a good sense of humour and his whole future ahead of him,” his family said in a statement released today..

“We, his parents, brother, girlfriend, grandparents and extended family and friends loved him very much. A light has gone out in our lives, and we are devastated beyond words by his loss. We kindly ask for privacy at this time.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Knife crime, Nick Blackburn, Policing, Valley Park | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Croydon among worst boroughs for measles vaccine uptake

Posted on February 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

The half-term break could not have come soon enough for some primary schools and health administrators in Croydon, where the vaccination rate for measles is lower than most of our neighbouring boroughs.

Rash outlook: all the measles cases confirmed in Enfield have involved under-10s who have not been vaccinated

Outbreaks of the measles virus among schoolchildren on the other side of the capital, in Enfield and in Haringey, have raised the alarm across London. A half-term week with children off school, an infection “fire break” of sorts, is hoped may help to stem or slow the spread of this nasty disease.

There is no treatment for measles, only the vaccination to prevent catching it.

The measles outbreak has raised the important issue of vaccination uptake, or the lack of uptake. Thirty, even 20 years ago, measles had become something of history, a folk memory of our grandparents, as the MMR vaccine – measles, mumps and rubella – had an uptake of 90% to 95%, enough to quell and prevent the risk of an outbreak as we are seeing now. Continue reading →

Posted in Health, London-wide issues, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book now for Pizza and Red Wine Night at The Builder’s Arms

Posted on February 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Budget-buster Perry hires another six-figure salaried ‘interim’

Posted on February 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on the latest £150,000 per year staff signing by Croydon’s bankrupt council

Budget-buster: Jason Perry has hired another £150k exec, while axing front-line council posts

Jason Perry, Croydon’s £84,000 per year executive Mayor who has closed four public libraries to save money and axed lollipop road safety patrols at six primary schools, has welcomed the appointment of Jenny Rowlands, another “interim” council official on a rate of pay that could be as much as £3,000 per week.

Jenny Rowlands, Croydon’s new interim assistant chief executive, attended her first public council meeting last week, when Mayor Perry made warm comments to mark her arrival.

Rowlands was at the council cabinet meeting at which Perry confirmed his plan to hike Council Tax to record levels.

By April, Croydon Council Tax will have been increased by 33% during Perry’s mayoralty. A Band D household in Croydon will be paying £600 more Council Tax this year than they were before Perry became Mayor.

Mayor Perry has never managed to deliver a balanced council budget since he was elected in 2022, and he has needed to borrow hundreds of millions of pounds from central government, including going to Whitehall for £132million in emergency funding a year ago. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Jenny Rowlands, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Kent Gate Way closure compounds New Addington tram misery

Posted on February 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

A perfect storm of road works and diversions at the Kent Gate Way near Addington Village, the closure of the tram network from East Croydon to New Addington with an inadequate bus replacement service, plus a ruptured water main on a diversion route is causing massive delays  on the surrounding roads.

Locals in New Addington are becoming concerned that the blocked roads will significantly hamper the response time of emergency services in the area. while temporary crossings have been declared to be dangerous for pedestrians.

The Kent Gate Way is the road that runs from the bottom of Gravel Hill, past Addington Village and off towards Soparrows Den and Bromley. That road is closed for maintenance, the works expected to continue for the rest of this week.

Yesterday, TfL’s replacement bus plans were thrown off course when a water main ruptured on Upper Shirley Road. “This impacted local bus service and our tram replacement buses, and also meant we were unable to serve Coombe Lane or Lloyd Park stops,” TfL told Inside Croydon.

Lodge Lane, the road from New Addington north to the Gate Way, often has queues at busy times. “It was like a car park at the weekend,” according to one Inside Croydon reader. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, East Croydon, New Addington, TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Cabinet Office to ‘look at the facts’ of Reed’s Labour Together

Posted on February 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

Journalist who wrote The Fraud calls for any investigation to be conducted completely independently of the government or Labour Party

Six months after journalist Paul Holden revealed that he had been followed by private investigators, today the Cabinet Office said it will be “looking at the facts” around Labour Together, the organisation established by Croydon MP Steve Reed and his former Lambeth Council aide, Morgan McSweeney.

All together now: Streatham and Croydon North MP Steve Reed was a leading figure in Labour Together

It has been reported that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered the Cabinet Office probe. “It absolutely needs to be looked into,” Starmer said this morning.

The investigation comes only after McSweeney left his job at No10 as the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.

McSweeney was forced to resign last week over his part in the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s Ambassador to Washington. This was despite the Blairite peer’s known links to convicted paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Late last year, Holden reported that he was under surveillance prior to the publication of his book The Fraud, which exposed the undeclared donations of more than £700,000 behind the selection of Keir Starmer as the Labour Party leader

Holden’s book, The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney and the Crisis of British Democracy, includes an entire chapter about how Inside Croydon’s emails and social media accounts had been hacked five years ago, with some figures in the Croydon Labour Party admitting their involvement in handling the stolen data.

Then, despite compelling evidence to prove who had received the stolen files, the Metropolitan Police and Information Commissioner declined to act.

Today’s announcement of a Cabinet Office investigation comes after further allegations of “dark arts” investigations against journalists appeared in yesterday’s Sunday Times. Continue reading →

Posted in Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

1 dead, 3 stabbed, 7 arrested after Valentine’s at Valley Park

Posted on February 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

A 22-year-old man yesterday died in hospital from stab wounds suffered in an affray in Valley Retail Park the early hours of the morning of February 15, which saw two other men require hospital treatment and multiple arrests.

Murder scene: Valley Retail Park, off Purley Way, was closed all yesterday

Valley Retail Park, off the Purley Way, with its large Vue cinema, bowling alley, shops and restaurants, remained closed yesterday as the Metropolitan Police treated it as a crime scene.

By this morning, the Met had not yet named the dead man, though his next of kin had been informed.

According to the Met, they were called out to reports of a stabbing at 1.15am on Sunday. The police and London Ambulance Service attended the scene and found three men with stab wounds. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Knife crime, Valley Park | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Charity Nickel Support is providing people with real life skills

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

Movement class: Nickel Support provides a wide range of activities at its base in Carshalton

CROYDON CHRONICLES: This week, DAVID MORGAN pays a visit to an organisation operating very much in the present, providing a future for dozens of young people

Upcycling: making old furniture fit for use is one of the first training tasks for those attending Nickel Support

It is rare that any of us don’t require some help to learn a new skill. Sometimes just watching will be enough. Often, though, we need to be talked through the process by someone who is proficient before practising it ourselves.

“Practice makes perfect” goes the old saying. But what if you are that person, who despite a multitude of attempts, still can’t master it? How soon before you just give up?

Imagine you are the parent of a child who struggles to master many of the basic skills of life. What is the future for young people who have been diagnosed with a learning difficulty?

One award-winning organisation, Nickel Support, exists to provide opportunities to those individuals and their families for whom learning skills have been a lifelong challenge. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Charity, David Morgan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Britain’s biggest children’s book festival is coming to Croydon

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon youngsters are to be offered a free day of “bookish fun” at the Ashcroft Theatre in the summer as part of the annual London Schools Literature Festival.

The Whitgift Foundation is sponsoring the day’s activities, which will be organised by the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, the country’s largest dedicated children’s literature festival, with more than 100 author events, performances, workshops and activities for young book fans and their families.

The Ashcroft Theatre event, being staged on Wednesday, June 17, will be the first time that the festival has run events in Croydon. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Ashcroft Theatre, Charity, Education, London Schools Literature Festival, Roisha Hughes, Schools, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Modern-Day Art’ Exhibition at Croydon Art Space, to Apr 30

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

C O M M U N I T Y
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Remark’s Croydon Lunch Club, every Thu, Wellesley Road

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

C O M M U N I T Y
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Pictures on our streets show we need more art in Croydon

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

Paintings on the railings: Croydon has the benefit of a large set of works in the National Gallery’s Art On Your Doorstep exhibition 

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Pablo Picasso said, ‘Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life’, and PETER UNDERWOOD believes that our borough, and its many outstanding arts organisations, could do with a bit more of the dust being washed away 

As I was walking through Croydon l, I saw people attaching works of art to the fencing along Queen’s Gardens. This turned out to be The National Gallery: Art On Your Doorstep project.

Unexpected delights: a Stubbs equestrian painting in Park Hill puts Croydon’s tower blocks in perspective

It was really great to see an open-air exhibition like this, and I spent some time looking at the artworks and their captions. I was familiar with some of the pictures, while some were new to me. But I still learnt something new from each description.

I believe that everyone should have some form of creativity or art in their life, whatever form that takes: painting; writing; playing an instrument; arranging some flowers; even cooking your favourite dish.

We are forced to spend too much of our time only doing things that others pay us to do or the things that we feel we have to do. Being creative allows us to do something we love, something we want to do. One of the other joys of creativity is the impact it can have on other people. Lots of us gain great joy from listening, viewing, reading or tasting the creations of other people. As Pablo Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

The same is true in our public realm. Too often the focus is only on how much things cost or how much money they make. Too little thought is given to whether this makes our world more beautiful and whether this will make people happier. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Art, Borough of Culture 2023, Croydon Greens, Fairfield Halls, London Mozart Players, National Gallery Art On Your Doorstep, Peter Underwood, Poetry, Queens Gardens, Talawa Theatre Company, Turf Projects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Croydon firefighters in Mozambique floods rescue mission

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

Devastation: Croydon firefighters Sarah Mimnagh and Darren Emery were part of a team of specialists sent to assist the thousands trying to escape the floods in Mozambique

Two Croydon firefighters, Sarah Mimnagh and Darren Emery, have returned home following a 10-day mission to Mozambique to help people affected by devastating floods.

Following weeks of heavy rainfall, flooding across the southern African nation has been widespread, causing damage to homes and infrastructure. The floods have caused major damage to health facilities, while more than 4,300 miles of roads have been damaged across nine provinces.

Mimnagh, Emery and four other London Fire Brigade colleagues worked as part of a 36-strong International Search and Rescue – ISAR – team comprised of specialist personnel from fire and rescue services around Britain. Continue reading →

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Raggio di Sole, handmade pizzas made to order, South Croydon

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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London Mozart Players: St John Passion, Fairfield Halls, Mar 8

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Judges rule Labour’s Palestine Action ban ‘disproportionate’

Posted on February 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon-based campaigners against the genocide in Gaza and Britain’s role in arming the Israeli Defence Force were vindicated today when High Court judges issued a ruling that said that the Home Secretary’s ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

Peaceful protest: Croydon pensioner David White makes his point outside the High Court this morning.

The Palestine Action co-founder who brought the High Court challenge described today’s ruling as “a victory for freedom for all”.

Many might also describe it as a victory for common sense.

Croydon activist David White and at least five other Croydon residents have been among the 2,700 people arrested since last July simply for holding a bit of card with the slogan: “I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action”.

Most protestors were arrested for offences under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison. More than 500 of those arrested, who include vicars, pensioners and military veterans, have been charged.

Today’s ruling delivered at the High Court in The Strand renders such protest a legitimate demonstration of free speech, and places the authoritarian Labour government in a hole of their own making. Continue reading →

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Breathless memories of Godard classic are far from vague

Posted on February 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: A recent American movie, a hommage to a French master, has PETER GILLMAN considering the importance of words, and reminiscing about a date in a long-lost South Croydon cinema

So who remembers the Croydon Classic?

This was the cinema in South Croydon, at the start of Brighton Road, which during its heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s offered a rich fare for film-lovers, from classic Hollywood movies to art-house gems that struggled to get a showing elsewhere.

It was there, on April 22, 1960, that Leni (my future wife) and I saw Jazz on a Summer’s Day for the first time. I can date the occasion precisely because it was Leni’s 17th birthday and also our first date. We’ve been married now for 63 years.

We were fans of jazz as well as movies, and another of our favourite hangouts was the Croydon Jazz Club at the Star pub in Broad Green, run by the indefatigable Frank Getgood. Jazz on a Summer’s Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in America, featured jazz giants such as Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk.

It delighted us so much that, over the years, we saw it half a dozen times. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign, History, Peter Gillman, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TfL training schemes are for apprentices who are going places

Posted on February 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

Unlike The Apprentice, Alan Sugar’s self-reverential TV programme crammed with suited wannabes and never-wases, Transport for London offers training on the job schemes where the participants are relally going places.

Right on track: Lauren, from Croydon, did her apprenticeship as a tram engineer

There are 157 opportunities across the capital with TfL for apprentices to launch their careers, offering qualifications from equivalent of GCSEs to degree-level, including asset and track maintenance, London Underground escalators, trams engineering and London Underground construction site supervision.

In National Apprenticeship Week, TfL is looking for applicants for their trams engineering apprenticeship, “seeing a new generation of engineers learn how to keep the vital service running”, which last year saw 17 million journeys made across south London. Continue reading →

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Davis’s Valentine’s message: I’ll mend Croydon’s broken heart

Posted on February 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

‘A hole where its heart should be’: Labour candidate Rowenna Davis tells Andrew Fisher how she would work to repair Croydon’s broken heart

EXCLUSIVE: Labour candidate issues public apology for ‘some things that my party has done in the past’ in crashing Croydon Council’s finances

Rowenna Davis has revealed how she has been talking to a consortium of around 12 potential investors and is “prepared to use every legal power available” to try to fix what she calls “the hole where Croydon’s heart should be”.

Davis, the Labour and Co-operative Party candidate for Croydon Mayor in the local elections in May, was speaking to Inside Croydon columnist Andrew Fisher in the first of a series of podcast interviews with mayoral candidates between now and election day on May 7.

Almost six years on from the council’s finances being crashed under a Labour-run council, leaving debts of hundreds of millions of pounds and seeing hundreds of council staff laid off, interviewer Fisher addresses the core issue when he asks Davis, “Why should we trust Labour?” Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Andrew Fisher, Croydon Council, Rowenna Davis, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Dozens of jobs at risk as DfE is set to close its Croydon office

Posted on February 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

The Department for Education is to close its Croydon office, with the potential loss of “dozens” of jobs.

The DfE’s Croydon office is one of six facing closure, the others being in Exeter, Leeds, Newcastle, Peterborough and Watford.

But Croydon’s office, in Trafalgar House on Bedford Park, East Croydon, is to be among the first to close, by June this year.

Staff were advised of the closure plans earlier this week. Their trades union, the Public and Commercial Services Union, the PCS, is expected to hold a consultative ballot for industrial action as early as next week.

Over the past decade, Croydon has become a hub for government offices, with HM Revenue and Customs and the Home Office taking up entire blocks of new offices in Ruskin Square, next to East Croydon Station, as policy has been to move the staff and functions away from Whitehall and central London to less expensive locations. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments