Under investigation: the Windmill Road custody centre in Selhurst
A man died in police custody in Croydon in the early hours of Friday morning.
The Metropolitan Police has not yet named the man, who was 52 years old. The Met says that an investigation is under way.
The death occurred in the cells of the Windmill Road custody centre. It was at this centre where Police Sergeant Matt Ratana was shot dead by a prisoner in custody in 2020. Continue reading
Lift off: special cranes were needed to recover the derailed carriages outside Lewes, with the first one being moved on Thursday
It will be Tuesday September 1 before services between Haywards Heath and Lewes will resume, following the passenger train derailment on August 13.
Network Rail and train operators Southern have been continuing the work to recover the derailed carriages and restore and repair the track and embankment at the scene of the derailment. Continue reading
Education correspondent GENE BRODIE gives a Grade 3 to the public relations firms working for some of the borough’s secondary schools, whose news releases failed to include the hard facts on GCSE results day
Numbers game: Croydon College and Coulsdon Sixth Form College had more than 2,000 sitting GCSEs. But there’s no numbers for those getting top grades
GCSE results day this year came with a blizzard of press releases, many of which were distributed by public relations firms on behalf of academies, all making a raft of claims of success and achievement.
Yet many of them failed to provide what might be regarded as a realistic overview, or comparable statistics, of a school’s results. It’s almost as if they have something to hide.
“They tend to be unhelpful because they are essentially marketing, so they are selective,” according to a veteran secondary school teacher, who preferred that we didn’t name them.
“It’s what they don’t say that is interesting,” they said. Continue reading
With the Premier League season about to get underway, SETH GILLMAN, pictured below, looks back on Palace’s night of nights in May when the Eagles soared to their first European trophy at the Conference League final
Wednesday May 27 – Matchday
I rest in the hotel until lunchtime, then make my way into town, first for refreshment and sustenance, then on to the Red Bull Stadium for the game. I find myself on the sun-drenched balcony of a bar in the city centre. It’s packed with the travelling Palace faithful, whose red and blue attire gleams in the bright sunlight.
With food and drink flowing freely, I speak to Tracey and Jo, who were travelling alone until they met and bonded on the journey to Leipzig. Both started watching Palace as children but later had to stop for family and logistical reasons, then began again in the last few years.
Jo had been dubious about the cost of coming, but asked herself when this opportunity might arrive again. “I haven’t regretted it one little bit,” she says. Tracey nods in agreement. “It took 50 years of me supporting to win the FA Cup,” she says. “Just being in this final feels like a win.” Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE: Mayor’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to fly-tipping is to feature on local television news tonight, as council videos ‘exposes’ a local trader doing what they have been instructed to do by… the council!
X-rated video: the council’s ‘faked’ news, claiming that a Brigstock Road shopkeeper is a fly-tipper
Jason Perry, the incompetent Mayor of Croydon, has launched an anti-fly-tipping campaign using a video that shows someone… disposing of rubbish exactly as they have been instructed to do by Croydon Council.
Rubbish contractors Veolia and the council introduced “banded” night-time rubbish collections almost 10 years ago.
Under this TBWC system – Time-Banded Waste Collection, for those not fluent in councilspeak – shop-owners and those living in flats above shops along the borough’s high streets, have been encouraged to put black bin bags and recycling out for collection overnight.
That scheme is reckoned by some to be one of the prime contributors to the awful state of many of Croydon’s streets. It has made an already bad street scene situation worse. However carefully placed the bin bags might be, they often leak waste fluids over the pavements, they are always an eyesore and they often attract further fly-tips, too.
Earlier this year, Mayor Perry and his council was exposed as running “the fly-tipping capital of England”, with on average more than 1,000 fly-tips reported in the borough every week in the most recent year for which official figures are published by DEFRA, the government’s environment department. Continue reading
Reedham Village Lates returns to Old Lodge Lane this week with a gathering of lovers of art, culture and good conversation hosted at Steven Robertson Art tomorrow evening.
Village people: businesses in Reedham are staging a special evening on Aug 21
Reedham businesses Tenpin Records and Cocoa Jones Chocolate join forces with the art gallery to open late this Friday, August 21, for locals to view the art, shuffle through vinyl and sample craft chocolates.
Cocoa Jones will be providing demonstrations of different aspects of the chocolate-making process, Steven Robertson will be speaking on why “Art is a Necessity not a Luxury” and Tenpin Records will be spinning vinyl and host a performance by the SING a-Cappella Choir.
SING is a choir, based in Coulsdon and Purley which sings without instrumenta accompaniment. They perform all genres of music from classic pop to contemporary Americana and this Friday they will be singing a chocolate-themed repertoire. Continue reading
Inside Croydon subscribers can win a set of four tickets for a Harry Potter screening of their choice at Vue Croydon on Purley Way, as the cinema celebrates the 25th anniversary of the schoolboy wizard’s big screen debut.
See below for entry details
The magical adventures of schoolboy wizard Harry Potter and his friends are returning to the big screen at Vue to mark the 25th anniversary of their cinema debut back in 2001.
Between Friday August 28 – the start of the late summer Bank Holiday weekend – and October 16, all eight Harry Potter films will be shown at Vue Purley Way.
This anniversary season will give Potterheads and film fans the perfect opportunity to revisit Hogwarts and the wizarding world’s other memorable locations the way they were meant to be experienced, on the big screen. Continue reading
Latest scientific report on the adverse effects of vehicle emissions on the health of young children is timely in Croydon, writes our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION
ULEZ – the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone – improves the health of children.
That’s according to a study published by The Lancet Public Health, which showed that children’s lungs grew bigger and stronger after polluting vehicles were restricted from entering London by ULEZ.
Clean air: in findings that should surprise no one, improved air quality leads to improved health in children
The expansion of ULEZ into Croydon and the rest outer London was vehemently opposed by Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, together with local Tory MP Chris Philp and thousands of their gammon supporters.
The new study has been published as Mayor Perry is gearing up for his “Motorists’ Forum”, where he is likely to promise removing pollution-reducing 20mph zones and even reviewing School Streets in Croydon.
Perry has already said that black cabs – around one-third of which are still running on noxious diesel – can drive through the borough’s School Streets. Continue reading
If you’ve ever opened a cupboard and thought “I’ll deal with that later”, you’re not alone.
Most of us spend years stuffing things into spare rooms, garages and lofts without giving it a second thought. But when it comes time to sell, all of that catches up with you fast.
A cluttered house doesn’t just look bad in photos. It can actually put buyers off before they’ve even stepped through the door. Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE: Croydon’s answer to Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s Supreme Leader, is making a public appearance tonight where only residents’ associations who meet his approval are allowed to attend. By KEN LEE, our Town Hall correspondent
Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, begins a new public engagement initiative tonight, with a “Residents’ Association Forum” meeting in the Braithwaite Hall, next to the Town Hall.
Totalitarian: Jason Perry picks and chooses which RAs are allowed to attend his ‘forum’
But petty Perry is picking and choosing who gets to ask him questions about the cash-strapped council, where he has hiked Council Tax by 33% since 2023.
Inside Croydon can reveal that the Tory Mayor has blocked representatives of at least two residents’ groups, who have been told that they cannot attend a meeting for residents’ groups.
The formal invite went out a fortnight ago, under the heading “OFFICIAL”.
“Dear Resident Association,
“We would like to extend an invitation for the first of the new Mayoral and Resident Association meetings, taking place on Tuesday August 18, 6pm-7.30pm. The meeting will be hosted in the Braithwaite Hall, which is located in Croydon Town Hall on Katharine Street.
“This meeting, which is intended to take place on a quarterly basis moving forward, will be an opportunity for discussion with Executive Mayor Perry on a range of matters relating to the borough.”
Tonight’s agenda demonstrates that this is not a “listening” exercise by Mayor Perry, but another council-funded bit of political promotion. Continue reading
Former Coloma pupil helps track stars Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith make sporting history on final weekend of European championships in Birmingham, as Croydon Harrier doubles his gold haul
Relay for the ages: Imani-Lara Lansiquot yells in triumph as she anchored the GB 4x100m team to a 1sec margin victory
Sprinters Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Romell Glave both won relay golds in the final weekend of action at the European athletics championships.
Lansiquot anchored the British women’s 4x100metres team to a stunning victory on Saturday night, the third international relay gold medal of her track career for the former Coloma School pupil and Trinity sports scholar.
Britain’s women’s quartet, which included Bromley and Blackheath’s Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt and Success Eduan, clocked 42.05sec, finishing more than a second clear of silver medal-winners Switzerland in an event that is often decided by mere hundredths. Continue reading
Complicated recovery: three carriages derailed near Lewes in Sussex on Thursday, Aug 13. Access to the site is almost impossible by road, according to Network Rail
It will be at least another 10 days before the rail line between Haywards Heath and Lewes is open for services again, following last week’s derailment in Sussex.
Passengers heading for the south coast “are advised to check before they travel and, where possible, use alternative train services via Brighton”, according to a joint statement from Network Rail and Southern.
The closure is while the derailed train is recovered and repairs to the railway are carried out. Continue reading
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Did Mayor Perry’s appointments committee bother to conduct a full background check into the employment record of the man they have just handed the council’s top job and £1,500 per day pay?
A big Croydon welcome to £1,500 per day interim chief executive Mike Jackson, who starts work at the cash-strapped council today.
Interim’s interim: Mike Jackson starts at Croydon Council today
Jackson is Croydon’s third CEO in the space of 10 months, and might yet give way early next year to a fourth CEO, as his new employers are advertising for someone to take over in a permanent capacity, offering £275,000 per year – making it one of the best-paid roles in local authorities in England.
Croydon Council is £1.7bn in debt and has been in special measures since 2020, with government-appointed Commissioners effectively in control since July 2025.
Now while Mike Jackson is very likely to have been fully aware of the straitened circumstances of the authority when he applied for the Croydon interim role, there are growing doubts over whether the cross-party appointments committee, chaired by serial incompetent Mayor Jason Perry, ever bothered to make the most basic of background checks.
Jackson’s last job was as CEO of Richmond and Wandsworth boroughs, where under an innovative dual authority arrangement, he was among the country’s highest-paid civic servants on £281,443 base salary. Continue reading
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A talented musician established a business that over the course of 60 years taught and encouraged at least 30,000 youngsters to sing, play an instrument or perform on stage. DAVID MORGAN looks at the life and career of Gilbert Matthers
Croydon has a long and distinguished tradition in classical music. Mendelssohn came and played the organ at the Parish Church in June 1832. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and William Hurlstone were noted Croydon-based composers of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
During the 1960s and 70s the London Philharmonic Orchestra played regularly at the Fairfield Halls, a venue with a superb acoustic.
The Croydon Philharmonic Choir under the baton of Alan Kirby was considered to be the very best at interpreting the music of Edward Elgar in the 1930s. They also sang at two Prom concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.
More recently, the Trinity School Boys’ Choir has gained international renown, while the Croydon Minster choir have performed on both television and radio.
One name that deserves to be recalled alongside all those is Gilbert Matthers. Continue reading
Quite the view: and when you reach the summit of Croham Hurst, there are benches from where you can take it all in
THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR: This week, seeking pudding-like rock, a Bronze Age barrow and one of the highest viewpoints in Croydon without taking a lift in a tower block, KEN TOWL has been to Croham Hurst, where he may have found a new hobby
Hurst: in English
(hɜːst)
noun archaic
1, a wood
2, a sandbank
Word origin Old English hyrst; related to Old High German hurstCollins English Dictionary
If Inside Croydon went in for clickbait titles, this would be headlined something like “You won’t believe that there is a hill in the middle of Croydon made of pudding!”
Or “I found the Bronze Age barrow on top of Croydon’s best viewing point.”
But we don’t stoop so low.
Here’s the thing. Croham Hurst stands to the south of central Croydon. It forms a high ridge, steep on the western side, resistant to erosion (because of the “pudding”, but more of that later…) and is aloof from its suburban surroundings.
It is dramatic. It is interesting. Objectively so: it has been designated an SSSI, a site of special scientific interest. It is beautiful, a haven of woodland and birdsong and, at the top it boasts a stunning panoramic view to the west and north. Continue reading
