Get planting, growing and cooking with Hugh’s latest book

Posted on May 20, 2026 by insidecroydon

Special reader offer!
We have packs of organic veg seeds to GIVEAWAY to Inside Croydon subscribers. See below for details of how to claim your packet 

Breaking cover: Hugh Fearnley-Whittinstall’s latest book offers dozens of recipes around healthy veg dishes

Award-winning broadcaster, writer and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has published his latest book, which lays out on how to turn 12 everyday vegetables into 100 joyful and health-boosting recipes.

High Fibre Heroes celebrates 12 of the most inexpensive, recognisable, versatile and readily available plant superstars in Britain that will help you boost your fibre count and hit your 30 plants a week in no time at all.

Fearnley-Whittingstall said: “I absolutely love growing my own organic ingredients and you can do the same. There’s plenty of spring and summer left to get sowing, growing, picking and cooking your own vegetables.” Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Health, Inside Croydon | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vote-rigging accused Bonner tried to shut down this news site

Posted on May 20, 2026 by insidecroydon

Four Labour activists have been charged over events surrounding the party’s controversial 2023 Croydon East parliamentary selection. Evidence has emerged of how one of them had been part of a concerted campaign to close Inside Croydon

Court out: Carole Bonner, the former Croydon councillor who was a devoted member of ‘Newman’s Numpties’

Croydon’s “Infamous Four” – Joel and Shila Bodmer, former councillor Carole Bonner and Gabriel Levy – were at Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday to hear charges relating to cybercrime and data breaches alleged to have occurred during the Labour Party’s parliamentary selection for the Croydon East seat in 2023.

Inside Croydon broke the story almost three years ago of how Bodmer, seeking to be selected as a candidate for parliament, had been implicated in making changes to the local party’s membership database in order to confer some advantage in the ballot.

Yesterday’s court proceedings took less than two minutes. Continue reading →

Posted in 2024 General Election, Addiscombe East, Carole Bonner, Crime, Croydon East, Natasha Irons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

CODA presents Cabaret, at Selsdon Hall, May 22 and 23

Posted on May 20, 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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Art, CODA, Dance, Music, Selsdon and Addington Village, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rubbish councillor Roche finally sacked from Mayor’s cabinet

Posted on May 19, 2026 by insidecroydon

Jason Perry’s ‘top team’ for his second term in charge of the Town Hall sees a belated call-up for a 76-year-old pensioner, and an overdue axing for a work-shy colleague. KEN LEE reports

Rubbish councillor: Scott Roche

Scott Roche, the Conservative councillor for Shirley South who has been among the council’s laziest councillors for years, has finally been axed from the Town Hall cabinet.

In 2024, with a day job as an aide to Tory MP Paul Scully, Roche was trousering around £80,000 per year in public money, from a parliamentary salary and Croydon Council allowances.

These days, according to his online public profile, Roche is “available for work”, having not managed to find himself another job since Scully lost his parliamentary seat at the 2024 General Election.

It just might be that prospective employers have concerns about the Tory councillor’s capability for doing any work at all.

Ostensibly, for the past four years, Roche has been Croydon’s cabinet member for streets and environment. So Roche is the schmuck who signed off on a juicy new contract for Veolia just two years after the rubbish contractors were sacked for poor performance. Continue reading →

Posted in Alasdair Stewart, Andrew Stranack, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Fly tipping, Housing, Jason Cummings, Jeet Bains, Luke Shortland, Lynne Hale, Margaret Bird, Mayor Jason Perry, Ola Kolade, Refuse collection, Richard Chatterjee, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Robert Ward, Scott Roche, Selsdon and Addington Village, Shirley South, Simon Brew, Veolia, Yvette Hopley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

BWC Community Pop-up, Croydon Smile Hub, Sat May 23

Posted on May 19, 2026 by insidecroydon

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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Art, Broad Green, Business | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Renovating a Croydon flat to let: here’s what’s worth doing

Posted on May 19, 2026 by insidecroydon

SPONSORED CONTENT

Here’s some advice on which upgrades provide the best return on investment and attract long-term tenants in south London

Croydon is a unique market. Many tenants work in central London and they want a home that feels fresh without requiring constant cleaning or repairs. As a landlord, your goal is to spend money where it actually increases the rent or reduces the void periods between tenancies.

The property needs to look good in photos. However, it also needs to survive three or four years of daily wear and tear without looking tatty. If you make the right choices now, you’ll save thousands on redecorating later. Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Inside Croydon | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Eggshell artworks to see the light of day for first time in decade

Posted on May 18, 2026 by insidecroydon

Exhibition piece: Sara Hayfa’s work will be on exhibition at Turf Gallery in central Croydon next month

“Intuitive artist” Sara Hayfa has an exhibition of her work next month at Turf Projects in the Whitgift Centre. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Turf Projects, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

CODA presents Cabaret, at Selsdon Hall, May 22 and 23

Posted on May 18, 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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Art, CODA, Dance, Music, Selsdon and Addington Village, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Winnie The Pooh Story Time, Norbury Library, Sat May 30

Posted on May 18, 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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Libraries, Norbury | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Perry’s anti-democratic council has created constitution crisis

Posted on May 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

For the first time since it was created in 1965, Croydon Council has councillors from five political parties. WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, looks at whether they will make any difference – or even be allowed to try

All change: how Croydon has changed from being just red and blue after the May 7 2026 local elections

While other councils in London and across the country have seen radical change following the local elections on May 7, Croydon seems largely the same. At first glance, anyway.

There is still a Conservative Mayor, and Labour councillors still comprise the largest group on the council. The question now, though, is, with 12 councillors from three other parties (and one “independent”), what impact might they have on the running of our council? And will they be allowed to have an impact?

The supplementary question is significant, because it recognises that Croydon Council’s constitution will be the biggest obstacle to change. The council constitution embeds the old Red-Blue duopoly, and the council’s bureaucrats, often acting in their own self-interest, do their utmost to keep power in the hands of Labour and the Tories. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Adam Kellett, Claire Bonham, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Esther Sutton, Fairfield, Gill Hickson, Mark Adderley, New Addington South, Old Coulsdon, Paul Ainscough, Ria Patel, Scott Holman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reform councillor offers thanks to dodgy far-right fraudster

Posted on May 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

Spot the Reform members: police made 31 arrests for public order offences at yesterday’s Unite The Nation event in central London organised by serial criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon

INSIDE SUTTON: Yesterday we reported how the borough’s two newest councillors are already making a grifters’ grab for tens of thousands of pounds in public money. Now CARL SHILTON investigates some of the dodgy-looking associations that Reform’s Alison Long and Janey Gould don’t want to answer questions about

Thanking a fraudster: Alison Long’s message to Billy Cooper and his far-right pals after she got elected

Sutton’s newest councillors, Reform Ltd’s Alison Long and Janey Gould, haven’t even attended their first public council meeting since their election last week, but Farage’s grifters have already made a grab for tens of thousands of pounds of public cash, as the duo claim they are the borough’s official opposition.

Sutton’s local elections returned 51 Liberal Democrat councillors, two Reform, one Labour and one independent. Labour’s Dave Tchil and Beddington independent Nick Mattey have formed an alliance to block Reform’s pair of councillors from claiming the status of Sutton’s official opposition, which would see one of Long or Gould claim £32,654 in allowances and special responsibility allowances for the coming year. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Long, Dave Tchil, Janey Gould, Nick Mattey, Outside Croydon, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grave error in the failure to reconstruct great Grindal’s tomb

Posted on May 17, 2026 by insidecroydon

CROYDON CHRONICLES: The Minster’s archive is a rich source of documents, registers, publications and correspondence that have yielded vast quantities of detail and information about the history of Croydon for DAVID MORGAN. But here is a letter that the archivist has never found, but conceivably might have done…

May 1 1867

Dear Rev Hodgson, Sir,

I write in utter disbelief and indignation to you as I recently discovered that the memorial tomb for Edmund Grindal, one of the greatest Archbishops of Canterbury to be appointed (so said Francis Bacon), is not going to be rebuilt after the fire that destroyed so much in our Parish Church.

Great Archbishop: Grindal (c1519 – 6 July 1583) was buried at Croydon Parish Church, but his memorial destroyed in the great fire

Apparently, I was told, the beloved memorial of the first primate ever to be buried here in Croydon is to be replaced with a brass wall plaque and some charred remains in a frame. I sincerely hope this is not the case.

I trust you will allow me to indulge your Reverence on the significance of Edmund Grindal and that, by not rebuilding his tomb, you are making a grave error.

One of the great spectacles for me as boy growing up in Croydon and being taken regularly to worship at the Parish Church by my parents, was looking at the three grand tombs of the Archbishops Grindal, Whitgift and Sheldon each week and imagining what life was like for each of them. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Junction Road Street Party, South Croydon, Sat June 6

Posted on May 17, 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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Pubs, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Free SWLLC benefits and housing advice sessions, Selhurst

Posted on May 17, 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

NOTE the revised timings and venue details

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Age UK Croydon, Charity, Croydon CAB, South West London Law Centres | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beddington councillor receives phone threat from Reform

Posted on May 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

INSIDE SUTTON: Labour and independent councillors form political alliance to challenge Nigel Farage’s party as official council opposition
EXCLUSIVE by CARL SHILTON 

Micromanaged: Janey Gould (left) and Alison Long celebrate their election to Sutton Council – but some suggest they are being overseen by Farage party officials

Nick Mattey, the maverick independent councillor for Beddington, says that he received a threatening call to his private telephone yesterday morning in which someone claiming to represent Nigel Farage’s Reform party made threats of a legal challenge over the contested status of Sutton Council’s official opposition.

Tens of thousands of pounds of public money is at stake, as are places on the council’s various committees.

Sutton’s local elections last Thursday saw the opposition Conservatives wiped out, losing all their 20 seats as Reform Ltd undermined their votes, leaving the Liberal Democrats, who have controlled the council since 1986, to sweep to power with 51 of the borough’s 55 council seats.

The four other council seats saw Reform win their first places at Sutton Council, through Alison Long and Janey Gould in St Helier West. Labour’s last remaining Sutton councillor, Dave Tchil, managed to survive in Hackbridge, while Mattey is Sutton’s only independent. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Long, Barry Lewis, Dave Tchil, Helen Bailey, Janey Gould, Nick Mattey, Outside Croydon, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cole found guilty of murder at Imperial Way funeral shooting

Posted on May 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

Byron Cole has been found guilty of the 2025 murder of Anthony Morrison, who was attending a funeral wake on Imperial Way when he was fatally shot.

Murderer: Byron Cole awaits sentencing

Byron Cole, aged 40, of Gleneldon Road, Streatham, was found guilty by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday. Cole was also convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Morrison was 41 when killed on June 19 last year.

The investigation was conducted by detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command.

Detective Chief Inspector Dan Whitten, who led the investigation, said: “Our thoughts today are with Anthony’s family and friends at this difficult time. We hope that today’s verdict will bring a measure of comfort to his loved ones.

“This conviction would have been impossible without the willingness of witnesses to come forward. I would like to commend them for their bravery in doing so.

Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Policing, Purley Way | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

£30m refurb is underway at century-old Selsdon Park Hotel

Posted on May 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

A return to past glories: BH Group says it is spending £30m on the refurbishment of the Selsdon Park Hotel, hinting that there will be a return to its mid-century elegance and luxury

More than 150 jobs to be created amid the rolling North Downs, as new owners seek to create one of the country’s ‘leading resorts’

One hundred years since the Selsdon Park estate first opened its doors as a luxury hotel, the property’s new owners have confirmed their intention to transform the site into “one of the UK’s leading resorts”.

And they are backing that up with a £30million refurbishment budget, with the aim of being open for business by mid-2027.

Inside Croydon revealed exclusively in March that Leeds-based hotel business BH Group was in the process of buying Selsdon Park, almost three years since the former owners, Birch, were forced to close in administration in November 2023. Continue reading →

Posted in BH Group, Birch (Selsdon), Business, Selsdon Park Hotel, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Erato Orchestra concert, St Mark’s Woodcote, Sat May 23

Posted on May 16, 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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Art, Erato Orchestra, Music, Purley | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dr Charles Drew annual health fair, Whitgift Centre, Sat June 6

Posted on May 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Charity, Health, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Part-time Perry’s Leipzig dilemma as Mayor faces fixture clash

Posted on May 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Life-long’ Palace fan is going to have to do some work to earn his £86,000 council salary, as opposition parties refuse to change date of Town Hall’s annual meeting on the night that the Eagles will be making history in their first European final. By STEVEN DOWNES

Busted: Croydon’s £86,000 per year part-time Mayor, Jason Perry, pictured this week, making his application for a refund on his flight tickets to Germany

Almost the first act of Jason Perry since he was re-elected as Croydon’s £86,000 per year Mayor was to ask for a change of date of the council’s annual meeting, set for Wednesday, May 27 – in order that he can go instead to Leipzig to see Crystal Palace play in the UEFA Conference League final.

Opposition councillors have rejected Perry’s pathetic request, describing it as “wrong”.

“The Mayor’s immediate priority should be focusing on fixing the fly-tipping and pothole epidemic in Croydon, not how to get to a football match,” Stuart King, the Labour group leader, told Inside Croydon tonight. Continue reading →

Posted in Claire Bonham, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace FC, Football, Mayor Jason Perry, Ria Patel, Stuart King | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Perry’s goons abandon threats against George Street homeless

Posted on May 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

All clear: a tram rattles past the George Street and North End junction, with the homeless people’s meagre possessions back in place, despite threats from council security contractors

Council security contractors may have failed to follow the law over their ‘thuggery’ and ‘bullying’ of what they called an ‘encampment’ in the town centre. By STEVEN DOWNES and KEN TOWL

Bullying: the offensive notice

Threats of enforcement action against what the council described as “an encampment” on George Street failed to materialise this morning, as the official notice plastered on to the wall of the Whitgift Almshouses had been removed and none of the uniformed private security goons made an appearance by the time of their own 8am deadline.

Inside Croydon reported yesterday how the enforcement notice “to person’s [sic] unknown”, had been posted on the corner of George Street and North End, threatening criminal prosecutions, confiscation of belongings, fines of up to £2,000 and exile from the borough of Croydon.

The council notice came from the Town Hall’s “anti-social behaviour team”, an initiative from “zero tolerance” Jason Perry, the failed Mayor of Croydon, who can now add threatening vulnerable people to his growing list of failures. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Community associations, Croydon BID, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Mayor Jason Perry, North End Quarter, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

King and Ben-Hassel win Labour’s Town Hall leadership votes

Posted on May 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

Political Editor WALTER CRONXITE on how the largest party group at the council is beginning to be reshuffled

One Labour leader, at least, has seen off all challengers this week.

Re-elected: Stuart King has the backing of 80% of Labour’s councillorse

In a secret meeting held last night at Croydon Town Hall, Stuart King was re-elected as leader of Labour’s council group, with a 24-6 vote of the party’s councillors.

King, a councillor for West Thornton ward since 2014, has been leader of the embattled Labour group at the Town Hall since 2022.

It means that King, backed by the borough’s largest party group of councillors, will continue the thankless task of leading the opposition to tin-eared Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor. Continue reading →

Posted in Amy Foster, Catherine Wilson, Janet Campbell, Manju Shahul Hameed, Rowenna Davis, Selhurst, Stuart King | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon’s charity lawyers invite you to join fund-raiser walk

Posted on May 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

The London Legal Walk takes place on June 9, raising tens of thousands of pounds to assist with legal bills for those that need qualified advice, and the team from the South West London Legal Centre are asking the Croydon public to join them on this stroll through London.

Legal walk: lawyers, clients and supporters will be striding out in central London on June 9

Every year, SWLLC supports thousands of people in Croydon and across south London who are facing serious legal problems affecting their housing, income, employment, immigration status, safety and wellbeing.

“Many come to us at moments of crisis and would struggle to access legal advice anywhere else,” SWLLC says.

“That is why the London Legal Walk matters. It is a chance to come together, raise funds, and show that access to justice should not depend on someone’s income or circumstances.” Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Charity, South West London Law Centres, Walks | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beddington Park river restoration talk, The Grange, May 19

Posted on May 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

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Croydon parks, Environment, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council heavies move in on vulnerable people on George Street

Posted on May 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

Under-trained security officials, paid for with public money, are doing the bidding of Mayor’s favoured business group in ‘authoritarian thuggery and bullying’. By STEVEN DOWNES

Croydon Council has been accused of being tactless, uncaring and of persecuting homeless people, after slapping an exclusion order on the walls of one of the borough’s oldest buildings yesterday, the Whitgift Almshouses.

Rough sleeping: council enforcement staff have got tough with a small group of homeless people in the town centre

Inside Croydon understands that the Whitgift Foundation, which manages the almshouses and has its offices in the 16th-Century building, has even been providing hot meals for homeless people who have taken to settling down on the busy corner of George Street and North End.

The Foundation was completely unaware of the council’s intention to post the exclusion notice, which has ordered the homeless people to remove all their possessions from the location by 8am tomorrow, Friday May 15.

The council, with its new force of under-trained security guards, working together with Croydon BID, the business improvement district, and some North End shop-keepers, have been accused of unnecessarily heavy-handed treatment of homeless people who camp out in the town centre shopping area. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Community associations, Croydon BID, North End Quarter, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments