Emergency services: the Fire Brigade, ambulance and police were on hand at East Croydon just before 1pm today to deal with an emergency at the former City Link House
PHOTOSTORY EXCLUSIVE
Pictures by DAVID WHITE
East Croydon was lit up with blue lights at lunchtime today, responding to reports that a site worker had fallen off an inner lift on a building site on Addiscombe Road, opposite landmark No1 Croydon.
“We’re getting him out,”, according to a police officer at the scene. Continue reading
No Access Croydon: the public access area of Fisher’s Folly was closed to the public in March 2025. Homeless people were directed to Central Library to book appointments for face-to-face meetings with council staff
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council is being dragged into the High Court next week to face claims that it is failing to meet its statutory responsibilities on housing as a consequence of making its offices open only on an appointment basis. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Failed Mayor Jason Perry’s omnishambles council will be back in the High Court next week, this time to face claims that its cost-cutting move to shut itself off inside its Fisher’s Folly office building from the people it is supposed to serve breaks the law in respect of its statutory responsibilities for homeless people. Continue reading
Croydon history: the always-busy, ever-dependable Coughlans in the Allders Arcade. Both are now just fond memories of a bygone town centre
175 jobs to go across south London, Surrey and Sussex as family-run bakery based in Thornton Heath goes into voluntary liquidation
Coughlan’s bakers, their daily bread a staple of Croydon’s high streets for almost 90 years, has ceased trading.
The shock announcement was made on social media late yesterday by Sean Coughlan, the third generation to run the Thornton Heath-based family business. Around 175 jobs are likely to be lost across the company’s 31 stores across south London, in Surrey and Sussex.
Coughlan’s survived a World War, several financial disasters and, mostly, the covid lockdown (though no thanks to Croydon Council’s shambolically slow distribution of emergency grants).
But according to Coughlan, what they could not survive was Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ employers’ National Insurance increase, a rise in business rates and the latest heatwaves in May and June. Continue reading
It has finally started: bulldozers moved in last week, in the biggest sign yet that the £150m-plus project is really, finally, under way
Almost nine years since the proposal was first aired to build a modern main stand and increase home capacity for Crystal Palace games to 34,000, physical, visible works have begun in and around Selhurst Park on a project that may now end up costing close to £200million.
Bulldozers were sent in last week to begin the demolition of the six houses on Wooderson Close, with a video of the work posted by the club as its latest “update” on the long-awaited development – only the second official update from Palace in two years. Continue reading
MPs Sarah Jones and Natasha Irons are jointly hosting a jobs fair for young people in the borough.
Intended for those aged 16 and over, the fair brings together major industry players including Google, EY Foundation, the NHS, Transport for London and others.
It will be an opportunity to speak directly to employers who will be hosting stalls throughout the event.
Tech giant Google will be delivering training on digital skills, while charity Croydon Commitments will be running mock interviews.
The Department of Work and Pensions will be offering a workshop on careers in the Civil Service. Continue reading
Receiving a large inheritance is a major life event that brings a mix of complex emotions and sudden financial responsibilities.
For many people in the UK, a windfall of this size completely shifts their long-term security and opens up new possibilities.
It also introduces unexpected challenges that need careful thought and clear planning. Continue reading
PODCAST: The Croydon Insider returns with a new panel of readers to discuss the latest Croydon news, in a Croydonites Fringe special that picks some of the must-see shows at the festival from July 1 to 5.
There’s even a live performance by one of the acts.
We also hear from Capt Mark Windsor RN Retd about what adult volunteers can get from helping teenaged members of the Croydon Sea Cadets.
Plus we talk about the weather, about how Croydon Council is on a go-slow over refunds of its unlawful LTN fines – and most important, how you can claim your refund. Continue reading
Kamahl Cameron-Williams, the 31-year-old stabbed to death on Westow Hill in Crystal Palace last week, was a convicted criminal who was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison in September 2018 for grievous bodily harm – GBH – and for possession with intent to supply cocaine.
Drug dealer: Kamahl Cameron, as he appeared in a police hand-out following his convictions in 2018
The sentence arose from a gang’s attack on Beckenham High Street earlier that year which left their victim with a punctured lung, and which the police at the time described as “lucky not to have been fatal”.
Then known as Kamahl Cameron, and giving an address on Colby Road in Gipsy Hill, he was described as being part of a gang of “three thugs”.
He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sent to prison for three years for GBH and an additional three years and nine months for possession with intent to supply cocaine. Continue reading
On Palace’s youth books from the age of 11, the former Good Shepherd primary pupil is now a World Cup player – but for DR Congo. Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s biggest international test yet could come this week against former club-mates
International duty: Aaron Wan-Bissaka playing in the colours of DR Congo
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, born in Croydon and brought up in New Addington, could be about to play the biggest game of his career: against England.
The former Crystal Palace youth player, now playing his club football at West Ham, is thought to have become the first player from New Addington to appear at a World Cup finals earlier this month, when he played in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 1-1 draw with Portugal in Houston.
Wan-Bissaka, 28, has played all but five minutes of DR Congo’s matches in Group K – including in the 1-0 defeat to Colombia, with the only goal of the game being scored by current Palace star Daniel Munoz.
And Wan-Bissaka was part of the Congo team which pulled off the 3-1 win over Uzbekistan on Sunday – their first ever win at the World Cup finals – which propelled them up the World Cup’s “Losers’ League” of teams that had finished in third place in their groups.
That result pits DR Congo against England in the “Round of 32” in Atlanta on Wednesday.
Wan-Bissaka plays at right-back or wing-back for club and country, a position where injuries and selection controversies have created what many see as a weakness for Thomas Tuchel’s England at the World Cup. Wan-Bissaka played for England at under-20 and under-21 level, and might have been in the mix for selection for the country of his birth had he not opted to switch to Congo 12 months ago. Continue reading
Meridian reaches a high: Year 7 and 8 pupils celebrating winning a National Teaching Awards bronze for ‘Making a Difference’
Meridian High School in New Addington has won a bronze award for “Making a Difference – Secondary School of the Year” in the Pearson National Teaching Awards.
The Pearson National Teaching Awards recognise whole school communities that “radically transform the life chances of their pupils and enrich their wider local communities”.
The judges recognised the Fairchildes Avenue school’s curriculum as “knowledge-rich, carefully sequenced and ambitious for every child”. Continue reading
Swooning in the shade: dealing with extreme heat has been a problem for many centuries, including at Wimbledon in the long hot summer of 1976
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A timely trawl through the Minster archive has discovered reports of extreme weather episodes going back more than 400 years. By DAVID MORGAN
“Rycharde Esteinge, a young man, being killed suddenlye with a stroke of thunder and lightning on the neck and under the right ear. Nothinge but blackness seen. Was buried the 29th, and smelt of brimstone exceedingle.”
Extremes of weather, with deadly consequences, of course are nothing new. The above grim record is from the Parish Church register in April 1607.
Newspaper reports have mentioned extreme conditions ever since they began to be printed in the 17th Century. Continue reading
EXCLUSIVE: LibDem council deliberately delayed publication of damning report to avoid its failures of SEND children appearing before the local elections. DAVE BURTON reports how councillors and officials have broken confidentiality rules and tried to pass the buck
In denial: LibDem councillor Gemma Munday has tried to pass the buck for Sutton’s failed Ofsted/CQC report
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have finally, after several months’ delay, published its local area SEND Report into Sutton Council and the South West London Integrated Care Board.
It’s a fail.
The report, issued to Jonathan Williams, Sutton’s director of children’s services, begins: “Children and young people with SEND have variable experiences in Sutton. Furthermore, some children have considerably poor experiences.” SEND stands for special educational needs and disabilities.
Ofsted found “widespread and systemic failings” in the service, which was putting children at “risk of harm”. The council and the care board have been ordered to submit a “priority action plan” to address the multiple failures. Continue reading
Andrew Mallen, a performing arts teacher at Coulsdon Sixth Form College, has been named a Silver Winner in the 2026 Pearson National Teaching Awards.
Award-winner: Andrew Mallen, of Coulsdon Sixth Form College
The award recognises the outstanding impact Mallen has made on pupils’ lives, inside and outside the classroom. He is now in contention for a Gold Teaching Award, with the results to be announced later this year.
“I genuinely wasn’t expecting this,” Mallen said.
“Teaching performing arts is about helping young people discover their confidence, find their voice and realise what they’re capable of achieving. I’m incredibly honoured to receive this recognition.”
Coulsdon Sixth Form College says that the award “celebrates Andrew’s unwavering commitment” to helping all his pupils achieve their potential. Continue reading
The pernicious effects of the ‘development blight’ inflicted on Croydon’s town centre by Westfield continue to be keenly felt. JOHNNY DOBBYN paid possibly his last visit to the wine bar which will be pulling down the shutters for a final time next week
Nick nacks: almost everything to be found inside Bishop’s Wine Bar is up for sale
Next Wednesday, the glasses will be collected for the last time at Bishop’s Wine Bar in the Whitgift Centre. After 44 years, one of Croydon’s most enduring establishments will close its doors, not because customers stopped coming, nor because its owners wished to retire.
But because Westfield has thrown them out.
On any weekday lunchtime in the late 1980s, if you couldn’t find a colleague from the Home Office, the Property Services Agency, the council or one of the many busy offices that were once to be found in the town centre, there was a good chance they were in Bishop’s.
Named after its location in Bishop’s Court, Bishop’s was the daily haunt of office workers taking their lunchtime break while the pissed-at-your-desk culture was still strong.
But lunchtime drinking is a thing of the past, and the drinkers – and, more importantly, the big businesses that once employed them – are long gone.
Bishop’s itself will close next week because the current owners, Angela Ferrara and her father, Tony, received what Angela describes as a “stark letter” from their landlord on New Year’s Eve last year invoking a break clause requiring the bar to close within six months. Continue reading
End of an era: Old Palace girls’ school moved out of its Old Town site last summer. But the Whitgift Foundation continues to fund some of its former pupils
The Whitgift Foundation’s ‘Impact Report’ for last year shows its two boys’ fee-paying schools among the country’s top 10% of independents, as the costs of closing its girls’ school will continue until 2028.
By STEVEN DOWNES
The closure of Old Palace girls’ fee-paying school last July is costing the Whitgift Foundation at least £2.5million, a report from the land-owning charity has revealed, while the impact of Westfield’s stalled town centre redevelopment continues to drain the organisation’s coffers.
Old Palace School is the most significant casualty of the blight on the town centre inflicted by Westfield, since the developers were invited to regenerate Croydon’s shopping district in what was promised to be a £1.4billion scheme as long ago as 2012. When those promises came to nothing, the Whitgift Foundation found itself unable to continue to subsidise pupils at Old Palace.
As was first reported by Inside Croydon, the Whitgift Foundation determined that “the sustainability of the school beyond the short-term [is] impossible”. Continue reading
CROYDON COMMENTARY: We know many of the measures we as a society, as a nation and as a borough, need to take to deal with the kind of heatwave that we have endured this week. PETER UNDERWOOD says it is long past time that we started to take action
Croydon wasn’t designed for this weather.
Time for action: the Mayor of London has this week published another report on what needs to be done in the climate emergency
This week started with flash floods and lightning strikes as heat-driven storms swept across the south of England, leaving a trail of house fires and transport disruptions.
The week is ending with sweltering heat and school closures as temperatures hit levels deemed to be a serious threat to life. These record June temperatures follow record temperatures for May just a few weeks ago. Continue reading
A snap inspection earlier this year by the CQC found Croydon’s largest hospital’s emergency department still failing to meet legal requirements for patient privacy and dignity, while ‘corridor care remains a concern’
Mayday!: the emergency services at Croydon University Hospital have been rated as ‘Requires improvement’ since at least 2019
Urgent and emergency services at Croydon’s largest hospital have failed their latest inspection and have been rated “Requires improvement”.
This is at least the fourth inspection report from the Care Quality Commission – CQC – where this area of work at what some call Croydon University Hospital has been rated “Requires improvement”. CQC inspectors in 2019, 2022 and 2025 drew similar conclusions, citing capacity pressures and staff shortages. Continue reading
Transport for London asks the public to avoid travelling tomorrow, as the Red heat alert is extended by another 24 hours
The Met Office has recorded a temperature of 36.4C at Yeovilton in Somerset, making today the hottest June day on record – beating the record 36.1C which had been set yesterday, June 24.
Mercury rising: the June temperature record has been broken on two successive days this week
Those, of course, are the temperatures “in the shade”, measured according to strict Met Office rules. The temperature in the sun, with heat reflected off hard surfaces, can often be several degrees higher.
Emergency services and London’s transport system are feeling the heat, with record call-outs, while double the number of schools have closed or sent pupils home early – more than 2,000 – than had been the case yesterday.
In Croydon, the temperature has reached 32C, with the forecast for it being hotter still tomorrow (Friday, June 26).
The Met Office has extended its Red heat warning by 24 hours, through to tomorrow evening. Continue reading
Three men have been charged with the murder of Kamahl Cameron-Williams on Westow Hill on Sunday.
Murdered: Kamahl Cameron-Williams was stabbed to death in Crystal Palace on Sunday
The men were due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court today.
The Metropolitan Police have named them as:
Isaiah Adio-Weathers, 23, of Evelyn Street, Lewisham
Amari Auguste-Francois, 21, of Malpas Road, Hackney and
Ellis Shakiem, 23, of Denmark Road, Southwark
They were also charged with attempted murder. Auguste-Francois was additionally charged with possession of a bladed article. Continue reading
In tune: Mitcham-based Sea Cadet Katie Rolfe is passing on her expertise
A Carshalton teenager is representing the Sea Cadets on the national stage while helping train the next generation.
Katie Rolfe, who enrolled at Merton Sea Cadets in 2018, has risen through the ranks, gaining a string of qualifications in drill, seamanship, music and leadership along the way.
Her achievements have been recognised at the highest level, with her selection as one of the First Sea Lord’s Cadets for 2025, a prestigious national role that brings her into contact with senior Royal Navy figures and key ceremonial events.
Rolfe has also been central to the revival of the London Area Band, performing as a bell lyrist. In 2024, she helped secure first place at the Lord Mayor’s band competition, as well as supporting the band’s return to the Sea Cadets’ National Band Competition after decades away. Continue reading
