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Bingo! Plus live music, quiz nights, darts at Surrey Cricketers
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Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Business, Darts, Fairfield, Music, Pubs, Sport
Tagged Bingo, Croydon, Darts, Fairfield, Music, The Surrey Cricketers
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Costs up, volunteers vanished = community festival cancelled
Fairground attractions: South Norwood Rec had record crowds for the 2026 festival
There will be no South Norwood Community Festival in 2027.
The announcement of the cancellation was made on social media this week. The reasons given: rising costs and lack of experienced volunteers. Staging costs have more than doubled since 2019, while although the organisers provided training for 100 volunteers, on the day of this year’s festival in July, just 10 showed up to help. Continue reading
Amelia Earhart’s final flight: has the mystery been solved?
One of the greatest mysteries of the pioneering era of aviation is coming to Croydon Airport.
Missing and missed: Amelia Earhart vanished on a flight in July 1937
Historian and researcher Chris Denchfield will be giving an illustrated talk exploring the life and mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the event being held at Historic Croydon Airport on Wednesday September 30 at 7pm.
Amelia Earhart: 20 Minutes and 40 Miles offers audiences a fresh look at one of history’s greatest unsolved aviation mysteries through years of dedicated research, rare artefacts and a unique recreation of Earhart’s final flight.
Best known as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Earhart inspired generations through her courage, determination and pioneering spirit.
Yet despite decades of investigation, the circumstances surrounding her disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937 remain one of aviation’s greatest enigmas. Continue reading
Climate Grief Café, Croydon Clocktower Café, Sat Sep 26
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Posted in Activities, Advertisement, Advertisement features, Art, Clocktower Cafe
Tagged Climate Crisis, Climate Grief, Clocktower Cafe, Katy Dye
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Council cancels £8.6m children’s home contract after 6 months
‘Hospital admissions’ of children in care are among serious concerns over the management of a home which was only registered in March.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Croydon Council has served notice on a contract for managing a children’s home in Sanderstead less than six months after it was opened, citing “concerns”, with children put “into situations that subsequently resulted in placement breakdowns and/or hospital admissions”.
Precious House is a council-owned property that was previously known as Angel Lodge.
In 2025, as part of Mayor Jason Perry’s “Stabilisation Plan” to cut costs, Croydon sought to provide a home for children in its care while avoiding the high charges made by private providers.
The procurement contract to manage the home was for a duration of seven years at a total cost of £8.57million – or £1.2million per year. The St Christopher’s Fellowship charity won the tender process. Continue reading
Perry advertises for office manager to be paid £43 PER HOUR
CROYDON IN CRISIS: No expense spared for Tory Mayor as he uses tens of thousands of pounds of public money to hire a political adviser and handler. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, is looking to spend more public money. But not on providing better services for the borough’s long-suffering residents. This time Perry, the cash-strapped council’s £86,000 per year Mayor, is recruiting someone to “manage” his own office.
The job ad makes no secret that this will be public money spent on a political appointee. And Perry is offering the right candidate pay at a rate equivalent to £78,000 per year.
Perry has added another £300million to the council’s debt mountain since he was first elected in 2022, while at the same time hiking Council Tax by 33% to pay his wages and those of what remains of the council’s staff.
Yet while hundreds of council employees, many on modest salaries, have been made redundant while piss-poor Perry’s been in charge, the Tory Mayor has decided that he still needs someone to bring him his cups of tea and do his photocopying for him. Oh, and probably also show him how to log-on to the council computer, too. Continue reading
Addiscombe locals suspicious as fire destroys heritage house
Gutted: after almost a decade of a planning tug-of-war, the owners of 275 Addiscombe Road now appear to have no alternative but to have the building demolished
“Owners and developers should be held responsible when something like this happens.”
That was the quick take of one concerned resident yesterday, which was typical of the angry and saddened reactions of many, as firefighters continued to damp down the embers of an overnight blaze which had gutted 275 Addiscombe Road, a badly neglected heritage landmark building.
The London Fire Brigade says that the cause of the fire is under investigation. No one was injured in the fire; with the exception of squatters, no one has lived in the building for at least eight years. Continue reading
Bingo! Plus live music, quiz nights, darts at Surrey Cricketers
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Posted in Advertisement, Advertisement features, Business, Darts, Fairfield, Music, Pubs, Sport
Tagged Bingo, Croydon, Darts, Fairfield, Music, The Surrey Cricketers
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Smokehouse offers beefy portions Fred Flintstone would adore
PALOMA LACY puts Norbury’s newest restaurant to the test
Norbury locals’ dream of a broader dining scene came true when the guys from Fort Smokehouse rode into town. Three businessmen brothers are sharing their passion for Texan BBQ with Norbury diners.
This is family dining. I visited one Friday and every table was taken by a family, including mine. All are most definitely welcome here. Anyone with young children knows this is not always the case when it comes to eating out.
I loved the décor, with stone-clad walls, exposed wooden beams and iron chandeliers – reminiscent of the Tales of King Arthur. The ambience is casual – food is ordered at the till and brought to tables on a tray. The menu is small, and when the day’s food is gone, it’s gone. Continue reading
Posted in Fort Smokehouse, Norbury, Norbury Park, Paloma Lacy, Restaurants
Tagged Fort Smokehouse, Norbury, Paloma Lacy
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Mezze Feast, South Norwood Community Kitchen, Oct 6
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Borough’s motorists will be forced to pay for Perry’s mistakes
CROYDON IN CRISIS: An above-inflation hike for resident parking permits, parking fees and penalties is being lined up to help plug the hole in the council budgets caused by the Mayor opening his big mouth.
By our transport correspondent, JEREMY CLACKSON
Turns out that when Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, opens his mouth and costs the borough millions of pounds, it is the borough’s residents who end up picking up the bill.
Mayor Perry, who has hiked Countil Tax by 33% since 2023, now plans to rinse residents with increased parking fines, parking charges and residents permits, all to make up for the cash-strapped council’s short-fall in income from his unlawful LTNs. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Environment, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense
Tagged Conrad Hall, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fine refunds, High Court, Judge Edward Pepperall, London, London Borough of Croydon, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, LTN fine refunds, LTNs, Mayor Jason Perry, PCNs, Penalty Charge Notices, Resident Parking Permits, Royal Courts of Justice, Tory
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Visceral Shadows at Bethlem is Hunter’s first show for 10 years
Visceral Shadows, the first solo exhibition since 2016 by sculptor Emma Hunter, opens today at the Bethlem Gallery in Beckenham.
‘Hung up to dry’: the Bethlem Gallery exhibition will be Emma Hunter’s first for 10 years
Hunter is “a sculptor interested in the surrealism of everyday life”. Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal West Academy and Royal Scottish Academy. She is a recipient of the distinguished bursary award to join the Royal Society of Sculptors.
Based between Edinburgh and London, she works at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, one of Scotland’s leading centres for contemporary sculpture.
Visceral Shadows “entangles two bodies of work created seven years apart, before and after giving birth”, the Bethlem Gallery says.
“The latter works express her physical and emotional lived experiences of matrescence, the process of becoming a mother, with the sculptural forms becoming vehicles for cathartic release and healing.”
Founded in 1997 to nurture artist opportunities for current and former psychiatric service users of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Bethlem Gallery has evolved to become a valued space for artists and an influential independent charity.
Led by Clore Fellow and Director Sophie Leighton since 2020, today it provides both creative support and commercial representation to artists. In its public gallery spaces, it presents four free exhibitions annually, accompanied by in-person and online talks, workshops and symposiums. Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Art, Bethlem Gallery
Tagged Bethlem Gallery, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Emma Hunter, Henry Moore, Henry Moore Foundation
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Music at The Oval Tavern, Addiscombe, through Oct. Free entry
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Posted in Addiscombe West, Advertisement, Advertisement features, Art, Business, Music, The Oval Tavern
Tagged Addiscombe, Blues at The Oval, Croydon, Music, The Oval Tavern
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Fly-tips? It’s all your fault for reporting it, says Perry’s puppet
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Having failed to get rubbish contractors Veolia to do their job, the council’s struggles to deal with the borough’s litter-strewn streets are, according to shameless Tory councillors, because residents have been doing what they were asked to do. By STEVEN DOWNES
After issuing just a single fine for fly-tipping over the most recent 12-month period in England’s most fly-tipped borough, Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, and his cabinet puppet, Alasdair Stewart, are now blaming residents for the tatty state of our streets by claiming that… they have been reporting “too many” fly-tips.
Comments by Tory councillor Stewart, Perry’s council cabinet member for streets and enforcement, have sparked a war of words with resident volunteer “champions” in Norbury and Bensham Manor.
And Councillor Stewart is now subject of a formal complaint to the Town Hall’s ethics committee (yes: they have a committee, if not much in the way of ethics). Continue reading
Posted in Bensham Manor, Community associations, Croydon Council, Fly tipping, Graham Mitchell, Litter Free Norbury, Mayor Jason Perry, Norbury, Norbury Park, Refuse collection, Tony Hooker, Veolia
Tagged Cllr Alasdair Stewart, Conservative, CrapApp, Croydon, Croydon Council, Graham Mitchell, Litter Free Norbury, London Borough of Croydon, Love Clean Streets, Norbury, Norbury Park, Purley and Riddlesdown, Simon Fox, Tony Hooker, Tory, Waddon
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Met sacks black PC over award-nominated YouTube videos
Case brought against outspoken constable by the body he had criticised: ‘There are people who have done things far worse than what I’ve done, who are still employed by the Met. They just happen to have lighter skin.’
If the Metropolitan Police has struggled to shake off its reputation as being institutionally racist, that cause was made much more difficult after the decision reached at a disciplinary hearing yesterday to sack Idominik Efeotor from the force.
Dismissed: Idominik Efeotor has served in the Met Police for 15 years
The case against Efeotor, who lives in Croydon, was brought by the directorate of professional standards after the constable had posted videos on social media which are fiercely critical of the DPS, describing them as corrupt, and calling colleagues “liars”, “wastemen” and “batty holes”.
The DPS is the department responsible for professional standards and misconduct matters within the Metropolitan Police.
The gross misconduct hearing found that in posting his videos, Efeotor had breached the standards of professional behaviour and he was dismissed without notice.
The DPS may have brought an end to Efeotor’s police career, but his YouTube show, GoodBadUgly of Policing, remains available online, including lengthy interviews with senior Met officers, the Black Police Association and with Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, who for a period was borough commander for Croydon, Sutton and Bromley.
GoodBadUgly of Policing has been shortlisted for two social media awards: Multicultural Business and Community Champion and the National Police Chiefs’ Council Awards for its “contribution to increasing diversity in the force”. Oh. Continue reading
Music, dance and drama at South Norwood’s Arcadia Festival
Stanley Halls in South Norwood is staging its Arcadia Festival this Saturday, encouraging Londoners “to build a fairer and healthier future – now”.
In its second year, the Arcadia Festival is funded by the National Lottery as part of a three-year partnership called Climatekind.
Four commissioned artists will present dance, spoken-word poetry, a puppet-filled musical for children and interactive installations, each “exploring different responses to the climate and nature crisis and our intrinsic relationship with the natural world”, according to the venue.
Tickets for the Arcadia Festival are prices up to £20.
“We’re bringing Londoners together to get involved in actions that improve their mental health and local area, and that foster stronger community,” according to Kay Michael, the creative producer of Arcadia. Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Art, Environment, Stanley Halls
Tagged Acradia Festival, South Norwood, Stanley Halls
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Coughlans’ first bakers’ shop in £5m property portfolio sell-off
A lot of dough: how the Coughlans’ ‘former’ bread factory has appeared on an estate agent’s website, with its £2.8million price tag
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
The bakers’ shop that the Coughlan family first opened on London Road in 1937, and the Thornton Heath commercial bakery, offices and warehouse of the once-thriving retail business, have all been put up for sale as part of a property portfolio valued at close to £5million.
Coughlans was the bakers business that wasn’t making enough dough when they opted to go into voluntary liquidation earlier this summer. Janes, the West Country bakery chain, has acquired Coughlans via the liquidators, but they have not taken on all of the business’s 31 branches.
And now 502 London Road – the corner site, close to Mayday Hospital, where the family business began almost 90 years ago – and 21-29 Sandringham Road, Thornton Heath, have also been officially “disclaimed” by the liquidators. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Coughlan's, Janes Pantry
Tagged Addiscombe, Banstead, Coughlans, Coulsdon, Croydon, Epsom, Forestdale, Horsham, Janes Bakery Ltd, Janes Pantry, Old Coulsdon, Purley, Romesh Ranganathan, Sean Coughlan, South Croydon, Thornton Heath, Wallington, Warlingham
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Diver Snode makes a splash with Crystal Palace’s Gallery 56
A new art gallery is to open in the Crystal Palace Triangle, and they are inviting the public to a social evening later this month to mark the occasion.
Gallery 56 calls itself “a contemporary art space located in the heart of Crystal Palace”. Its launch event will be held from 6.30pm to 9.30pm on Thursday, September 24. The event is free, all are welcome and complimentary refreshments will be provided.
Gallery 56 says it will be “an evening of art, conversation, and refreshments”.
They say: “Guests will have the opportunity to explore the gallery’s current exhibition, meet featured artists and connect with neighbours in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.”
The gallery is owned by Chris Snode, the former international diver who now runs his own business dealing in fine art, including his own paintings. Continue reading
Girls and boys from 10+: Trinity School Open Day, October 3
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Nightwatch’s volunteers remember Jamie Keating every night
50 years and counting: Croydon Nightwatch’s work has been recognised multiple times, including here in 2022 with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
CROYDON CHRONICLES: This week, Minster archivist DAVID MORGAN has gone back just 50 years, for a heart-rending story of volunteers and sacrifice that began with a local newspaper reporter and the Parish Church’s curate going out on to the streets of the town centre
“A true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its vulnerable members.” This quote, or variations of it, have been attributed to Thomas Jefferson, Pope John Paul II said something very similar and Gandhi was supposed to have said it, though researchers haven’t found exactly when it was.
When a man froze to death in the cold winter nights at the back end of 1975, some people in Croydon decided enough is enough. An appalling situation in a London borough where people lost their lives because they had nowhere to sleep other than a park bench sparked a movement which has continued for 50 years.
For half a century, Croydon Nightwatch has offered food and drink and been a listening ear to those who have found themselves on the streets with nowhere to go. Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, Croydon Nightwatch, David Morgan, History, Jad Adams
Tagged austerity, Canon Colin Boswell, Cllr Mohammed Islam, Conservative, Covid-19, Croydon Council, Croydon Minster, Croydon Nightwatch, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, David Randall, Jad Adams, Margaret Thatcher, Nightwatch, Nightwatch 50th anniversary, Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, Queens Gardens, Rev Martin Wharton, Right-to-buy, Thatcher government, Tory
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