Perry finally forced to admit his scheme for CALAT closure

Posted on September 6, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s failed Mayor, embarrassed by having his secret plans to axe the council’s adult education programme exposed, has issued a belated explanation to councillors. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

After months of secrecy and suspicion, Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, has finally issued a statement to the borough’s elected councillors about thefate of CALAT, Croydon’s long-standing and widely admired adult education service.

Perry was forced into offering some kind of explanation by this website’s exclusive report earlier this week, which revealed the Mayor’s intention to outsource adult education – that is, cut costs – while forcing CALAT out of its home base in the Croydon Clocktower.

Inside Croydon has obtained a copy of piss-poor Perry’s email to councillors sent on Thursday. It begins with the heading: “Looking to the future of adult learning in Croydon”. It appeared as if it had been drafted by AI. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, CALAT, Croydon Council, Education, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

20th anniversary Apple Day, Addiscombe Railway Park, Sep 12

Posted on September 6, 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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Posted in Activities, Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Advertisement, Advertisement features, Community associations, Croydon parks, Friends of Addiscombe Railway Park, Gardening | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Quiz Night: Save The Kenley fundraiser, Smokin’ Grill, Sep 18

Posted on September 6, 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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Posted in Activities, Advertisement, Advertisement features, Community associations, KENDRA, Kenley, Pubs, Purley, Restaurants | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Up to £1,000 a ticket – make sure you buy an Archers tea towel

Posted on September 5, 2026 by insidecroydon

Staged show: (from left) cast Ben Norris, Tim Bentinck, Charlotte Martin and Annabelle Dowler  went through their Archers’ schtick at Wimbledon this week

A stage homage to the world’s longest-running soap opera was a nostalgia trip for hundreds of people this week, and another reminder of where Croydon is missing out. By STEVEN DOWNES, who survived the experience without buying any ‘merch’

Week’s wages: the Archers tea towl

There are families, apparently, which define as “Tum-ti-tum, ti-tum-ti CLICK” families.

These are families so averse to The Archers that they turn off their radiogram the moment that Barwick Green crackles out over the airwaves.

There were at least two members from such families on stage for The Archers Live at 75! in Wimbledon this week. And they are both long-standing cast members of the long-running radio show. Both appear to have been won over to a show that they could not stand, after decades of steady work from the producers of the world’s longest lasting soap opera.

The Archers Live at 75 is, if the Wimbledon show is anything to judge by, a massive love-in of devotees to the (now) six-times-a-week 15-minute blast of rural melodrama (plus the omnibus on Sundays, of course). The New Wimbledon Theatre was packed with adoring fans, the latest sell-out show in a six-month national tour, where audiences get to see some of their faves in the flesh. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Art, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Purley Downs Road to be closed for eight weeks for gas works

Posted on September 5, 2026 by insidecroydon

A stretch of Purley Downs Road, which runs between South Croydon up the hill to Sanderstead, is to be closed for eight weeks for “essential” gas supply works, starting from this Monday, September 7.

The road will be closed from the mini roundabout at the junction of Riddlesdown Road, up to the railway bridge by Beech Avenue.

The closures are expected to last until Friday October 16. Continue reading →

Posted in Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, South Croydon, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ice cream sale for World Central Kitchen, Coulsdon, Sep 6

Posted on September 5, 2026 by insidecroydon

C O M M U N I T Y
ICE CREAM STALL

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South Croydon Model Railway Show, St Paul’s Church, Sep 12

Posted on September 5, 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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Home-Start Croydon volunteering coffee morning, Sep 8

Posted on September 5, 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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Coulsdon’s prayers on Krishna’s birthday for missing pilgrims

Posted on September 4, 2026 by insidecroydon

Another three days have passed, and there has still been no news of the 16 members of a tour group from the Coulsdon Mandir who were lost in last week’s catastrophic flooding while on pilgrimage in the Himalayas.

Still no news: some of the pilgrims from the Coulsdon temple, before last week’s horrendous flash flood

It is now being reported that as well as the pilgrims from the Coulsdon temple, four tour guides also remain missing.

Some news is emerging from Nepal, which was devastated by the glacier collapse flood. It is being reported today that two workers have been rescued from deep in tunnels at a hydro-power plant.

News from Tibet, however, where the Coulsdon group led by priest Nabhi Nandan Das was believed to have reached on their pilgrimage to the sacred Mount Kailash, has been more difficult to obtain. Tibet is under control of China. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Mandir | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

PM Burnham says he’ll get Selhurst rail project ‘back on track’

Posted on September 4, 2026 by insidecroydon

A massive engineering scheme to untangle the tracks that cause the ‘Selhurst bottleneck’ was dumped by the Tory government. Croydon East’s MP has got it back on Westminster’s agenda.
By our transport correspondent, JEREMY CLACKSON

First up: Croydon, and the Selhurst bottleneck, were raised at Andy Burnham’s first PMQs by MP Natasha Irons

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told the House of Commons that he wants to look at unblocking the railway’s “Selhurst bottleneck” and get a long-standing engineering proposal “back on track”, recognising the importance of transport connectivity and public investment to stimulate growth.

Known formally as CARS – the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme – the proposals from the rail companies were first raised more than eight years ago, but dumped by the previous Tory government. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme, Croydon East, East Croydon, Natasha Irons, Selhurst, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Former pupil’s business gives BRIT School a £40,000 facelift

Posted on September 4, 2026 by insidecroydon

Spectrum on site: the former pupil’s firm power-washed graffiti and undertook other repair works – all for no fee

Pupils at the world-famous BRIT School in Selhurst returned for the start of their new academic year this week to find the place having undergone a bit of a facelift.

A former pupil at the school, Lucian Ivan, had returned over the summer holidays to carry out repair, cleaning and maintenance services for the school through his business, Spectrum Specialist Support. The work carried out is reckoned to be valued at £40,000. But Ivan did it all for nothing, giving back to the school that he loves.

Doing the right thing: former BRIT pupil Lucian Ivan

“It’s easy to feel frustrated when wider systems leave gaps in something as fundamental as education,” Ivan said.

“But we still have a choice about how we respond. It’s not just about waiting for big top-down changes. When we see gaps, we still have the right to take things into our own hands when something is not right.

“I believe that if someone or something has helped you get to where you are, it is your duty and responsibility to give back when you are able to do so.

“The BRIT School helped me, and now I can involve my company and use what we do every day to help the school.

“This summer, that is exactly what Spectrum has done.” Continue reading →

Posted in BRIT School, Business, Education, Selhurst | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Got a fryer going cheap? Croydon’s best chippie on the brink

Posted on September 3, 2026 by insidecroydon

While Ponte Nuovo, one of Croydon’s top-end Italian restaurants, undergoes an expensive refurb, Castellas Fish and Chips, a fixture on Selsdon Road for 60 years, urgently needs replacement parts

Croydon’s so-called “Restaurant Quarter” could be on the brink of suffering its worst blow yet, with the closure of Castellas Fish and Chips on Selsdon Road.

Battered: the South Croydon chippie has been closed for almost a week

Castellas is rated 6* (out of five) and Croydon’s best chippie by Inside Croydon’s intrepid undercover reporter for its excellently cooked cod, brilliant batter and huge portions of on-the-premises prepared chips.

But this fixture of the South Croydon community since 1963 has been temporarily closed for almost a week, as they urgently seek replacement parts for their vintage fryer. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Fairfield, Restaurants, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

That’s ACE! Gaskell the latest to join council’s growing 200 club

Posted on September 3, 2026 by insidecroydon

Cash-strapped Croydon now has at least three execs, two of them interims, being paid at rates of £200,000 per year or more. But someone in Mayor Jason Perry’s council is trying to keep the latest appointment a secret.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Croydon has appointed a new assistant chief executive, the third one in less than a year, as the churn of top officials at Fisher’s Folly continues unabated, despite dire warnings for Jason Perry’s council from government-appointed Commissioners.

Stephen Gaskell started as the interim assistant chief exec in July, an appointment strangely unmentioned by the propaganda bunker in the council HQ. But our style-over-substance senior civic servants have managed to invent a councilspeak acronym for Gaskell that they use in internal publications: ACE. Geddit?

Unannounced: Stephen Gaskell is ACE, apparently

Gaskell has been recruited because his immediate predecessor, the well-regarded Jenny Rowlands, took barely eight weeks to see the chaos at Croydon Council before she scarpered off to a less-badly run organisation. Perry and his Tory muppets in the council cabinet must be keeping everything crossed that Gaskell manages to stick it out at Croydon for a little longer, at least.

Rowlands was appointed following the abrupt exit in October 2025 of Katherine Kerswell after five years as council CEO and three Section 114 notices. Kerswell quit Croydon just weeks after the government’s Commissioners arrived to oversee the management of the council. Kerswell was helped on her way by a £50,000 pay-off authorised by Mayor Perry.

When Kerswell’s assistant chief exec, Elaine Jackson, stepped up and into the breach, that created the vacancy for an assistant CEO. Continue reading →

Posted in Commissioners, Conrad Hall, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Jenny Rowlands, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Mike Jackson, Section 114 notice, Stephen Gaskell | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Night of Dance on the streets of Addiscombe next Tuesday

Posted on September 3, 2026 by insidecroydon

Night of dance: Morris groups from across south London, Surrey and Kent will be gathering in Addiscombe next week

The glorious local tradition, the annual Croydon Night of Dance, bobs and jingles across the streets of Addiscombe next Tuesday, September 8.

The celebration of Morris dance, maids and men, will be gathering with their bells and instruments outside The Oval Tavern from 7pm, where food and drink will be available for sale and children welcomed, even inside the pub, until 9pm. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Addiscombe West, Dance, Pubs | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Croydon Mencap walk with care dogs, Lloyd Park, Sep 9

Posted on September 3, 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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After closing libraries, now Philistine Perry takes axe to CALAT

Posted on September 2, 2026 by insidecroydon

Council briefing document says Mayor wants to outsource borough’s widely admired adult education service as his latest cost-cutting wheeze.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

CALAT, the council-run Croydon Adult Learning and Training organisation, has effectively been evicted from its home in the council-owned Clocktower, amid growing fears that its education services are the next for the chop by the borough’s Mayor, Jason “Philistine” Perry.

The Town Hall Labour opposition has called for an urgent meeting with council bosses, saying that CALAT’s 500-or-so staff, their jobs at risk, are “angry” at the way the situation has been mismanaged. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Brigitte Graham, Business, CALAT, Croydon Council, Education, Greenwich Leisure, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Giant PubCo seeking new management for Slug & Lettuce site

Posted on September 2, 2026 by insidecroydon

The steady hollowing out of what was once Croydon’s thriving town centre will take another step on September 12 when the Slug and Lettuce on Park Street brings down the shutters after 13 years.

Up for offer: Stonegate Group is inviting applications to take on the town centre pub

The current tenants running the venue, which pitched itself somewhere between a cocktail bar and post-work drinks pub, described the closure as “gutting news”. The venue has not had a refurb for nearly a decade, and like much of its neighbourhood, the Slug was beginning to look a little sad and neglected.

Being located immediately opposite what has been a demolition site since 2019 – the Nestlé Tower and St George’s Walk, where building work ground to a halt six years ago – and the seemingly permanent hoardings across the road will have nothing to provide an attractive prospect for potential customers.

Combine that with the general pressures on the pub trade, and the bar’s management, tenants of the vast Stonegate Group pub business, last month took the decision to close,  noting that, “the site is no longer commercially viable”. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Fairfield, Nestle Tower, Property, Pubs, St George's Walk | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Volunteers wanted to help clean-up the Minster churchyard

Posted on September 2, 2026 by insidecroydon

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20th anniversary Apple Day, Addiscombe Railway Park, Sep 12

Posted on September 2, 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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Posted in Activities, Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Advertisement, Advertisement features, Community associations, Croydon parks, Friends of Addiscombe Railway Park, Gardening | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The 28-day scramble: inside a typical auction purchase

Posted on September 2, 2026 by insidecroydon

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Buying property at auction offers speed and certainty, but the clock starts ticking the moment the hammer falls. Winning a lot requires paying an immediate 10% deposit, with the remaining 90% balance due strictly within 28 days.

Let’s examine how experienced buyers manage each step of this tight timeline to secure their acquisitions without costly penalties.

Catalogue release and legal pack preparation

Catalogues drop roughly three to four weeks before auction day. Serious investors download legal packs immediately to inspect title deeds, lease details and local authority searches. This early window is the only time buyers have to verify planning permissions or spot unusual covenants attached to the title. Continue reading →

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Coulsdon temple’s 16 pilgrims all missing after floods in Tibet

Posted on September 1, 2026 by insidecroydon

Emergency search: the devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet have claimed hundreds of lives, with thousands still missing – including a pilgrimage group fro Coulsdon

All 16 members of a Coulsdon Hindu temple pilgrimage are feared to be among the thousands who are missing, one week after floods in the mountains of the Tibet and Nepal border region devastated whole communities and buried entire villages under tons of mud.

The group from the Coulsdon Mandir included pilgrims aged between 18 and 65.

It was only yesterday that rescue workers first managed to reach some of the more remote Himalayan villages in Nepal, as efforts to locate victims have been hampered by continuing bad weather, while many roads have been washed away by the flood surge. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Mandir | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

He should be so lucky, lucky, lucky: Reed’s £4,500 of freebies

Posted on September 1, 2026 by insidecroydon

INSIDE CROYDON INVESTIGATES:
Our first article about the borough’s MPs’ declarations has already prompted complaints to the parliamentary commissioner for standards about Chris Philp.
Now we scour the official declarations of another former Cabinet minister with interesting financial backers, the Labour MP for Streatham and Croydon North

When it comes to second jobs, apart from a few small payments earned through completing surveys for opinion polling companies, Steve Reed, the Labour MP for Croydon North since 2012, has declared no other employment outside Westminster.

Hacked off: how might MP Steve Reed react to his recently changed circumstances

All of those efforts, over many years, to undermine Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader and to shape “Project Starmer” must have kept Reed very busy.

His loyalty to PM Starmer took pride of place on his “CV”, which he published when resigning from the Cabinet before he could be sacked by Andy Burnham.

Today’s announcement that Starmer is to resign as an MP, to spend more time with his family and (lucrative) foreign affairs, might not be the final page in the Labour Together saga.

But Reed’s loss of front bench status since his stooge was ousted from No10 has certainly put a near-£70,000 per year dent in his parliamentary income. His loss of influence might also reduce the number of invitations he receives to big football matches and concerts offered by private interest groups. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Inside Croydon Investigates, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sign-up week at colleges for courses that can change your life

Posted on September 1, 2026 by insidecroydon

There’s still time to sign up for one of the post-GCSE courses starting this autumn term at Croydon College and Coulsdon Sixth Form College.

Open enrolment: there are sign-up sessions all week in Croydon and Coulsdon

Open Enrolment sessions give Croydon’s young people the chance to visit the colleges, at the town centre campus or in Coulsdon, explore their options and secure a place.

“Whether results were different from expected, plans have changed or students simply have not yet decided what they want to do, there is no need to panic,” said a spokesperson for the colleges. “Teams are available at both colleges to talk through the options and help students find a course that suits their results, interests and ambitions.”

No appointment or application is required for Open Enrolment: potential applicants can simply come along to one of the sessions at Croydon College or Coulsdon Sixth Form College. Continue reading →

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Quiz Night: Save The Kenley fundraiser, Smokin’ Grill, Sep 18

Posted on September 1, 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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Tasty way to enjoy a cool temper on Purley’s Old Lodge Lane

Posted on August 31, 2026 by insidecroydon

Treat time: the chocolate bar-making class at Cocoa Jones delivered to our own tastes

Roving reporter KEN TOWL visited Croydon’s own chocolatiers and got a flavour of the hand-made chocolate business

“Your next assignment,” said the Editor, “is to visit Cocoa Jones in Purley and make a bar of chocolate. That’s what they do there.”

The clue, as usual, is in the name: “cocoa”, the plant from which the popular drink and confection are derived, and “jones” the 60s jazz slang word for addiction. Continue reading →

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