Borough’s motorists will be forced to pay for Perry’s mistakes

Posted on September 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Visceral Shadows at Bethlem is Hunter’s first show for 10 years

Posted on September 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 →

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Music at The Oval Tavern, Addiscombe, through Oct. Free entry

Posted on September 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

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Canning and Clyde RA charity quiz night, Clyde Hall, Oct 3

Posted on September 16, 2026 by insidecroydon

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Fly-tips? It’s all your fault for reporting it, says Perry’s puppet

Posted on September 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Met sacks black PC over award-nominated YouTube videos

Posted on September 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 →

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Music, dance and drama at South Norwood’s Arcadia Festival

Posted on September 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 →

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Coughlans’ first bakers’ shop in £5m property portfolio sell-off

Posted on September 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

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.

Inside Croydon reported last week that six former branches will not be re-opening under the branding of the Gloucestershire-based bakers.

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 →

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Diver Snode makes a splash with Crystal Palace’s Gallery 56

Posted on September 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 →

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Girls and boys from 10+: Trinity School Open Day, October 3

Posted on September 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

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

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Nightwatch’s volunteers remember Jamie Keating every night

Posted on September 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Saved for the nation, Selsdon Wood conserved by its Friends

Posted on September 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

Haven for wildlife: National Trust-owned Selsdon Wood is classified as a nature reserve, and that’s a status the Friends group works hard to maintain

THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR: This year’s annual residents’ fair was where KEN TOWL found out more about the need for volunteers

Meet and greet: Friends of Selsdon Woods (from left) Jim Dunning, Linda Morris and David Debenham

Jim Dunning is the first of the Friends of Selsdon Wood that I meet at one of their recent events. The long-standing residents’ association is hosting its annual fair, and they have chosen to hold it in a glade by the ancient woodland.

Jim is a big man and he doesn’t look out of shape, which is impressive considering he retired 17 years ago when he was 65.

He keeps active by volunteering as a Friend of Selsdon Wood. He is on their committee and he also turns up on the first Sunday of every month to “do everything we can to preserve the wood”.

This can include dealing with invasive species, maintaining fences and benches, clearing paths to keep the wood accessible to visitors, and, dealing with small tree falls. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Community associations, Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Selsdon Woods, History, Ken Towl, Selsdon and Addington Village, Selsdon Residents' Association, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale, South Croydon, Walks | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Singing and Wellbeing courses, CALAT, must book by Sep 15

Posted on September 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

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Blues at The Oval, Sunday evenings in Sep and Oct, free entry

Posted on September 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

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Firm behind £60m Purley Pool project goes into administration

Posted on September 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

Whoops: Polaska, the holding company for the Purley Pool scheme, started the process of administration last month

In the latest embarrassment for Croydon’s failed Mayor, the offshore-registered parent company behind the £60m redevelopment of the Purley Pool has gone into administration. There are other problems with the long overdue project, too. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Polaska Assets Ltd, the shadowy holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands which has been behind the £60million project to build 220 “later living” flats in the centre of Purley, with a swimming pool and leisure centre tacked on, has gone into administration.

It is just the latest blow to Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, who for the past five years has been promising residents, first, that he would “re-open” the old pool in Purley, and later that he would deliver a new pool at no cost to Croydon’s tax-payers. The first of those Perry promises was broken long ago. Now it is looking very likely that Perry will break the second promise, too. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, Parking, Planning, Polaska, Polaska Assets Ltd, Property, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Purley Pool | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

This play kills fascists: see Woody Sez for light in the darkness

Posted on September 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

Play time: Woody Sez is on at the Underbelly Theatre in Soho only until September 19

The recent death of country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton focused attention on American folk music. Before Dolly, there was Woody.
KEN TOWL took the chance to see an acclaimed new play about Guthrie’s life and work currently on stage in Soho

In Edinburgh for the Fringe last month, I noticed a lot of posters for Woody Sez.

It seemed to be doing well. The posters boasted five-star reviews.

A friend went to see it, said it was great, but I was only up there for a couple of days and it was sold out when I was there. But now Woody Sez has come to London, for the briefest of runs.

While Edinburgh Fringe 2026 may be over, its spirit lives on in Soho, where Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, devised by and starring David Lutken, is playing at the Underbelly Boulevard at 6 Walker’s Court, at the very bottom of Berwick Street.

Woody Guthrie was the American folk singer whose inspiration lives on in songwriters like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen who document the American experience. One of his most famous was famously covered by Dolly Parton, who connected her musical legacy to Guthrie.

Guthrie was born in 1912 and grew up in difficult personal circumstances into the Great Depression. He travelled the States, sometimes walking, sometimes riding freight trains, illegally and dangerously, and he wrote and sang about what he saw. Continue reading →

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Amelia Earhart illustrated talk, Croydon Airport, Wed Sep 30

Posted on September 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

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Walk and Talk Riddlesdown, weekly every Sunday from 9am

Posted on September 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

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MP and union join calls to save CALAT from Perry’s cutbacks

Posted on September 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

Perry’s porkie pies: this frame from an internal council briefing a few weeks ago shows the plans to outsource CALAT – and proves that Mayor Jason Perry this week lied about his cuts

Opposition is mounting to the Croydon Mayor’s scheme to outsource the council’s adult education service, with a public petition describing any plans to undermine CALAT as ‘vandalism’. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Croydon East MP Natasha Irons and the University and College Union have this week joined calls to halt any moves by Tory Mayor Jason Perry to outsource CALAT, Croydon Adult Learning and Training, in an effort to save the cash-strapped council some money.

The union’s general secretary, Jo Grady, has told this website: “Decisions are being made without proper consultation.”

And a public petition has been submitted which states, “Any attempt to cut, decrease or diminish the services is an act of vandalism which will only harm the people of this town.”

This week, council insiders have spoken about what they see as a deliberate attempt by Perry’s council to set up CALAT to fail. The council is currently conducting a “review” of the service, while at the same time forcing CALAT out of its town centre base at the Clocktower.

Many council staff believe that the outcome of the review is in any case a foregone conclusion, with internal council documents provided in a briefing in July stating categorically: “Changes to adult learning delivery model to outsource” in efforts to reduce costs or generate income. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, CALAT, Croydon Council, Croydon East, Education, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry, Natasha Irons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Voluntary groups to open homeless day centre next month

Posted on September 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

New partnership of faith, charity and volunteer groups is working together to provide assistance for the homeless from the CVA Resource Centre and West Croydon Baptist Church, following the Prime Minister’s pledge to eliminate rough sleeping

Ambitious target: £442m is being spent to get the homeless off the streets

The first instruction that Andy Burnham gave on becoming Prime Minister was for there to be a national drive to end rough sleeping, with an ambitious target of providing a route off the streets for those that need it by Christmas. This has been backed by increased funding of £442million.

One step towards that will be a day centre to open next month to assist the homeless in Croydon, backed with funding from government, and to be operated by voluntary and faith groups based in the borough who have formed CHIP – the Croydon Homelessness Intervention Partnership. Continue reading →

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Police seize £500k-worth of cannabis plants in car wash raid

Posted on September 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

Early morning arrests at a  Beddington Lane business uncover a ‘sophisticated’ drugs farm operated by an ‘organised crime group’, according to the Met

‘Sophisticated’: the Met discovered a cannabis farm, similar to this, when they raided a Beddington Lane car wash

Motorists using a car wash on Beddington Lane might have got more than they bargained for, after a police raid uncovered a vast cannabis factory being operated in premises behind the site.

Following a police raid in the early hours of Monday, August 24, crime scene tape remained around the car wash for far longer than might usually be expected for a routine investigation. Continue reading →

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Thameslink to strip 60,000 ‘ironing board’ seats from its trains

Posted on September 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

Ironing boards: Thameslink is removing all the old and uncomfortable seats from its trains, to be replaced with more comfortable, better cushioned seats

Transport correspondent JEREMY CLACKSON on the latest improvements announced by the newly publicly-run rail operator

Croydon commuters should get more comfortable journeys on Thameslink trains, as the now publicly owned operator GTR is to strip 60,000 “ironing board” seats from their carriages and replace them with better-cushioned seats.

The upgrade will begin next year and will affect standard class seat cushions across all 115 trains in the Thameslink fleet. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, East Croydon, Norwood Junction, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Shaping Croydon’s light-touch exhibit offers clues to the future

Posted on September 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

An exhibition, “Shaping Croydon – Architecture and Ambition”, has opened this week at the Museum of Croydon, just in time for this weekend’s celebration of the capital’s architecture with the Open House festival.

The exhibition is attractively bright and light-touch.

It looks at how town planning and architecture has shaped the Croydon skyline and environment since postwar redevelopment was let loose by the 1956 Croydon Corporation Act, which allowed the council to accumulate land for changed use without the burden of public inquiries. A deregulatory Conservative government approach from long before Thatcherism. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Activities, Art, Croydon Council, Environment, History, Museum of Croydon, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why your CRM isn’t giving you the answers you need

Posted on September 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

SPONSORED CONTENT

Most businesses buy a CRM – Customer Relationship Management – expecting clarity.

They want to know which deals will close, where leads are dropping off and what’s actually working. But give it a few months, and the whole thing turns into a glorified contact list with timestamps. The data’s technically there, but it doesn’t tell you anything useful. Continue reading →

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Adderley suspension lifted by Greens after six-month wait

Posted on September 10, 2026 by insidecroydon

Husband of TV personality Nadia Sawalha is finally allowed to sit at Croydon Town Hall as an official Green Party councillor.
WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, reports

Vindicated: Mark Adderley announced the end of his suspension by the Green Party in an Instagram video

Croydon Council, as of this morning, now has eight councillors from the Green Party, after Mark Adderley, who was elected for Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood in May, had his suspension lifted by the Zack Polanski-led party.

Adderley was suspended in April after articles were published which accused him of posting anti-semitic comments on social media.

This morning, Adderley announced his re-acceptance into the Green Party fold with a social media video which was critical of how his case had been mishandled. According to Adderley, the decision was conveyed from Green Party HQ without any apology for the near six-month delay. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Mark Adderley, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments