Hidden from sight: the specially commissioned mural, just over a year since it was unveiled, now easily missed, overgrown among weeds in Queen’s Gardens
Over the past week, Croydon Mayor Jason Perry and some of his chums from the local business community have been celebrating the ‘success’ (their word, not ours) of the year as the Borough of Culture.
We sent ELSIE GOWERS off to see if she could track down one of the worst examples of ill-conceived, art-less hubris
The Music Heritage Trail was unveiled in June 2023, as a permanent focal point of Croydon’s year as London’s Borough of Culture. It had cost £350,000 paid for from in various grants – including £225,000 from the Mayor of London, the largest single grant paid out for Croydon’s Borough of Culture.
For all that money, there’s not very much to show for it now. In fact, it’s really difficult to find any trail of the trail at all.
A year ago, when the trail and its smartphone app were new, Inside Croydon roadtested them with another teenager, who at first walked past “Croydon Symphony”, the expensively commissioned (it alone cost about £10,000) art mural that is supposed to mark the trail’s starting point. They could only recognise one of the musicians featured in the mural.
But at least they could see the mural. When I was there, it was pretty much completely overgrown by weeds and thistles, another sign of the neglect of Queen’s Gardens, once the ornamental pride of Croydon, a public open space right outside the Town Hall.
Roughly worked: the HMT plaque outside Croydon College looks like it was dumped in a puddle of wet cement
Just as Inside Croydon found 12 months ago, there was nothing anywhere nearby to signpost Croydon Symphony or highlight that this was the start of Croydon’s Heritage Music Trail. Unless such a sign, too, was also covered by the overgrown shrubbery.
It is all just confusing for those who might be looking for the Heritage Music Trail but are not sure what to look for.
I resorted to using the app on my phone. The app alone cost an initial £38,895, yet in the first few months after its launch had received just 458 downloads.
The app was not without faults. The location tracking feature is not precise, which would not have been an issue had there been more information available about the trail and what I was actually looking for. It was little in locating signs of the trail – the brass plaques laid into the pavement, mostly around the town centre.
The app did provide some insightful information on Croydon’s musical history, including key figures and events, linked to each plaque location.
The first plaque is outside the Fairfield Halls, where I learned that many highly influential artists had played there, including Elton John and The Beatles.
Brass polish: the plaque outside Boozepark appears to have been installed with a little more care
But even with the help of the app, the plaques were not easy to find as they do not stand out from the pavement very well and there’s no other signage to indicate where they are.
The plaques can easily be mistaken for drain covers. Does anyone notice them if they are not actively looking for them?
None of the people around me seemed to pay any attention to the plaques as they hurried by, even in the busier areas, like outside Boxpark.
In fact, for the duration of my walk along the Heritage Music Trail, I did not notice anyone else who appeared to be following it, nor did I see anyone stop to read the plaques. It’s as if the Heritage Music Trail, neglected and overgrown in Queen’s Gardens, is bypassed by many elsewhere in the town centre, even people who have an interest in music, simply because they are unaware of its existence.
Read more: The cost of Croydon’s Music Heritage Trail: £750 per download!
Read more: £250 per day fees paid to lead on borough’s Heritage Trail
Read more: It’s hard to find signs of the borough’s musical heritage trail
Read more: GLA has few checks on how £1.3m Culture grant is being spent
- Elsie Gowers is an A-level pupil undertaking work experience at Inside Croydon
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