CROYDON IN CRISIS: Successful start-up hub that has generated £28m of investment in borough in 10 years is being forced out because of conversion of landmark office building into flats. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
‘Heavy hearts’: Richard Seifert’s No1 Croydon building has been the landmark home of Sussex Innovation for 10 years
Sussex Innovation, the business “incubator” run by the University of Sussex and based in offices at No1 Croydon, is to quit the borough next month.
They made the announcement “with heavy hearts”, but have been forced to do so because their tenancy in the Croydon landmark building had become “untenable” after the owners applied to convert the building into 250 flats, as first revealed by Inside Croydon.
Since they opened their doors in 2014, Sussex Innovation reckon that they have brought more than £28million-worth of investment to Croydon and created more than 1,000 new jobs.
It seems significant that Sussex Innovation has not been able to, or not wanted to, find alternative office space elsewhere in Croydon town centre. Meanwhile, Croydon’s impotent Mayor, Jason Perry, and the Croydon Business “Improvement” District is spending its time and money accommodating a 15-foot elf on the top of some other town centre buildings…
Not even the prospect of a padel tennis club opening next door to East Croydon Station could prove a strong enough pull to keep Sussex Innovation in developer-blighted Croydon, it seems.
In their statement, they say, “With heavy hearts we must announce that after 10 years of operating in the borough, our Croydon hub will close permanently in mid-December 2024.
“Unfortunately the landlord for the No1 Croydon building has applied to transform the space into 250 flats, making our lease extension into 2025 untenable.
“We are all extremely sad and disappointed that Sussex Innovation will not continue to have a presence in Croydon. We have built many fruitful relationships with the local community over the past decade – not least with the 150-plus small businesses who have joined and grown with us in that time, raising more than £28million of investment and bringing over 1,000 new jobs to the local economy.
“During our time in Croydon many of our members have scaled up and outgrown our space or acquired significant funding to become local success stories, including FocalAgent, Hozah, Claimer, Cyclr and Natterbox.
“We have also delivered large-scale business programmes including the £600,000 European Regional Development Fund, the £180,000 UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and partnering with the BIG South London programme to offer free consultancy and support to hundreds of entrepreneurs at the start of their business journeys.”
Sussex Innovation added that “regardless of this sad news”, they look forward to “carry on our working relationships with the community in any capacity we can”.
Sussex Innovation’s exit from Croydon comes just days after Inside Croydon revealed that the Fairfield Halls, the council-owned arts venue, was ending the operation licence with the Yamaha Music School, the borough’s largest music school with more than 200 pupils. The school’s operators are actively seeking new premises in which to base their business.
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Pointless Perry should do the decent thing and resign, and allow a by-election to be held. The longer he stays in office, working barely part-time, with his clueless Cabinet taking money for doing nothing, the worse things will get.
as the university business incubator in croydon is being forced to quit due to the building being turned into flats you sat that the conservative mayor jason perry should do the decent thing and resign and allow a by election to be held but what is the alternative do not say labour surely you do not have a short memory of how the croydon labour party bankrupted our local council i could not see any huge investment in the borough with labour in control of the borough i would rather vote conservative
congratulations steven, i see you have taken my earlier advice to another reader and disabled your caps lock key
It’s not me with a short memory or a simplistic view of politics. A quick Google finds not only examples of your past multiple pledges of support for either the Labour or the Conservative parties but also the ability to use capital letters appropriately and the occasional deployment of full stops and commas. Nobody should take you seriously. There we are then
dear arthur towcrate i am getting fed up with your insults in replying to my letters in inside croydon i hope you will not do this to other readers of the inside croydon and perhaps people should not take you seriously regarding your insults also your parents as a child could not of learned you any manners as you do not seem to have any as for politics i expect you have changed your political party support not sticking to one political party at any one time i no longer support labour but i do now support the conservative party and kemi badenoch
The Editor writes: This correspondence is now closed. Mr Weaver has made his position very clear.
I haven’t been to Fairfield in years. Or seen any posters
Do they actually put shows on anymore?
Dave Chappelle next week peaked my interest until I saw it was 160 quid a ticket!
Is DotDigital still in No1?
Their HQ is No1 London Bridge, London Bridge, London, SE1 9BG
£28 million sounds impressive, but does that claim stand up? Most of the companies listed have their headquarters in London or Guildford. Only Cyclr which, “makes you more agile, standardizes integrations and amplifies your eco-system”, has a Croydon address.
Isn’t the point of an incubator to provide warm support until the chicks fly the nest?