Having closed four public libraries last year – at Bradmore Green, Sanderstead, Shirley and Broad Green – Croydon’s Conservative Mayor Jason Perry is oh-so-gradually rolling out longer opening hours at what remains of the borough’s library network.
Opening up: Coulsdon is one of two public libraries which has had its opening hours extended
Ashburton Library and Coulsdon Library are now open full time, from 10am to 6pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 9am to 5pm on Saturday.
“These increased hours will give residents more opportunities to visit and enjoy all that Croydon’s libraries have to offer, from clubs and activities to reading, research and study,” the council said in a statement issued last week.
Six of Croydon’s remaining public libraries, however, are only open three or four days a week.
“From April, all the borough’s libraries will be open five to six days a week, and Central Library and Thornton Heath Library will see their hours extended,” the council is promising.
Croydon’s libraries had been hard-hit by the double-whammy of covid lockdown and the council’s financial collapse, with some libraries open only two days a week since 2022. “The changes are part of the council’s work to improve the library service and make it more accessible, including introducing self-service at three locations.”
That greater accessibility obviously does not apply to the residents of Old Coulsdon, Sanderstead, Shirley or Broad Green. There’s a mini-bus one morning a week though…
The council has yet to announce what it intends to do with the four vacated library buildings, two months after it concluded its latest sham consultation.
Most of the borough’s remaining libraries – Norbury (which has self-service available on what the council website describes as “Sarturday”), Thornton Heath, New Addington, Purley and South Norwood – continue to be staffed and open on just three days a week.
Selsdon is open on four days a week.
The latest changes to opening hours are all available on the council website. In summary:
- New Addington Library is now open Monday, Thursday, Friday from 10am-6pm
- Purley Library is now open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10am-6pm
- South Norwood Library is now open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am-6pm
Self-service opening – where library users have to register, services are limited, and instead of paying a librarian, the council hires security guards – is now available at:
- New Addington Library on Tuesdays 10am-6pm
- Norbury Library on Mondays and Wednesdays 9am-7pm and Saturdays 9am-5pm
- Selsdon Library on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am -7pm
Read more: Council puts the ‘sham’ into ‘shambolic’ over 4 closed libraries
Read more: No money, no plan, no honesty: Mayor still closing 4 libraries
Read more: Closing libraries is a sign of ‘failed administration’ – say Tories
Read more: ‘The council is dismantling our borough, service by service’
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Perry again! Why were the libraries closed in the first place?