CROYDON IN CRISIS: With the 60-year-old shopping mall increasingly blocked off for what remains of its visitors, it cannot be long before the last remaining tenants of the Whitgift Centre give up and leave
The long and tortured process which has seen business after business retreat from Croydon town centre has taken another slow turn, as the operators of the Whitgift Centre board up more access points and remove staircases from the 60-year-old shopping mall.
Going…: temporary works barriers have been used to stop the Whitgift’s last remaining shoppers from using the stairs
Superdry recently joined the exodus from what was once the pride of Croydon town centre, following Sainsbury’s, Beaverbrooks jewellers (the branch was “no longer commercialy viable”), The Entertainer (where the manager blamed the centre’s management – Westfield), The Body Shop, Monsoon, Accessorize (another retailer gone out of business) and Camden Coffee House.
Now, it seems, the centre’s management, Westfield (in the guise of URW, Paris-based Unibail Rodamco Westfield), wants to make it even more difficult for customers to find any the traders who remain in the centre.
In May last year, they closed what is still known as the Allders car park (the Allders store closed in 2013), blocking it off on Dingwall Avenue and at the Whitgift Centre entrance. One business owner told Inside Croydon: “I am actually in tears.”
Tenants of the Whitgift Centre say that they were given no notice of the car park closure.
Going…: steel sheets have been used to close off another shopping mall entrance
Then, in December, with the centre’s management knowledge and agreement, Croydon Council shut off the Wellesley Road pedestrian underpass. Again, this was done without notifying Whitgift Centre tenants. It reduced access to the mall in the crucial trading weeks before Christmas.
Only in July did the council begin work on a replacement, surface-level crossing on Wellesley Road, something Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, had been promising to do for almost three years. This crossing is being paid for out of fines levied by the council against Westfield for their failure to deliver on previous planning promises. The works are supposed to be finished by December (2025, it is assumed). We’ll see.
Of the seven “kiosks” promised by Westfield as “meanwhile use” in the long-closed Allders building (closed in 2019 at the request of… Westfield), there’s still no sign of them opening any time soon. They were supposed to “revitalise the frontage of Croydon’s historic department store”, and were expected to be open for trading months ago. Another Westfield broken promise…
But then, Croydon’s businesses and residents have had almost 14 years to get used to Westfield’s big promises and zero delivery – usually with the acquiescence of the borough’s third-rate politicians, red and blue, and fourth-rate borough planners and administrators.
Going…: inside the centre, works have been undertaken to block off another access point
The Whitgift Centre was promised redevelopment by Westfield and the landowners, the Whitgift Foundation, in 2012. The £1.4billion scheme of retail, leisure, offices and residential was all meant to be completed by 2017.
But despite two schemes being granted planning permission, a public inquiry and a massive Compulsory Purchase of property in the area, Westfield have never started work on the project.
Indeed, as recently as 2023, directors of Unibail Rodamco Westfield, the Paris-based conglomerate, were predicting that it could be 2038 before any Croydon redevelopment work is completed.
Gone!: the skeletal remains of a staircase was all that remained this week. Even that is doomed to disappear soon
And now, as captured in photographs this week by Inside Croydon reader Bob Johnston, works have begun in the sad old Whitgift Centre to close-up more access routes and remove staircases, making it even more difficult for anyone to reach any of the handful of traders still operating in the mall.
“This entrance is now permanently closed”, says a new sign. The “permanently” bit has a ring of finality about it.
“Please use the main entrance on Wellesley Road (just a short walk to your left) to access the Whitgift. Thank you for your cooperation.” Like people have any alternative?
As one of the last remaining traders still trying to run a business from the Whitgift Centre said: “It’s like they’re gutting a fish, but from the inside out first.
“How long will it be before the last of us give up and close up? Why should we be paying rent at all if we can’t any longer operate as a business?”
Read more: Hammer blow for Whitgift Centre with new delay to masterplan
Read more: Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years
Read more:‘Too little, too late’: Residents underwhelmed by Mayor’s stunt
Read more: How ‘Lost’ soon became an apt metaphor for Perry’s mayoralty
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I have nothing but contempt for how Westfield/URW have treated Croydon over the past 15 years.
To be fair, it’s pretty obvious they have nothing but contempt for us.
We are all gutted about the downfall of croydon and the council’s maze of mistakes.
“But then, Croydon’s businesses and residents have had almost 14 years to get used to Westfield’s big promises and zero delivery – usually with the acquiescence of the borough’s third-rate politicians, red and blue, and fourth-rate borough planners and administrators.”
From Inside Croydon, we already know about the third-rate politicians at Croydon Council, but the “fourth-rate borough planners and administrators” are new. Is fourth-rate as bad as anyone gets at the council? And is anyone at Croydon Council rated as highly as first or second-rate ?!
Thank God for the Costa Del Croydon to the rescue!!!!
That’s paid for out of the Westfield “fine”, too.
Never forget that these were the people who banned Croydon Male Voice Choir from performing its regular Christmas gigs for local charities at the centre. That would actually have helped brighten the place up. The Croydon choir will be performing in Sutton next Christmas (oh, the irony!).
How has been allowed to get to this state is unbelievable!! Croydon was the place to shop, live, go for night life. It was the place to be! I’m actually embarrassed to admit I live in Croydon. Its become a laughing stock. Stabbings. No shops. Down and outs on every corner. When will it change for the better?
When politicians want to be for the ppl and not out for themselves. So in a nutshell-never. Get used to it being run down. Croydon is now no different then many town centers and cities across this once great land.
I lived in Croydon back in the early 80’s when I left it was a thriving place. Can’t believe how bad it has got the last time I visited it. Most the places I knew were long gone. Pretty much the only good I found there was the train out of there. Doubt if I’ll ever go back to it now. I pity for the decent ppl who still have to live around there.
Croydon’s demise is the product of the virtues of Socialist ineptitude.
When I was growing up in the 70’s Croydon was was considered to be a well to do London/Surrey Borough. But sadly, like other Boroughs they get dragged down to third world levels. Also, blame has to be placed on the people of Croydon who elected these socialist imbeciles to destroy Croydon from within.
2025 is the 60th anniversary of the creation of the London Borough of Croydon. In that time, the borough has been under the control of the Conservatives for 40 years, Labour for just 20.
In government since 1965, we’ve had 36 years of Conservatives and 24 of Labour (though some of them were effectively Tory in all but name, e.g. Blair and the current shower).
Throughout its existence, the Whitgift Centre has never been run as a social enterprise nor has it been owned by socialists.
“Socialist ineptitude”? Bollocks. Just capitalism in all its glory, treating people and property as disposable assets.
You can guess where to stick your racist “third world” fog horn
It’s easy to keep blaming online shopping and Covid, but if the Whitgift Centre was redeveloped, it could be so much better for everyone. With the right mix of shops, office spaces, and a market, it could truly become the hub of Croydon.
Imagine a central point for shopping, wellbeing, and advice all under one roof. We could have a Citizen’s Advice Bureau, a police and GP hub, and plenty of food outlets. You could even include Amazon locker hubs, which would attract more people to the centre.
A good mix of clothing, furniture, and food stores, along with these vital advice centres, would make it a great place for all of Croydon’s residents and visitors.
It’s a shame that the centre has been left to decline. Short-sighted management, a poorly run council, and continuous finger-pointing at Covid and online retailers have prevented the area from reaching its full potential, we need something better and I as is it too late for Croydon.
The mayor is wasting money on a walkway to a precinct with little to virtually nothing warranting people to visit. Its about time we have action and less talk to improve, revive and deliver for the area and stop all the ASB mutual culture gangs that destroy and deliver a better Croydon. Lest set up the ABC plan to deliver A Better Croydon, A Better Croydon needs ABC – A Better Council a Better Croydon Needs A Better Control on services, Croydon has good transport links but nothing to come to, start improving the precinct fast, open smart hubs of advice centres, like Citizen Advice, Police hub and lots more will continue, all talk no action and years of the same.
Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Croydon!
The Whitgift Centre’s a place for avoidin’
A town to get destroyed in
Swarm over, Death!
Croydon Council is failing its residents in every way possible, failing businesses and creating a ghost town out of a once busy shopping centre is no surprise. Crime rates in Croydon are sky high thou, drunks and homeless on every corner. Croydon council has done one thing well, rebuilt their buildings using the public funds yet there is no effort to resolve social housing issue or the poverty in Croydon!
Croydon Council should be congratulated for finally making a start on creating the new above ground crossing between Lansdowne Road and the Whitgift Centre. I am sure that this will encourage footfall in the Whitgift Centre but it is a shame that these works were not carried out 15 years ago when the scheme was first proposed.
I would love to know how Croydon Council has spent the community infrastructure levies which it has received in that intervening period – and perhaps that is a separate story which Inside Croydon can investigate. If it had done so, there might not be quite as many empty units as there currently are in the Whitgift Centre.
I would also like to know whether Croydon Council has taken any steps to consider designating the Whitgift Centre a town centre under The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 which gives local authorities in England power to conduct compulsory rental auctions of vacant properties in designated high streets or town centres as long as certain criteria are met (including that the property has been vacant for the whole of the last year or at least 366 days during the previous two years).
I am sure that this legislation could make a real difference to Croydon. It would certainly result in a fall in the level of commercial rents in the town centre which might then encourage new retail investment in Croydon. This step might be very unpopular with URW but it would show them that Croydon Council is not prepared to allow URW to continue to blight the town centre.
I hope that this is something picked up in the election campaigns for Mayor next year. Mayor Perry might even decide to show that he is a man of action by using the legislation which came into force in December 2024 whilst he remains Mayor.
Naturally everybody wants to blame someone else for the Whitgift’s demise – but the fact is we are all to blame. We stopped shopping there, preferring the convenience of going online. We can all rage about URW and the council, but I fear nothing, nothing could have prevented the cenbtre’s demise.
People stopped shopping there, Chris, when there were ever fewer shops to shop in.
The decline has worsened sharply since Westfield took on management of the place, hiking car parking charges.