Into August, and the news stories just kept coming, including the latest moves by Westfield to make the Whitgift Centre ever more inaccessible, and the public library where council contractors chucked thousands of books on to the street.
There was also an exclusive interview with Jeremy Corbyn, who revealed how the Labour Party had recommended he contact Samaritans.
But the story of the year, surely, was…
Farage party picked a dead woman to run for Croydon Mayor
This, according to Inside Croydon’s Editor Steven Downes, was the story of the year.
Reform’s pick: Sharon Carby died in 2024. Reform still picked her as their Croydon mayoral candidate in 2025
Of course, those running Reform Ltd in Croydon tried to deny it. Trouble was, it was their own members – plural – who brought this embarrassing clusterfuck to our attention.
Sharon Carby, aged 70, from Bradford, died in 2024. Apparently, she had been a loyal and dedicated foot-soldier for the cause of UKIP, Brexit and grifter-in-chief, Nigel Farage, the well-known antisemite.
Carby’s loyalty was rewarded by being nominated by Reform Ltd HQ to be the party’s candidate for election as Croydon Mayor in 2026. No matter that Carby was not qualified (by residency, or work place) to be such a candidate. Or that she had died months before the proposal was made at a meeting of the Croydon Reform party held in a Purley ‘Spoons in early 2025.
Cue red faces and shuffling of feet all round. Reform Croydon are now on to their third local party chairman (they are always chairmen) since the summer.
And they still don’t have a mayoral candidate. Not a live one, at any rate.
There was a rumour that Croydon Reform would conduct a selection meeting, by seance.
They are still seeking election candidates. The only qualification is that those applying should have a pulse.
‘Permanently closed’: Whitgift Centre works mark end of days
The sign says it all.
It’s almost as if Westfield, who manage the Whitgift Centre, don’t want shoppers to visit the businesses run by their tenants.
The operators of the Whitgift Centre boarded up more access points and removed more staircases from the 60-year-old shopping mall during the summer. Escalators inside are blocked off. The lifts often don’t work.
Temporary works barriers have been used to stop the Whitgift’s last remaining cutomers from using the stairs.
In May 2024, 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.”
This summer, Superdry 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.
Also in August…
Perry’s pile: the books dumped outside Broad Green Library by council contractors
Perry’s Piles I: Mayor deceives over destruction of library book stock
Perry’s Piles II: Council refuses to act on 30 dumped mattresses
And some good news…
Porter brewed at Croydon brewery wins Beer of the Year award
NUMBER CRUNCHING: Summer months are supposed to be slow ones for hard news.
Yet in June, July and August 2025, Inside Croydon’s reports attracted almost 1.2million page views.
PICK OF THE PODCASTS: Columnist Andrew Fisher pulled some strings to get an exclusive interview with his former boss, Jeremy Corbyn, to ask about the formation of a new party of the left, and his experiences in leaving the Labour Party.
It was in this podcast that Corbyn revealed that, when he was finally expelled from the Labour Party, he received a note offering a phone number for the Samaritans…
Our podcasts are premium content for subscribers to Inside Croydon, so you will need to pay to listen on our Spotify page or sign up as a patron on Patreon.
Local journalism is in steep decline, and other news websites like Inside Croydon are under threat of closure. Yet there has never been a greater need for citizen journalism. Who funds us? No one…except you.
- If you missed our review of January 2025’s news, take a look at this: That was the year that was: Inside Croydon’s pick of 2025
- For February’s top news stories, have a look at this: Purley Pool, porkie pies and a busted budget
- For the highlights, and council lowlights, from March, click here: Council’s closed doors, Selhurst security, Bridge to Nowhere
- Check out what was making the news Inside Croydon in April by clicking here
- While in May 2025, we were mostly watching football: After 120 years, the Eagles live the dream at Wembley cup final
- June 2025 was When council boss blocked staff from reading Inside Croydon
- In July, Inside Croydon exposed how Croydon’s cash-strapped council was paying consultant £726 PER HOUR
- In September 2025, we were the first to report the latest housing scandal to hit Croydon, and the council
- And in October, we broke the news that Katherine Kerswell had quit as council CEO, and was to received a £50,000 pay-off
- In November and December, we even had cabinet minister Steve Reed retweeting links to Inside Croydon news reports, which included coverage of the spaghetti restaurant named the best in the country
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