‘Shuttering the doors deprives Croydon… of a piece of its community’s heart’ says the businesswoman who runs Bishops, after being handed an ‘arbitrary and unjust’ notice to close by the Scrooges of Westfield
The management of the Whitgift Centre waited until Wednesday – New Year’s Eve – before issuing a notice to quit to another of the mall’s longest-lasting traders: Bishops Wine Bar.
Signs of the times: management of the Whitgift Centre has been blocking access to Bishops Wine Bar over the last two years. Now they want them out
Bishops, which has traded in central Croydon since 1982, has been told that they must close their business by the end of June this year, a decision the wine bar manager describes as “arbitrary and unjust”.
The quit notice came with no explanation.
Slotted in an out-of-the-way concrete alley off Wellesley Road, Bishops Wine Bar has been enduring an existential battle for a couple of years, especially so since the Whitgift Centre management closed the Allders multi-storey car park, cutting off Bishops from anyone in the shopping mall who might fancy a swift Malbec before lugging their shopping home.
Not that there are many people who bother shopping in the Whitgift Centre these days, as shop after shop has pulled down their shutters. For every single “kiosk” Westfield opened in the shell of the old Allders building, nearly five other stores had quit the Whitgift Centre in 2025.
The closure of the car park (and the walkways through it) came in 2024, soon after Westfield took over the management of the shopping centre. By then, it had already been 12 years since Westfield had promised to redevelop the mall as part of a £1billion town centre regeneration scheme.
Apparently not satisfied with inflicting more than a decade of development blight on residents and traders in central Croydon, Westfield – now part of the multi-billion Paris-based multinational URW – appear intent on driving out all remaining businesses from the increasingly desolate and deserted shopping centre.
And this week, we reported how a group of charity singers opted to raise money for good causes outside Croydon, after they were blocked from carol singing in the Whitgift Centre by the “Westfield Scrooges”. The Croydon Male Voice Choir had given carol concerts at the centre for more than 10 years, raising tens of thousands for good causes. But not in 2024 or 2025.
Hard to find: the Whitgift Centre management have made it difficult to get to Bishops Wine Bar
After receiving the notice to quit, Ferrara at Bishops has been unable to get any response to her many questions from the Whitgift Centre management. Despite finding time to issue the notice, their offices are closed until January 5: “So at least they’re having a nice time,” says Fererra.
She has started an online petition, which had already drawn 350 signatures in its first day.
Bishops, she says, is “not just a wine bar for the locals, it’s a sanctuary where friendships have been nurtured and unforgettable memories have been made”.
On her petition, aimed at the Whitgift management as well as one of Westfield’s biggest supporters, Mayor Jason Perry at Croydon Council, Ferrara explains: “On New Year’s Eve 2025… we received a stark letter from our landlord, the Whitgift Centre. They invoked a break clause which requires us to close in six months from January 1, 2026, without providing a reason.”
After overcoming the struggles of the covid lockdown and the economic pressures facing much of the hospitality industry, Bishops Wine Bar is, Ferrara says, “a beloved local haunt”.
“The thought of shuttering the doors deprives Croydon not just of a business, but of a piece of its community’s heart,” she says.
“The Whitgift Centre’s decision seems arbitrary and unjust, especially given that no explanation has been offered. The closure would impact not only the staff who rely on their jobs for their livelihoods but also the patrons who find solace and camaraderie within its walls. Bishops Wine Bar is a vital part of the community fabric, offering cultural events and supporting local artists.
“We believe that with enough support, we can persuade the Whitgift Centre to reconsider this decision. We propose collaborating with the centre to find a mutually beneficial arrangement, such as renegotiating lease terms or exploring partnership opportunities that would ensure Bishops continues to serve the community.
“We call upon the management of the Whitgift Centre to engage in a dialogue with us and the Croydon Council to explore these options. Preserving long-standing establishments like Bishops Wine Bar is crucial in maintaining the character and history of our town…
“Let us unite and convey to the Whitgift Centre how essential Bishops Wine Bar is to us all.”
Read more: The MP hidden away on third floor of a deserted shopping mall
Read more: Town centre traders struggle on to serve up the good times
Read more: Another Whitgift store to close – and manager blames Westfield
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Are Westfield waiting until they have driven every shop and business out of the Whitgift Centre before they can send in the demolition contractors and level/clear the site? It doesn’t matter that any of their previous planning approvals have all now lapsed because (gullible) Croydon Council have always granted them permission for anything they have falsely proposed before. The only thing worse than a huge derelict site in the centre of Croydon (that we now have) may be the replacement that Westfield eventually get built, which will feature thousands of unaffordable and unneeded flats, plus a handful of typical businesses, previously found in Croydon and also available everywhere else, so a few shops, including a casino and a few betting shops (for the gambling addicts), a few charity shops, a chicken shop, and some more takeaways (which will change hands almost monthly), and a seedy, town-centre pub (for the alcoholics).
Although Bishops don’t have to close until 30th June 2026, Westfield will submit plans for their next plan in the next couple of months, so their lapdog, failed Croydon Mayor Piss-Poor Perry can give them planning approval before the elections, as the next mayor can hardly be such a wet blanket ?!
There will be no planning application from Westfield until *after* May’s elections, Jim, as we reported last year
What is abhorrent about this is how nobody either directly involved in these evictions or with some semblance of responsibility for those affected bats an eyelid or lends a helping hand.
URW, the Whitgift Foundation, tenant Sarah “Small Business Strategy” Jones MP, Mayor Jason “I run a successful family business in Croydon” Perry, Croydon BID and Croydon council are silent. That’s in stark contrast to the publicity they seek and give whenever some new arrivals are found for the Allders building.
The council boasts a Business Support Programme, “Funded by Croydon Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, this programme is focused on real-world business needs”.
How about addressing the business needs of small traders like Bishops Wine Bar and 101 Records?
I hope that Croydon Council takes this deliberate blighting of the Whitgift Centre into account when URW finally submits its planning application for its redevelopment. URW can hardly argue that there is no longer a demand for these units to be used for commercial purposes when they are having to exercise break clauses in the tenants’ leases to evict the existing business tenants. Presumably the last lease of this unit was taken outside the security provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. If not, the tenant should consider consulting solicitors. Perversely URW are benefitting from their deliberate blighting of the Whitgift Centre. They are of course liable for payment of business rates for empty units. The rateable value for this unit (on which the business rates are based) was £16,250 from April 2017 to July 2017, £11,250 from July 2017 to April 2023 and £4,050 from April 2023 to date. Once the unit becomes vacant, they will therefore be paying business rates based on this low rateable value of £4,050. It is a shame that there is no equivalent penalty for commercial landlords deliberately keeping their properties vacant as there is for residential landlords when local authorities can charge double council tax after 12 months. If Sarah Jones reads this article then I hope that she considers lobbying for a change in the rules – even though URW are the landlords of her constituency office. I also hope that she considers relocating her constituency office. It does her no good to be seen to be associated in any way with URW.
As a recent Inside Croydon article outlined, Piss-Poor Perry’s family business is on its knees. Betting shops in Croydon are probably giving odds over which goes first, Carlton Business Plastics or his (money for nothing, nice little earner) Croydon Mayoralty ?!
I wonder if they’re the only one. Since the closure of the Continental Cafe there’s virtually no one on the South West side now right up from the closed Poundland to Waterstones. They’ve also started shutting off sections of the south end. Clearly the end is nigh for the whole Centre. I think most tennants have decided to scarper rather than wait for the axe to fall. Hopefully they will build something – anything? – new rather than leave it to become an unfinished ghost monument like George’s Walk & the Nestle building. At the moment with it’s empty shop fronts and leaking roof it looks increasingly like a set for a zombie film.
More like the SHITGIFT Centre
Such wit. Such originality.
Do you do stand-up?
I can see a lot of thought has been invested in this clever comment
Perhaps Westfield’s site has a prospective buyer but would be worth more without sitting tenants. Has our MP been given notice, too?
This does seem like a strange decision. It would be nice to think Whitgift has a plan and are simply not just closing more businesses out of spite.