Flying Tiger is the latest retailer to join the exodus from the largely vacant Whitgift Centre, as the land-owners appoint a new CFO
Becky Allison is to move into the Whitgift Foundation’s offices on George Street from June as the new chief financial officer of Croydon’s largest landowners.
Finance chief: Becky Allison takes over as CFO of the Whitgift Foundation
Allison is to take over from Michael Webb, who is retiring after having been the Foundation’s CFO since 2020.
The Foundation’s finances have been stretched over the past decade by the failure of Westfield to deliver on their promises of regenerating Croydon town centre, including the Whitgift Centre shopping mall, most of which is ultimately owned by the Whitgift Foundation.
Retailer Flying Tiger pulled down the shutters on its Whitgift Centre store this week, the latest business to join the exodus from the mall. Every vacant unit in the Whitgift Centre – and the floors of empty office space in the tower blocks above – represents reducing rental revenue for the Whitgift Foundation, which uses its property income to run its Almshouses and care home and to provide burseries at its two remaining fee-paying schools.
The 900-pupil Old Palace girls’ school closed last July as a consequence of the Foundation’s reducing revenues.
The Foundation’s unrestricted funds fell by 22% between 2017 and 2023, as the Foundation made losses of £19.9million in 2022 and £11.4million in 2023.
According to the Foundation, Allison “will be responsible for the Foundation’s financial health, strategy and performance”.
Allison moves to the Foundation after having been the director of finance and operations at Trinity School in Shirley Park, which is undergoing a £40million conversion to become fully co-ed. Before joining Trinity in 2024, Allison spent 15 years in the financial services sector, working for Deloitte, Prudential and Aon.
“We are delighted Becky will be joining us as chief finance officer in June,” said Roisha Hughes, the Whitgift Foundation’s CEO.
“In a strong field, Becky’s leadership skills, dynamism and collaborative approach really shone through.
Flying Tiger’s flown: the latest trader to join the Whitgift Centre exodus
“In this role, Becky will be able to build on her excellent work at Trinity School and lead the Foundation in ensuring our financial approach puts us in the best possible position to deliver our priorities for the years ahead.”
Allison said: “I have loved my time at Trinity School, but I am looking forward to new challenges and making a wider impact across the Foundation. I’ll be working with our leadership teams to ensure our 400-plus year-old charity is in the best position for the future.
“I’m pleased that I can continue to be involved in Trinity’s move to becoming fully co-educational, having been involved in the planning over the last year, whilst also supporting the work of Whitgift School and Whitgift Care. It’s an exciting time for the Foundation and for me.”
Read more: Trinity boys’ school confirms that it will go co-ed from 2027
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
Read more: Falling rolls and rising fees: how Old Palace got squeezed
Under The Flyover is our podcast interview strand, premium content, usually exclusively available to paying subscribers who support Inside Croydon’s independent journalism, based in the heart of Croydon.- We interviewed Fiona Fletcher-Smith of the Whitgift Foundation last year, asking a range of questions about the closure of girls’ school Old Palace and the long-delayed redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre shopping mall.
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Ironic that the Whitgift Foundation (which clearly aspires to be misogynistic so they closed their one girls’ school but have kept open both of their two boys schools) that they cannot find any good male candidates, so now both the CEO and CFO of the Foundation are women !?!
It would be fantastic if you could arrange an interview with Becky Allison. The Whitgift Foundation has in the past been a force for good in Croydon and many people owe their education to the Foundation. In the old days, the Foundation used to be in a position to subsidise school fees in addition to providing bursaries but I suspect that their current financial woes no longer allows this. With so many retail outlets in the Whitgift Centre now being closed, URW seems to be intent on re-purposing the Whitgift Centre as a development site for yet more blocks of residential flats so that Centrale would become the principal shopping centre in Croydon. With the development of the One Lansdowne Road site now being apparently put on hold, I would also query whether it makes financial sense. I fear that the Whitgift Centre will become another wasteland like the Katharine Street/Park Street site opposite the Town Hall. It would be good to know whether the Whitgift Foundation has any control over the future of the Whitgift Centre or whether its future is solely in the hands of URW. You interviewed Roisha Hughes shortly after her appointment and it may be that they would be willing to provide Inside Croydon with a joint interview! Presumably the rents payable under the head lease are in part determined by the rents payable to URW as the head lessee so that you feel quite sorry for the Foundation if matters regarding the future of the shops are solely in the hands of URW.