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Category Archives: Business
Asian food hall Tokia Square confirms opening date in March
There’s a new dining experience coming to central Croydon next month, when Tokia Square opens for business. Tokia Square is described as “a dynamic food court offering an extraordinary selection of Asian cuisines, from sushi and hotpot to BBQ, Thai … Continue reading
‘Council is gas-lighting us over support services’ say carers
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The Carers’ Centre on George Street becomes the latest casualty of Mayor Perry’s cuts, as consultants hired by the council for £1m are thought to be behind the cost-trimming changes Hard-pressed residents who use the Croydon Carers’ … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Business, Charity, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Whitgift Foundation, Youth Services
Tagged Carers Centre, Carers First, Carers' assessement service, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Carers Centre, Croydon Council, George Street, Mayor Jason Perry, Mind in Croydon, Newton, Off the Record, Roisha Hughes, Tory, Whitgift Foundation
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Third day of water shortages after Crystal Palace burst main
Thousands of homes and businesses, including 11 care homes and 29 schools, in the Streatham, Penge and Sydenham areas are without water or enduring low water pressure for a third day today, following a burst water main in Crystal Palace … Continue reading
Carers ‘devastated’ as new council deal sees ‘sanctuary’ close
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The hollowing out of the borough continues with the announcement to staff this morning that the Carers’ Centre is to close next month, after the council handed a service contract to another provider. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Business, Charity, Croydon Council, Whitgift Foundation, Youth Services
Tagged Carers Centre, Carers' assessement service, Citizens Advice Bureau, Citizens Advice Croydon, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Carers Centre, Croydon Council, George Street, Mayor Jason Perry, Roisha Hughes, Tory, Whitgift Foundation
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‘The improvement panel’s general position is to sell everything’
CROYDON COMMENTARY: This website’s editor, STEVEN DOWNES, on why a Mayor who keeps getting caught out in untruths really needs to start being more honest with the borough’s residents If ever there was an example of Mayor Jason Perry “being … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Mayor Jason Perry, Music, Ria Patel, Section 114 notice, Theatre
Tagged 20th Century Society, Alison Butler, BH Live, BHLive, Borough of Culture, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Fairfield Halls, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Tory
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Two weekend closures of M25 at Cobham coming in March
The £317million three-year major roads project to improve traffic flows at the M25’s junction with the A3 is now going to be a four-year project, drifting into 2026, and with more motorway closures planned for next month. National Highways says … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Coulsdon, Surrey
Tagged Cobham, Coulsdon, M25, M25 closure, M25 Junction 10, Surrey
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Cash-strapped council spends £5m on 4,000 shiny new laptops
CROYDON IN CRISIS: While the council goes cap-in-hand to the government for another bail-out, Fisher’s Folly has been taking delivery of 4,000 shiny new laptops for staff. As political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, reports, opposition councillors are fuming The bright and … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis
Tagged Boston Consulting Group, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Littlefish, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis, Tory, Waddon
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Energised by scheme that makes money and saves the planet
There is a bright spot in the future for Croydon, and KEN TOWL went along at the weekend to discover more about it When a breathless press release from Croydon Community Energy informs you of a scheme that will not … Continue reading
Croydon McDonald’s to get Stormzy meal deal 48 hours early
Stormzy has dropped Britain’s first McDonald’s Famous Order, and Croydon gets to try it first. The Stormzy Meal will be available across nine branches of McDonald’s in Croydon from tomorrow, February 10. That’s 48 hours before anywhere else And the … Continue reading
Accountancy watchdog moves in on officials from Woking
After almost five years, not a single person in Croydon has ever been held responsible for their parts in the council’s financial collapse, the scandal of Brick by Brick or the Fairfield Halls refurbishment fiasco. But in Surrey, two former … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Crime, Croydon Council, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman
Tagged Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Financial Reporting Council, Grant Thornton, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Kroll, Kroll Report, Labour, Lisa Taylor, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Penn Report, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, RIPI, RIPI2, Simon Hall, The Kroll Report, The Penn Report, Tory, Woking Borough Council, Woking Council
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Councillor reviews Nando’s pitch for Crystal Palace Triangle
Almost exactly a year since McDonald’s abandoned their proposals to bring Big Macs, McFlurries and a whole heap of mopeds and potential trouble to the Crystal Palace Triangle, now another fast food giant is eyeing the area for a new … Continue reading
Savage’s HS2 apprenticeship is proving to be just the job
After seven years teaching at a secondary school in Croydon, Joshua Savage decided it was time for change. He’d prgressed from teaching assistant to qualified PE and science teacher. But deep down, he knew it wasn’t the job he wanted … Continue reading
Government panel wants Croydon to flog off the Fairfield Halls
CROYDON IN CRISIS: With the council’s annual overspend reaching £100m, Whitehall-appointed commissioners could force the sale of the arts centre, which the C20 Society describes as an ‘underappreciated South Bank Centre of the suburbs’. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon could … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jo Negrini, Music, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Theatre
Tagged 20th Century Society, Alison Butler, BH Live, BHLive, Borough of Culture, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Fairfield Halls, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Jo Negrini, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Tony Newman, Tory
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Labour’s letting water companies take the pee with rising bills
ANDREW FISHER on the contradictions, ironies and utter inadequacy of the government’s approach to the water company polluters; plus even more Council Tax rip-offs coming our way At the end of January, the government passed the Water (Special Measures) Bill … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Business, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North, Thames Water
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Clive Lewis MP, Council Tax, Croydon, DEFRA, Department of Environment Farming and Rural Affairs, Labour, Lord Prem Sikka, Margaret Thatcher, Prem Sikka, Southern Water, Steve Reed OBE, Streatham and Croydon North, Thames Water, Tory, Water (Special Measures) Bill, Water bills, Water companies, Water privatisation
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Silicon Alley: 800 Croydon firms have closed under Mayor Perry
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The borough’s part-time Mayor got all excited at the weekend over a newspaper report that made some exaggerated claims about business growth, but which overlooked official data. By SANDRA STEAD Small-time businessman and part-time Mayor Jason Perry … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Go Daddy, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
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Housing association CEO takes lead role at Whitgift Foundation
For the first time in more than 400 years, the Whitgift Foundation is to be led by a woman. “That’s if you don’t count Queen Elizabeth I,” confided a wag at the Whitgift Almshouses, where the charity and multi-million-pound property … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Charity, Fiona Fletcher Smith, Roisha Hughes, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
Tagged Archbishop of Canterbury, Charity Commission, Christopher Houlding, Court of Governors, Croydon, Fiona Fletcher-Smith, Hammersfield, Old Palace, Old Palace of John Whitgift School, Roisha Hughes, Trinity School, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School
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For planner Cheesbrough, budget increase is ‘non-negotiable’
CROYDON IN CRISIS: All those public consultations that don’t ever make any difference to what the council sets out to do? This week, one director made it clear that they are indeed pointless exercises, as KEN LEE reports Croydon Council … Continue reading
Posted in Alasdair Stewart, Business, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Karen Agbabiaka, Louis Carserides, Planning
Tagged 2025 Council budget, Alasdair Stewart, Budget, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Heather Cheesbrough, Karen Agbabiaka, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Louis Carserides, Planning, Scrutiny and Overview Committee, Scrutiny committee, Tory
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Bingo! Croydon player scoops the £50,000 jackpot at Centrale
A bingo player at Centrale in Croydon scooped an incredible £50,000 prize earlier this month – the third national game jackpot to be called by Mecca Bingo’s Altex Gibson, who has been working at the venue for 20 years. “When … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Business, Centrale
Tagged Altex Gibson, Bingo, Centrale, Croydon, Mecca Bingo
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Council calls on housing associations to join its ‘partnership’
Croydon Council is trying to bring together all the housing associations who manage homes in the borough – it says that there are more than 60 – in an effort “to improve housing standards across the borough”. The council says … Continue reading
Royal Mail fails to deliver in Croydon and issues public apology
EXCLUSIVE: Former employees have claimed that the Factory Lane delivery depot has been seriously under-staffed, as employee illness affects services once again Businesses and residents in one Croydon post code have not been getting a third-class postal service in 2025 … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Factory Lane, Royal Mail
Tagged Coulsdon, CR0, CR2, CR7, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Factory Lane, New Addington, Purley, Royal Mail, SE25, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Waddon
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Brewery’s record revenues can’t stop Two Brewers’ closure
One much-loved Croydon boozer has closed its doors, while the borough’s oldest pub is promising cheaper prices The Two Brewers pub on Gloucester Road closed on Sunday for the final time, its owners, brewers Shepherd Neame, reportedly having sold the … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Property, Pubs, Selhurst
Tagged Bishop's Finger, Dog and Bull, Gloucester Road, Selhurst, Selhurst Park, Shepherd Neame, Spitfire, Surrey Street, Two Brewers
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Age UK calls for Mayor Khan to act against Post Office closures
The charity Age UK has joined the campaign to save London’s Post Offices – including the under-threat counter service provided on Croydon High Street. The Post Office closure plans were revealed in November, with 115 Crown Post Offices to close … Continue reading
Posted in Age UK Croydon, Business, Croydon West, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Post Office, Sadiq Khan, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged Age UK Croydon, Age UK London, Crown Post Office, Croydon, Croydon High Street, Croydon West, George Street, Horizon, Horizon scandal, Labour, London, London Assembly, Mayor of London, Post office, Sarah Jones MP, Sir Sadiq Khan
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Council pays £20m to buy 73 flats in Peep Show building
Tory Mayor Jason Perry’s cash-strapped council is attempting to deal with the housing crisis by spending £20million to buy an office-to-resi development in Broad Green. Zodiac Court is notorious as the fictionalised setting of “Apollo House”, the block including a … Continue reading
In-depth and informed: our podcast questions the councillor
Just how does Croydon’s cash-strapped council function? Is Westfield deliberately driving traders out of the Whitgift Centre? Why won’t Mayor Perry allow some councillors to speak at council meetings? Which Newman Numpty is today the chair of a key council … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Cockneys of Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Fairfield, Inside Croydon, Katherine Kerswell, Ken Towl, Mayor Jason Perry, Ria Patel, Surrey Street, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Cockneys of Croydon, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hammersfield, Katherine Kerswell, Ken Towl, Lee Townsend, Mayor Jason Perry, Oumesh Sauba, Ria Patel, Surrey Street, Surrey Street Market, The Croydon Insider, The Green Party, Tory, Under The Flyover, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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The man who made shopping at Kennards feel a bit magical
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A former Music Hall performer used his modelling genius to brighten the lives of countless children in one Croydon department store, while creating famous stage dummies including Archie Andrews and Lord Charles. DAVID MORGAN looks back on the … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Centrale, David Morgan, Debenhams, History
Tagged Archie Andrews, BBC Radio, Croydon, David Morgan, Drummond Centre, Eric Morecambe, Kennards, Len Insull, Music Hall, Peter Brough, Ray Alan
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