Category Archives: Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Westfield now want a data centre plus 4,000 flats in town centre

After more than 15 years of non-development, Paris-based developers are seriously considering building a data centre close to the town centre’s conservation area, as they crank up plans for 45-storey tower blocks. By STEVEN DOWNES Fifteen years after Westfield first … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, North End Quarter, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Shaping Croydon’s light-touch exhibit offers clues to the future

An exhibition, “Shaping Croydon – Architecture and Ambition”, has opened this week at the Museum of Croydon, just in time for this weekend’s celebration of the capital’s architecture with the Open House festival. The exhibition is attractively bright and light-touch. … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Activities, Art, Croydon Council, Environment, History, Museum of Croydon, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

BID’s latest town centre stunt brought to you by… Filthy Luker!

Our culture correspondent, GRAYDON PERRY (no relation), considers the ‘anarchy’ behind the latest art-washing efforts by the money men at the Business ‘Improvement’ District Please ensure that you are seated before reading this article. Inside Croydon does not want responsibility … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Art, Business, Centrale, Croydon BID, Mayor Jason Perry, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Perry’s ‘comedy’ video claims are leaving the joke on Croydon

The borough’s Conservative Mayor, rendered impotent by the presence of government Commissioners, has spent much of the summer conducting some personal political campaigning, all paid for by tax-payers, that is often deliberately misleading, that sometimes gaslights residents and, very often, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Andrew Fisher, BH Group, Business, Commissioners, Council Tax, Crime, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Fly tipping, Live Facial Recognition cameras, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Planning, Policing, Refuse collection, Sadiq Khan, Selsdon Park Hotel, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Get up on the roof for the new club nights at Costa del Croydon

Westfield has once again turned the top floor of a multi-storey car park next to a shopping centre into a… beach. NADIA AZIZUDDIN went along to try out the new, adults-only Thursday club night For those who are missing the … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Activities, Business, Centrale, Costa del Croydon, Nadia Azizuddin, North End Quarter, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘The saddest news about Croydon town centre since the riots’

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Local MP and Fairfield ward councillors urge developers to make good on their long-standing promises to regenerate the town centre. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES MP Sarah Jones today called on Westfield “to work at pace to deliver … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Smith, Allders, Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Croydon West, Fairfield, Fiona Fletcher Smith, Growth Zone, Mayor Jason Perry, Paul Ainscough, Planning, Roisha Hughes, Sarah Jones MP, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The 15-year takeover of Croydon town centre by Westfield

The £1billion regeneration of Croydon town centre has been plagued by a decade and a half of developer delays, economic turmoil, a global pandemic and a complete reshaping of the original retail-led proposal into what, in its latest iteration of … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Smith, Allders, Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Fiona Fletcher Smith, Growth Zone, Planning, Roisha Hughes, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

SOLD! Westfield in £31.5m deal to buy Whitgift Centre freehold

After 15 years, two large-scale planning applications, a planning inquiry and a CPO,  Croydon’s biggest landowners have today announced that they have sold off a large chunk of their property in the benighted town centre in the hope that it … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Adam Smith, Allders, Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Fiona Fletcher Smith, Growth Zone, Planning, Roisha Hughes, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Croydon BID fails to inform co-directors of Perry’s resignation

Business ‘improvement’ district has received hundreds of thousands of pounds of public cash while Tory Mayor was one of its directors Jason Perry, Croydon’s £86,000 per year part-time Mayor, has quit as a director of Croydon BID. Piss-poor Perry’s resignation … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Boxpark, Business, Centrale, Croydon BID, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Mott MacDonald, Policing, Stiles Harold Williams, Surrey Street, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Bishop’s Wine Bar set to bid final farewell to Whitgift Centre

The pernicious effects of the ‘development blight’ inflicted on Croydon’s town centre by Westfield continue to be keenly felt. JOHNNY DOBBYN paid possibly his last visit to the wine bar which will be pulling down the shutters for a final … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Pubs, Restaurants, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Charity lost £2m last year over closure of Old Palace School

The Whitgift Foundation’s ‘Impact Report’ for last year shows its two boys’ fee-paying schools among the country’s top 10% of independents, as the costs of closing its girls’ school will continue until 2028. By STEVEN DOWNES The closure of Old … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, CPO, Education, Fiona Fletcher Smith, Old Palace, Roisha Hughes, Schools, Serenity special school, Trinity School, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lloyds makes the move into Centrale with £1.6m new branch

Lloyds Bank moves into Centrale on Monday, and says it has invested £1.6million in its new town centre branch. To mark the opening, the first customers through the doors on June 15 will be offered biscuits decorated with the Lloyds … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, North End Quarter, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Westfield consult public for 6th time and deliver more delays

Paris-based multi-bilion developers URW today begin another public consultation over the future of the town centre – Consultation No6 – which means that their latest planning application, already two years late, won’t see the light of day until long after … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, North End Quarter, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Charity formed last October buys two Old Palace buildings

The Rise School of Excellence has paid £750,000 for two buildings on the site of the former girls’ fee-paying school, as Croydon’s biggest landowners, the Whitgift Foundation, continue to dispose of their properties. By GENE BRODIE, education correspondent The piecemeal … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, CPO, Education, Old Palace, Roisha Hughes, Schools, Serenity special school, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Whitgift Centre managers accused of lying about bar’s fate

Paris-based Westfield refuse to comment after Post Office forced to abandon planned move, while developers’ February deadline for planning application draws near. By STEVEN DOWNES Westfield have plans to redevelop the Whitgift Centre “earlier” than previously believed. That’s according to … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Fairfield, Post Office, Pubs, Restaurants, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Backlash against Westfield over forced closure of Bishops bar

There has been an outpouring of anger at the news, first reported by this website, that ‘the Scrooges of Westfield’ have ordered Bishops Wine Bar to move out of their home of more than 40 years The latest closure of … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Fairfield, Pubs, Restaurants, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Whitgift Centre’s wine bar given six months’ notice to quit

‘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 … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Fairfield, Pubs, Restaurants, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Westfield Scrooges stop choir singing carols in Whitgift Centre

The traditional free, charity fund-raising Christmas carol concert by a long-established Croydon choir never took place in the Whitgift Centre this month. Last year, the Scrooges at Westfield turned away the Croydon Male Voice Choir from what was once an … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Charity, Croydon Male Voice Choir, Music, Sutton Council, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

101 Records to shut with final blast at landlords and council

One of the stalwarts of the Croydon music scene since the period of peak punk, where singer Kirsty MacColl once worked in its mail order department, is to close next month. NADIA AZIZUDDIN reports Another key part of Croydon’s retail … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Music, Nadia Azizuddin, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

All change on the High Street with another fried chicken shop

Our retailing correspondent, MT WALLETTE, on a Christmas rush with a difference – of businesses opening new premises in central Croydon Six high street businesses are locating, or re-locating, on North End, George Street and Croydon High Street, just in … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Charity, North End Quarter, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

MP Jones misses mark with criticism of town centre’s Primark

CROYDON IN CRISIS: One of the borough’s Labour MPs is accused of ‘performatively sending emails’ to a fashion chain’s CEO, when there are bigger issues in the borough, such as Westfield’s continuing delays over redevelopment  Croydon West MP Sarah Jones … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Crime, Croydon BID, Croydon West, Nick Blackburn, North End Quarter, Planning, Policing, Sarah Jones MP, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Exits and pay-offs: our news panel goes behind the headlines

The latest golden goodbye for a departing council CEO, the terrible state of even new flats around central Croydon, Westfield and the Allders kiosks, and what looks like the hot ticket for Christmas entertainment – all get discussed on our … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", 2017 General Election, Allders, Business, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Inside Croydon, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Under The Flyover, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Planning application for Westfield scheme stalled to mid-2026

EXCLUSIVE: ‘”Rome wasn’t built in a day”, but it never took this long’. More broken promises from the Paris-based developers as their housing scheme for the town centre is delayed again. By STEVEN DOWNES  Their planning application was supposed to … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Housing, Mayor Jason Perry, North End Quarter, Planning, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Smell the coffee… Last two Allders kiosks set to open this week

Locals better get there early on Friday, for the grand opening of Coco and Nut on North End, when free coffees and pastries will be on offer to celebrate. Because, with the slightest whiff of a freebie to be had, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Mayor Jason Perry, North End Quarter, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Five Guys is latest business to give up on Croydon High Street

It’s not just Croydon’s pubs which are closing down. Five Guys, the pricy American burger joint on Croydon High Street, has closed in the past week. While Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, drops his chips over the opening of a … Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Mayor Jason Perry, North End Quarter, Post Office, Restaurants, Surrey Street, Tokia Square, Turtle Bay, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments