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Category Archives: Ken Towl
Strange world evoked by surreal assemblages of NDP Fraser
There was a one-day-only, not-to-be-missed art exhibition in a house on Portland Road. KEN TOWL made sure he didn’t miss it I went to Portland Road the other Saturday, to see what was behind the net curtains. For many years, … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Ken Towl, South Norwood
Tagged Art, Clocktower Gallery, Ken Towl, NDP Fraser, Portland Road, South Norwood, South Norwood Community Kitchen, Surreal
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Intriguing secret societies offer more than conspiracy theories
KEN TOWL delved into the little-known world of local literary societies, the ‘Lits’, where talk is cheap and at least the fruitcakes promise ‘no nuts’ I have discovered a hidden world, a world that exists in the shadows, a world … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Addiscombe West, Church and religions, Community associations, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Education, History, Ken Towl, Norwood Society, Purley, Purley Literary Society, Redhill, Sanderstead
Tagged Addiscombe, CNH&SS, Croydon, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, East Croydon, Ken Towl, Literary Societies, Margaret Thatcher, Purley, Purley Literary Society, Redhill, Sanderstead, Sanderstead Literary Society, Shaw's Corner Literary Society, St Mildred's Literary Society, The Lit
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Our journey through Beaujolais provided a nouveau experience
KEN TOWL’s unrelenting quest to uncover the best of Croydon culture sees him sent on some very demanding assignments. Thankfully, he managed to survive his latest “Spit or swallow?” I asked, though only to myself. A virgin in the wine-tasting … Continue reading
Visit Croydon Art Space to help brighten grey days of winter
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and the latest Art Space exhibition, People and Landscapes, runs, very conveniently, up to December 18. When I visited recently, I was escorted by curator Paul Hall through the front two rooms … Continue reading
Keeping in the LOOP can get us from Coulsdon to Banstead
WANDLE WANDERER: Crunching through the dried leaves of autumn makes this one of the better times of year to go off on a ramble. But avoiding the worst of the weather is something KEN TOWL discovered is essential Timing was … Continue reading
Posted in Ken Towl, Walks
Tagged Banstead, Coulsdon, Coulsdon South, Ken Towl, London LOOP, London Outer Orbital Path, LOOP, Mayfield Lavender Farm, Oaks Park
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It’s the final countdown as Rowland reflects on our mortality
KEN TOWL considers Plato, kingfishers and Ian McKellen’s balls in an hour-long Croydonites Festival performance which could never over-run James Rowland is dead. Well, sort of. The end was inevitable. The digital clock at the back of the stage counted … Continue reading
Croydonites provides a front-row seat for hard-hitting comedy
The 2025 Croydonites Festival is well underway, and KEN TOWL could not resist the chance to go along to see the sold-old Dick’s Picks (geddit?!) Dick Denham had been tasked with curating a range of comedians for a night of … Continue reading
Ghosts that stalk our streets and the history we learn from them
KEN TOWL sets off to find as many ghost signs as he can According to Historic England, ghost signs are “typically historic hand-painted advertising signs or old shop signs preserved on buildings that have since changed use”. They go on … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Addiscombe East, Business, History, Ken Towl, Kenley, Post Office
Tagged Addiscombe, Croydon, Croydon High Street, Grants, Grants Department Store, Kenley, Kenley Hotel, MIlletts, Milletts Corner, Purley, Surrey Street
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Delve behind the headlines on Allders, The Fold, Anonyvoter and campaign launches, with our regular subscriber podcast
Our Croydon Insider podcasts are an (almost) regular delve behind the headlines at the stories that matter to you, Inside Croydon’s loyal readers. And in our latest wide-ranging episode – part of what has been described as a “citizens’ revolt … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Allders, Annabel Smith, Climate Crisis Commission, Croydon Council, Croydon East, Croydon Greens, Croydon Insider, Croydon West, Environment, Garwood Foundation, Housing, Inside Croydon, Ken Towl, Local media, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Bennett, New Addington North, New Addington South, North End Quarter, Peter Underwood, Sarah Jones MP, Under The Flyover, Whitgift Centre, Zack Polanski
Tagged 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon mayoral election, Allders, Annabel Smith, Anonyvoter, Bank closures, BBC London, Connie Duxbury, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon East, Gatwick Airport expansion, Ken Towl, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London, London Borough of Croydon, Neil Bennett, New Addington, Peter Underwood, Podcasts, Post office, Ross White, The Croydon Insider, The Fold, The Green Party, Tommy Robinson, Tory, Unite the Kingdom, Westfield
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Alan Partridge might not cope with his £1 breakfast at Ikea
Hej!, as they say in Sweden, the latest cut-priced customer offer at the large homeware store could keep KEN TOWL returning to Ampere Way all the way until Christmas When a colleague who often takes her kids to eat in … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Ikea, Ken Towl
Tagged Alan Patridge, Ampere Way, £1 breakfast, Ikea, Ken Towl, Purley Way
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The MP hidden away on third floor of a deserted shopping mall
Finding your way around the desolate maze that the Whitgift Centre has become has been made much more difficult since the shopping centre’s managers started blocking off entrances and removing staircases. It’s almost as if no one is welcome to … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Annabel Smith, Business, Croydon West, David Morgan, Johnny Dobbyn, Ken Towl, Sarah Jones MP, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Annabel Smith, Croydon, Croydon West, Destination X, Hammersfield, Johnny Dobbyn, Ken Towl, Sarah Jones MP, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Shopping centre providing puddles but no help in our quest
Armed with just a printout of an address, and an incorrect address at that, we invited some of our regular contributors to set off on a quest into the desolate maze that the Whitgift Centre has become. With the shopping … Continue reading
Under Westfield, it looks like curtains for sad Whitgift Centre
With the shopping centre’s managers blocking off entrances and removing staircases, Inside Croydon sent some of our intrepid contributors off on our own version of Destination X: to find MP Sarah Jones’s office armed only with the address as provided … Continue reading
iC writers go on a quest: find a way through the Whitgift Centre
For the past year, one of Croydon’s MPs has worked from an office deep inside the Whitgift Centre. But just where? With the shopping centre’s managers blocking off entrances and removing staircases, we sent some intrepid contributors off on a … Continue reading
From Westerham to Bletchingley, we retrace our walker’s steps
WEEKEND WANDERINGS: Continuing our tradition of providing guides to readily accessible walking routes in and around Croydon, KEN TOWL set off in the footsteps of this website’s original guide, Walker Dunelm, to revisit the Greensand Way On April 13, 2020, … Continue reading
Posted in Ken Towl, Outside Croydon, Redhill, Surrey, Tandridge District Council, Walker Dunelm, Walks
Tagged Bletchingley, Greensand Way, Ken Towl, Kent, Limpsfield Chart, Surrey, Tandridge, WALKER DUNELM, Walks, Westerham
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It’s a red-letter day for our ‘covid generation’ of school pupils
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Secondary school teacher KEN TOWL on the sense of anticipation gripping the nation’s teens, and their parents and tutors, ahead of tomorrow’s big A-levels results reveal All over the country, 17- and 18-year-olds are getting nervous. Their parents … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Ken Towl, Schools
Tagged A level results, A-Levels, coronavirus, Coulsdon, covid, covid lockdown, Covid-19, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Education, Ken Towl, London, New Addington, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, University degrees
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Trout, Clarkson’s lager and scotch eggs on a cathedrals walk
KEN TOWL, Inside Croydon’s regular walks guide, took a diversion last weekend, and with a group of old mates made a 20-mile pilgrimage between two of the finest medieval cathedrals in the world. They stopped at a pub or two … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Ken Towl, Pubs, Walks
Tagged Clarendon Way, Hawkstone Lager, Jeremy Clarkson, Ken Towl, pilgrimage, Salisbury, Salisbury Cathedral, Stockbridge, Trout Festival, Winchester, Winchester Cathedral
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Costa Del Croydon offers beach experience unlike any other
Westfield’s latest sop for failing to deliver the long-promised regeneration of the town centre has been to have tons of sand dumped on the top of a shopping centre’s multi-storey car park. KEN TOWL donned his ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hat … Continue reading
There’s a revolution going on in a wooded glade in Coulsdon
‘Man is the only creature that consumes without producing’ wrote George Orwell 80 years ago, but as the Theatre Workshop Coulsdon has shown once more, they certainly know how to produce compelling drama. KEN TOWL was at the opening night … Continue reading
Animal Farm in pictures: impressive staging of Orwell classic
STEVE NORTH’s images capture some of the drama, and the impressive set design, for Theatre Workshop Coulsdon’s production of Animal Farm
Pregnant with vulnerability, Gwilliam sets the scene for festival
KEN TOWL ventured deep into an abandoned building site while full of hopeful expectation for a workshop performance ahead of the 2025 Croydonites Fringe I had seen Amy Gwilliam’s evil alter-ego, property developer Frankie Foxtone, deliver a corruscating satire on … Continue reading
Podcast: Our Croydon Insider panel looks at council’s crisis
What will the appointment by government of Commissioners to run Croydon Council mean to you as a resident? After five years of ever-increasing bail-outs for Croydon’s cash-stapped council, what alternative actions were there? And is Mayor Jason Perry right to … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Inside Croydon, Katherine Kerswell, Ken Towl, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry, Under The Flyover
Tagged Cheryl Fergus-Ferrell, Commissioners, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, David Weir, Jim McMahon, Katherine Kerswell, Ken Towl, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, MHCLG, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Podcast, Sharon Owen, Tory
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Last Gasp: Ogbourne’s exhibition is summoning us to the sea
KEN TOWL meets an artist whose latest exhibition is about much more than just his paintings When Derek Ogbourne’s friend threw a dustbin at a front door many years ago, she set in motion a chain of events which culminated … Continue reading
