Peace in our times? Veterans for Peace meeting, Oct 31

Posted on October 22, 2018 by insidecroydon

Sutton for Peace and Justice in association with Veterans For Peace UK are staging a public meeting:

NEVER AGAIN? 1918 to 2018, 100 years of war

on Wednesday October 31, 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm)

Sutton Quaker Meeting House, Cedar Road, Sutton, SM2 5DA

November 11 will be the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice, when the slogan “Never again” was a common rally cry – never again should the world see the suffering wrought by the “War to end all wars”.

Yet a century later people continue to be killed in military conflict across the world. Continue reading →

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Halloween Creepy Craft, Honeywood Museum, Oct 26

Posted on October 22, 2018 by insidecroydon

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When taking to the streets offered a way out of Brexit

Posted on October 21, 2018 by insidecroydon

KEN TOWL, our non-resident rambler, went on a walk with a difference yesterday, on one of the biggest popular marches of this century, and in some very mixed company

People's Vote March

Official estimates said 700,000 took part in the People’s Vote march. The police will probably say it was half as many

The plan was to meet up with some colleagues from work, march with them from Park Lane to Parliament Square, listen to Chuka Umunna, Vince Cable and Anna Soubry, and then have a couple of pints in The Speaker, a pub not too close to the rally as to be packed and not so far away as to test our already tired feet.

We met at Green Park and took to the back streets of Mayfair to avoid the pressing throng, and find ourselves a good place somewhere in the middle of the march at the starting point along the side of Hyde Park.

I had read in the newspapers that 100,000 people were expected. Continue reading →

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Vile Victorians, Honeywood Museum, to Oct 28

Posted on October 21, 2018 by insidecroydon

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The Memory of Water, Upper Norwood, Nov 22-24

Posted on October 21, 2018 by insidecroydon

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Council’s official magazine forgets Remembrance Sunday

Posted on October 20, 2018 by insidecroydon

A former borough councillor says he is “extremely sad” that the latest edition of Your Croydon, described by Croydon Council as its “main source of community news”, has completely failed to make any mention of the centenary commemorations of the end of World War I.

Remembrance Sunday ceremonies fail to get a mention in the council’s own magazine

Even the council’s own civic ceremonies for the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day –  when what was supposed to be the “war to end all wars” came to an end – have been omitted from the publicly funded publication.

Remembrance Sunday this year is on November 11.

In what is an extraordinary editorial omission, the “Autumn 2018” edition of the council’s magazine, distributed to 155,000 households around the borough in the past fortnight, features a column on the index page from council leader Tony Newman under the heading: “Culture at the heart of regeneration”.

The generations that laid down their lives in the cause of freedom over the past 100 years might be less convinced by Newman’s empty rhetoric about the future, as the publication for which he is responsible has completely forgotten about the borough’s past.

“So much for ‘We will remember them’,” one Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon this week.

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Posted in Chris Wright, Community associations, Coulsdon, Croydon Council, History, Local media, Museum of Croydon, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Small business given Dobson’s choice by planning committee

Posted on October 20, 2018 by insidecroydon

Another long-established small business in Croydon is being forced to close, after its landlord decided the retail property was more valuable to them if converted to flats.

Established in South Norwood for 50 years, Dobson’s Upholstery has been forced out

Dobson’s Upholstery is a family firm based in South Norwood since it was founded by Bob Dobson in 1965; it is now run by Bob’s son, Robert, from quaint, if a tad small, premises on the High Street, opposite the Sensible Garden.

As well as supplying many well-known interior designers, businesses and private clients, Dobson’s Upholstery’s work has been featured in glossy interior design magazines, on a TV lifestyle makeover programme (Peter Andre’s 60-Minute Makeover, no less) and a national television advertisement for a leading new-build housing company.

But the owner of their rented premises first slapped a rent increase of £3,600 a year on the business, and then submitted a planning application to convert the shop into a one-bedroom home. Continue reading →

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Carshalton’s studio theatre given new chance and fresh Hope

Posted on October 20, 2018 by insidecroydon

The Charles Cryer Theatre is to re-open with new operators after being ‘dark’ for more than two years. But Sutton Council still managed to mess up the announcement, as CARL SHILTON reports

Carshalton’s Charles Cryer Theatre, at last with a new operator

It has taken Sutton Council a little over two years to find a new tenant for the Charles Cryer Theatre in Carlshalton, following the demise of the short-lived Sutton Theatres Trust (which wasn’t actually a trust, but a limited company).

CryerArts Ltd was announced yesterday as the new operators for the Carshalton venue, though not without some of the now expected Sutton Council bungling. Had it not been for some poor council decision-making previously, it probably would never have taken this long to find a taker for the theatre.

When Sutton Theatres Trust went bust in the summer of 2016, its assets were disposed of. Unfortunately, this included the fabric of the Cryer and the Secombe theatres, including staging and lighting, as Sutton Council had misguidedly handed over all the publicly owned equipment to STT.

This meant a rocky road ahead for any potential new lessee, with upfront investment in equipment a potential handicap to any start-up. Continue reading →

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Kenley Airfield Walking Tour, Kenley Common, Nov 1

Posted on October 20, 2018 by insidecroydon

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Trams go into Trophy game with several scores to settle

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

Can Croydon get only their second win of the season tomorrow against Rusthall?

NON-LEAGUE NEWS: Crisis club Croydon FC suffered its second 5-0 drubbing in succession on Tuesday.

The prospect of a trip to Tolworth to take on Corinthian Casuals, a side from the Isthmian League who had already given their strikers shooting practice in a 5-0 cup victory over the Trams earlier this season, was a daunting one for caretaker boss Chris Brown and his young squad, and so it proved, as Croydon once again leaked five goals. Continue reading →

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BINMAGEDDON!: One house, nine bins. Is this a record?

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

Someone needs to call in Ross and Norris McWhirter. Or Roy Castle. Or whoever it is that runs the Guinness Book of Records these days.

Is this a record-breaker?

This one house in East Croydon has NINE wheelie bins.

Surely that’s a record, even in the Binmageddon borough of Croydon?

The  house, like so many in the borough, has been cut up into flats. Four of them.

And someone at Veolia, the council’s rubbish contractors, managed to work out that between them, the occupiers would need nine wheelie bins.

One of the residents said today, “The house in the photo is common in houses on my street. Will some of them be removed?

“The occupiers in my building are using all the bins, but they’re not all being emptied. And who can blame the bin men? Crazy situation.” Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Refuse collection, Stuart Collins, Veolia | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Councillor’s meeting lights up the vanity of the bonfires

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, takes a look at just what some councillors are doing to improve air quality (Spoiler Alert: it’s not very much)

Efforts to improve air quality are likely negated as the council pays to burn rubbish at Beddington Lane

There’s yet more proof, if proof is needed, that politicians take people for fools.

Labour councillor Jamie Audsley has organised a meeting for residents in the north of the borough tomorrow to “shape the way forward for tackling air pollution in Croydon”.

This from someone who is part of a Labour council that builds primary schools so close to some of the most polluted roads in London that their pupils, some as young as four years old, need to be kept inside almost all the school day in buildings which require hermetical sealing from the toxic air outside.

Audsley is also part of a council whose leader broke a solemn election promise to blow open the contract details of the Beddington Lane incinerator, which is about to begin full operation, burning thousands of tons of rubbish all day, every day, pumping out potentially poisonous particles into the atmosphere for the next 25 years. Continue reading →

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Mayor pledges to build bridges with Addiscombe businesses

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan this morning promised to intervene personally with Transport for London in an effort to end the lengthy delays in re-opening Blackhorse Lane bridge in Addiscombe.

Sadiq Khan at Mayor’s Questions: a two-year wait for the Blackhorse Lane bridge is ‘not good enough’

The 120-year-old bridge, which crosses the tram tracks, had become unsafe for heavy traffic and larger modern vehicles, and was closed in 2016. Works had been due to begin last year to strengthen the bridge, with it due to re-open early in 2019, but earlier this month TfL advised Croydon Council that work would not be completed until 2020, at the earliest.

“That’s just not good enough,” Mayor Khan said this morning at City Hall, during his regular Mayor’s Question Time sessions. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Sarah Jones MP, Steve O'Connell, TfL, Transport, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can there really be a happy ending to the Fairfield fairy tale?

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Building delays, budget-busting over-runs, the inexplicable changes of the names of long-established venues… The council’s £30million refurbishment of the borough’s largest arts complex has been a Pantomime from the start, and says DAVID WICKENS, it is Fairfield Halls’ staff and the borough’s residents who are left to pick up the costs

The view of the bright new future for the Fairfield Halls, as offered by architects Rick Mather

Once upon a time, back in 2016, Croydon Council considered proposals for refurbishing Fairfield Halls and regeneration of the surrounding area in what it designated “the Cultural and Educational Quarter”.

Yes, considering this is Croydon, that might seem to be a bit of a fairy tale.

Councillors were sold a scheme by the council’s professional staff, the officers, that claimed refurbishment was possible in just two years and would be £5million cheaper than if they undertook a phased refurbishment scheme, keeping some of the venues open while work went on elsewhere, but over a longer period.

The downside was the redundancy of all the Fairfield staff. The Labour-run council, contrary to general historic Labour policy, chose the promised savings at the cost of the jobs – about 100 of them. Continue reading →

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Croydon Literary Festival 2018, Oct 27

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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City Commons Funghi Walk, Farthing Downs, Nov 11

Posted on October 19, 2018 by insidecroydon

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Newman and Philp ignore air quality to welcome Gatwick news

Posted on October 18, 2018 by insidecroydon

PAUL LUSHION, our environment correspondent, on how Croydon’s politicians have a Trump-like capacity for ignoring the rapidly impending threat of Global Warming

All ready for take-off: Politicians have ignored what Gatwick’s will plans do for Croydon air quality?

The Croydon political duopoly had some cross-party consensus this morning, as senior Labour and Tory figures almost knocked one another over in their rush to greet the announcement by Gatwick Airport that it is to go ahead with a scheme to double its number of runways.

“Gatwick Airport just announced plans to bring its standby runway into full use as a second runway,” tweeted Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South, which is barely 10 miles up the M23 from London’s second airport. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Environment, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Dreams do come true’ as Crystal Palace gets its cinema back

Posted on October 18, 2018 by insidecroydon

After a 50-year absence, and a nine-year battle by local residents, Crystal Palace is finally getting its own cinema again.

Everyman has spent more than £3m on restoring the Palace’s Picture Palace on CHurch Road

Everyman Cinemas have announced that the venue on Church Road will re-open its doors as a picture house next month.

Thanks to the tireless efforts by the Picture Palace Campaign to have the building returned to its former use, Everyman Cinemas exchanged contracts on the building in January and are soon to complete the restoration and refurbishment of the venue. Continue reading →

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South Croydon artist wins year-long Somerset House bursary

Posted on October 18, 2018 by insidecroydon

An artist from South Croydon, Nadeem Din-Gabisi, has today been announced as the winner of the London Fields Brewery bursary scheme.

Winner: Nadeem Din-Gabisi

The scheme aims to “support artists pushing the boundaries of established practice”, and Din-Gabisi will now have a year-long residency with a semi-private studio space at Somerset House Studios in central London.

Din-Gabisi, 26, describes himself as an artist, writer, painter, poet, musician and filmmaker. He recently completed a Masters in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, having previously attended Wimbledon College of Art.

During his residency at Somerset House, Nadeem will be working on a multimedia project called Pool, which examines a childhood marked by life-changing moments of trauma and happiness. Continue reading →

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Poetry performers embark on Inspiration tour of south London

Posted on October 18, 2018 by insidecroydon

The right lines: poet Momtaza Mehri

Momtaza Mehri, the Young People’s Laureate for London, is calling on 13- to 25-year-olds in Kingston, Sutton and Bromley to be part of her Be My Next Inspiration campaign.

During the school half-term week, Mehri will headline Spread the Word’s tour of libraries in outer London to motivate young people to write and connect with poetry. She has also produced a specially commissioned poem in collaboration with young Londoners called “No Name Club”, which explores the impact of gentrification on their lives.

The tour begins at Kingston’s Hook and Chessington Library on Monday, October 22, takes in Bromley Central Library on Friday, October 26, and the following day it arrives at Sutton Central Library. There, Mehri will be hosting free workshops for young people with leading poet Deanna Rodger, rapper Rob Bradley and champion beatboxer Bellatrix. Continue reading →

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving, Coulsdon Common, Oct 26

Posted on October 18, 2018 by insidecroydon

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Discover Hedgehogs at Coulsdon Common, Oct 23

Posted on October 18, 2018 by insidecroydon

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Police chief says drop in knife crime is ‘just the beginning’

Posted on October 17, 2018 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s borough commander backs the use of stop and search to help continue reductions in levels of knife crime, and invites residents to join the police in swoops on ‘hotspot areas’

Borough police commander Jeff Boothe: has seen steep fall in knife crime in Croydon

Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, the Metropolitan Police’s borough commander, has hailed a 13 per cent drop in the amount of knife crime in Croydon in the 12 months to June, but said the reduction is “just the beginning”.

The recently published crime statistics showed that in Croydon, violent offences against the under-25s had fallen by 20 per cent over the same period.

Croydon has bucked a London-wide trend. Across the capital, there was a 14 per cent increase in knife crime in 2017-2018.

“Croydon has historically had a reputation for this kind of crime,which is why over the last few years we have been working relentlessly with partner agencies and community groups to drive it out,” said Boothe, who describes himself as “very pleased” with the fall in violent crime on his patch. Continue reading →

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Butt-plug art ‘Not everyone’s cup of tea’, says councillor

Posted on October 17, 2018 by insidecroydon

Going Dutch: Croydon culture vulture Ollie Lewis

A month since Inside Croydon revealed how the Arts Council and Croydon Council had jointly put up £48,000 of public money in grants for an arts festival which included an act that sought to “demystify the anus” and another where the artist induced incontinence for her performance, and Oliver Lewis, the council cabinet member who is supposedly in charge of the borough’s cultural reputation, has finally ended his silence over the (fecal) matter.

“The festival involved more than 70 performances,” the callow councillor for New Addington told a Town Hall meeting last week.

“I can appreciate that some of this wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.”

It was not clear whether Councillor Lewis was taking the piss or not. Continue reading →

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City Commons Funghi Walk, Ashtead Common, Oct 20

Posted on October 17, 2018 by insidecroydon

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