Another selection hic-cup as Tories pick ‘probable alcoholic’

Posted on December 15, 2017 by insidecroydon

KEN LEE on more problems for Croydon Conservatives over their poor judgement in candidate selections for the local elections

How the Tories finally presented their South Norwood candidates this week, including ‘probably alcoholic’ O’Flynn

Despite their four-month pause before allocating their B List candidates to contest wards in the north of the borough, Croydon’s Conservatives don’t appear to have been very careful about who they have chosen to stand in next May’s local elections.

Because one of the candidates for South Norwood ward named by Croydon Tories describes himself as “Probably an alcoholic”.

Matthew O’Flynn is one of the Croydon Tories’ after-thoughts: candidates for five wards that they didn’t bother selecting in September, when Tim Pollard and his top team were just too busy shuffling their pack to find safer wards for the likes of… Helen Pollard. Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 council elections, Matthew O'Flynn, South Norwood, Tim Pollard | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon condemned for ‘cultural apartheid’ over music ban

Posted on December 14, 2017 by insidecroydon

One of the country’s most prominent black activists has condemned Croydon Council’s suppression of its own report into the town centre’s night-time economy.

Lee Jasper: condemns police’s ‘cultural apartheid’ in Croydon

Lee Jasper has described Croydon police’s “bashment ban” – withholding licences from nightclubs that want to play black and Asian music – as “cultural apartheid”.

Jasper was the senior policy advisor on equalities at City Hall from 2004 to 2008, during Ken Livingstone’s second term as Mayor of London.

Inside Croydon yesterday published the report by Councillor Callton Young, which the council has withheld for eight months. Young’s report found that Croydon police had indeed made efforts to ban what some officers regard as “unacceptable forms of music” from clubs and bars in the town centre.

“This is the type of cultural policing apartheid, enforced by an institutionally racist Metropolitan Police, that targets black club owners, and [that] promoters face all over London,” Jasper wrote on Twitter. Continue reading →

Posted in Amy Lamé Limited, Andy Tarrant, Business, Callton Young, Croydon Council, Dance, Jeff Boothe, Jo Negrini, Ken Livingstone, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Music, Policing, Pubs, Sadiq Khan, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Police investigate bomb threat made against Labour MP’s office

Posted on December 14, 2017 by insidecroydon

The police are investigating a bomb threat made against the constituency office of Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones.

Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones (left): her new office has received a bomb threat

The office, on Blackhorse Lane in Addiscombe, is due to be opened officially on Saturday morning by Emily Thornberry, a senior member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet at Westminster.

The bomb threat is believed to be connected with the local Labour group’s plans to vacate its long-term office in Ruskin House and re-locate their full-time organiser, Jack Buck, to Jones’s office.

It is difficult to assess how seriously to take the bomb threat, which it is understood was delivered via email. Continue reading →

Posted in Caragh Skipper, Clive Fraser, Crime, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Croydon South, Ruskin House, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Viridor highlights homeless owls as they claim wildlife success

Posted on December 14, 2017 by insidecroydon

One of the Beddington barn owls, as featured in Viridor’s leaflets

Incinerator operators Viridor have outraged local conservationists with their latest publicity, which has been described as “misinformation” over the status of the habitat and the various wildlife species that live around Beddington Farmlands.

Viridor has a £1billion contract from the South London Waste Partnership, including Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton. With the Beddington Lane incinerator, built at a cost of £200million, about to be fired up for “hot commissioning” tests before Christmas, Viridor has been undertaking a PR campaign, its leaflets being distributed to homes locally claiming that they are doing wonderful work for conservation.

But bird-watchers and conservationists claim that Viridor has failed to fulfil its various promises, made in conjunction with planning permission when it acquired the landfill site in Sutton, to improve and enhance the environment, and this has seen the number of breeding birds at Beddington plummet. A previously flourishing colony of tree sparrows at Beddington Farmlands is now almost extinct. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Peter Alfrey, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tories scrape together B Listers, but miss out Selhurst

Posted on December 14, 2017 by insidecroydon

KEN LEE, our Town Hall reporter, on the latest sign that Croydon’s Tories really don’t much care for the north of the borough

Two-seat Selhurst allocated just a single Conservative candidate according to their campaign leaflet

Four months on from the botched announcement of their candidates for next May’s local elections, and Croydon’s Conservatives have distributed a newsletter which shows that they still have yet to find a full slate of 70 candidates. The local elections, on May 3, are now less than five months away.

Back in September, we reported how the Tories managed to name only 56 candidates in 23 wards, having completely omitted any candidates for South Norwood, Selhurst, Thornton Heath, Bensham Manor and West Thornton wards – all Labour-held and all in the north of the borough.

The latest Tory leaflet, which may have landed on a doormat near you in the past fortnight, fills in some of those blanks, with a few names plucked from what the Conservatives themselves regard as only “B List” candidates. Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 council elections, Croydon Council, Mario Creatura, Selhurst, Tim Pollard | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Westfield takeover is a ‘positive’. Newman’s positive about that

Posted on December 13, 2017 by insidecroydon

MT WALLETTE, our Francophone retailing correspondent, on council efforts to pass off a pig’s ear as a silk purse (there has to be some trading standards regulations about that…)

Tony Newman at a recent council meeting. He’s very positive

The multi-billion-pound takeover of Westfield, the shopping centre developers who have been keeping Croydon waiting for at almost six years for the much-needed redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre, is “extremely positive”, according to council leader Tony Newman.

And he’s quite positive about that.

In what must be the first time that the leader of Croydon Council has felt the need to share their thoughts about an announcement made to the Sydney Stock Exchange, Newman – or one of his minions – cobbled together 156 words to publish on the council website which showed (a) that our council leader doesn’t know much about business; and (b) the council hasn’t got a Scooby-doo what the real ramifications might be of the news that Unibail-Rodamco has acquired the Australian company.

The statement may also betray a heightened sense of nervousness at the Town Hall over the whole Westfield deal for the town centre, which was first announced in 2012. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, John Burton, Tony Newman, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Council wanted to whitewash report on police ‘bashment ban’

Posted on December 13, 2017 by insidecroydon

Today, we publish the review on the borough’s night-time economy and the police’s licensing policies, which council leader Tony Newman and chief exec Jo Negrini didn’t want you to see. WALTER CRONXITE reports

In control: Labour council leader Tony Newman, right, has not helped to get Callton Young’s report published

Croydon Council officials have suppressed a report by an elected councillor into the state of the borough’s night-time economy, apparently because they are uncomfortable with its findings that the police had been conducting racial profiling as part of its night club licensing policy, and that they were operating a “bashment ban”, stopping clubs and bars playing music popular with black and ethnic minority communities.

There are suggestions that the report’s author was asked to change his findings, to deliver what has been called “a whitewash”.

Today, Inside Croydon publishes the report in full.

Callton Young, the Labour councillor for West Thornton, was tasked by the scrutiny committee to draft a report on the state of the town centre’s night-time economy following allegations by some club owners that the police were banning grime, dubstep and other forms of black music from being played in Croydon. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Callton Young, Croydon Council, Dance, Jo Negrini, Music, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Exclusive competition: Win new book Railways & The Raj

Posted on December 13, 2017 by insidecroydon

Inside Croydon is delighted to present another great competition, exclusive to our site supporters, with two prizes up for grabs which should delight anyone interested in history, India or railways, or could make an outstanding present for Christmas.

Railways & The Raj is the latest book from transport expert Christian Wolmar.

Wolmar’s railway books published by Atlantic have sold nearly 200,000 copies, and this latest work is expected to be a best-seller. And for two Inside Croydon subscribers, they can win a copy each through answering a simple question.

Published last month, in his expertly told history, Wolmar reveals the full story of India’s railways, from its very beginnings to the present day, and examines the chequered role they have played in Indian history and the creation of today’s modern state.  Continue reading →

Posted in History, Inside Croydon | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Community Christmas Party, St Augustine’s, Dec 22

Posted on December 13, 2017 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Church and religions, South Croydon | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Giant-sized laughs make for an Awsum pantomime

Posted on December 12, 2017 by insidecroydon

Jonny Awsum (as Billy Trott, left) and Tim Hudson (Dame Trott) in Jack And The Beanstalk, at the Waddon Theatre. Pictures by James Spicer

SRITHAN CHANDA found something for all ages at a not-to-be-missed production of Jack And The Beanstalk. Oh yes he did!

This year’s Croydon Pantomime at the Waddon Theatre, Jack And The Beanstalk, is a fabulous and entertaining show, especially for children, with a variety of songs and dances.

The plot of one of the most famous pantomimes is given a special twist, as it does not follow the original fairytale and it is a bit modernised. The show is remarkable and there are a lot of jokes to make you laugh. Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy, Dance, Music, Theatre, Waddon | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

LibDem councillor goes AWOL and becomes a cage fighter

Posted on December 12, 2017 by insidecroydon

There’s concern for the well-being, and whereabouts, of Sutton LibDem councillor Callum Morton.

Sutton councillor and cage fighter Callum Morton, left, at a Pride event with LibDem MP Tom Brake

Morton has been AWOL for months. He hasn’t been seen at a meeting of Sutton’s full council since September.

But he has meanwhile managed to find the time to train to make his debut as … a cage fighter.

Inside Croydon today tracked down Morton to his workplace, 120 miles away in Bath in the West Country. Morton is the office manager for Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat MP who won the seat at the General Election in June.

Morton said that he was unable immediately to answer our questions about his cage fighting debut, or when he might next turn up to fulfil his duties at Sutton Council, nor whether he intends to seek re-election in The Wrythe ward at the local elections next year. Morton, clearly with the interests of the tax-payers who pay his wages at heart, said, “Because I am at work at the moment, and if there are any questions about that, I’d have to respond later by email.” Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Sutton Council, Tom Brake MP | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

TfL consults New Addington over tram service reductions

Posted on December 12, 2017 by insidecroydon

Transport for London, which abandoned its immediate plans for altering the tram service from New Addington because they had failed to consult the public, has started to consult the public on its plans.

Tram passengers from New Addington are being consulted over timetable changes

The TfL changes will see passengers from the New Addington branch of the network have to change in central Croydon if they want to travel through to Reeves Corner and beyond to Mitcham and Wimbledon.

The first consultation drop-in session was staged yesterday in the town centre, with two further sessions to be staged in New Addington, tomorrow (December 13) from 4pm to 6pm in New Addington Library, and then next Tuesday (December 19; 4pm to 8pm) at the Community Centre on Central Parade.

TfL says that the reasons for the services changes are, “At the moment there can be a long wait for a tram followed by several at once. This causes some trams to be very crowded. It also means it can take a long time to restore a full service after a delay. Without action, these problems will get worse as the network gets busier. Continue reading →

Posted in East Croydon, New Addington, TfL, Tramlink, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Westfield takeover raises uncertainties for Croydon mall

Posted on December 12, 2017 by insidecroydon

There’s renewed uncertainty over the future of the Croydon town centre redevelopment by Westfield, after the developers’ parent company announced in Sydney overnight that it is the subject of a £18.5billion takeover bid from French company Unibail-Rodamco.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory and share-holder approval, represents the biggest takeover of an Australian company on record. By acquiring Westfield’s 35 shopping centres in the United States and United Kingdom, Unibail-Rodamco will create the world’s largest mall operator. The French company said today that it plans to re-brand all its malls with the red Westfield logo.

The deal is a second major retail deal in a week, after Hammerson’s takeover of Intu for £3.4billion. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, John Burton, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Council planning chief’s ‘new way of working’ for Brick by Brick

Posted on December 11, 2017 by insidecroydon

Having managed to piss off people from Upper Norwood to Purley, from Shirley to Coulsdon, Brick by Brick, the council’s wholly owned and wholly opaque home-building company, and the Town Hall planning department are undertaking a pre-Christmas charm offensive.

The green beside Ruskin House which Brick by Brick wants to concrete over and build an as yet unspecified number of flats

For many who have observed the conduct of the company so far, it may be a bit late for that.

This Wednesday, December 13, Brick by Brick will be setting out their stall in Ruskin House to demonstrate that building on one of the few remaining patches of open space in the town centre will somehow help ease the housing crisis, while also not jeopardising the state of the Grade II-listed neighbouring building.

Those living on the other side of Coombe Road, in Heathfield Gardens, have already been dumped upon by Brick by Brick, as flat owners and tenants have been ordered out of their garage spaces to allow for the already densely populated area to have further housing built there. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Bernard Weatherill House, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Pete Smith, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Croydon’s cosiest pubs for Christmas: our insider’s guide/2

Posted on December 11, 2017 by insidecroydon

Most local pubs do make some concessions to Christmas time

In his selfless quest to find Croydon’s cosiest pubs for Christmas, KEN TOWL is heading into the town centre

From South Norwood and Selhurst, arriving in the town centre, so far the Christmas quotient has not risen above 6/10 in the pubs visited. Continue reading →

Posted in Ken Towl, Pubs | Tagged | Leave a comment

Croydon’s cosiest pubs for Christmas: our insider’s guide/3

Posted on December 11, 2017 by insidecroydon

The White Bear: a tavern, not an over-large drinking cavern

KEN TOWL’s  on the last leg … on his last legs? … as his search for Croydon’s cosiest Christmas pub nears its end

The pubs run by the large brewery chains in Croydon town centre certainly upped the amount of tinsel and pine needles in their premises.

But my quest for the ultimate in Christmas cosiness in Croydon’s pubs was not yet over, with the best (in my opinion) yet to come.

Hearing that they had a real fire, I was drawn next to The Cricketers Arms (47 Shirley Road, CR0 7ER). Continue reading →

Posted in Ken Towl, Pubs | Tagged | 4 Comments

Croydon’s cosiest pubs for Christmas: our insider’s guide/1

Posted on December 11, 2017 by insidecroydon

A roaring open fire in a Croydon pub. Not as easy to find as you might think

Some Guildford-based small-circulation newspapers rely on TripAdviser listings and remote correspondents based in Aberdeen to provide their ‘recommendations’ of places to visit in Croydon. Not here.

We sent the intrepid KEN TOWL out into the winter weather on a mission to discover the cosiest, most Christmassy pubs in Croydon, and he’s just made it back in time for the egg nog

It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it. But how?

This could never be an objective survey, but is based on the atmosphere and welcome offered by some of the best pubs in the area, and some of the less well-known. Where could you go, settle down in the warm, and have a cheery chat with some mates this Festive Season? Continue reading →

Posted in Ken Towl, Pubs | Tagged | Leave a comment

Croydon’s trees harbour one of the traditions of Christmas

Posted on December 10, 2017 by insidecroydon

NATURE NOTES: One of the most Christmassy of plants and symbols of the season can be found all around Croydon, as MOIRA O’DONNELL explains

Mistletoe is one of the most Christmassy of plants, and at this time of year will no doubt be featuring prominently in one form or another as we start to decorate our homes and write our Christmas cards.

Outside however, many of Croydon’s trees have already prepared themselves for the festive season and are playing host to spherical balls of mistletoe. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Moira O'Donnell, Nature Notes | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ruskin House Christmas Party with DJ MJ, Dec 15

Posted on December 10, 2017 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, Music, Ruskin House | Tagged | Leave a comment

Keep Our St Helier campaign public meeting, Morden, Jan 30

Posted on December 10, 2017 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Health, St Helier Hospital | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Back2Bars Open Mic Nights, Project B, off Surrey Street

Posted on December 10, 2017 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Music, Surrey Street | Tagged , | Leave a comment

4,000 residents apply to buy pocket-sized Addiscombe flats

Posted on December 9, 2017 by insidecroydon

A private developer building a residential tower just across the road from the 50p-bit building and tram tracks of East Croydon has received more than 4,000 expressions of interest from Croydon residents who might want to take one of the 153 flats under construction.

The architects’ impression of how the Addiscombe Grove tower will look once completed

Pocket Living was granted planning permission by Croydon Council last month to build the 21-storey tower, on the site of a recently demolished large inter-war period detached town house next to a church on Addiscombe Grove.

It is Pocket’s first development in Croydon.

Pocket claims that 73 per cent of their flats will be for potential first-time buyers who live or work in the borough, and that these – 112 of the properties – represent almost 8 per cent of Croydon’s annual affordable housing target.

Pocket’s tower block will have 112 one-bed flats, 39 two-bed and two three-bedroom homes.

No one is claiming that these town centre apartments will be “generously” sized. Indeed, the one-bed flats just meet the minimum size requirement for homes for one-person habitation. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Croydon Council, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Planning | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Waddon panto comes a cropper due to ‘technical issues’

Posted on December 9, 2017 by insidecroydon

Today’s matinee and evening performances of Jack And The Beanstalk at the Waddon Leisure Centre have been cancelled by the producers due to “technical issues”.

Waddon Leisure Centre: venue for the Croydon Panto, but four shows have been cancelled

Q Productions declined to elaborate on the nature of the “issues”, but a spokesperson said that the decision was reached as the final option and done with the safety of cast, crew and audience in mind.

Tonight’s cancellation is a particular set-back, since it had been intended as the big press night for show reviewers.

Jack And The Beanstalk is this year’s Croydon Panto, and is being staged at the Waddon Leisure Centre while Fairfield Halls is under-going a £30million refurbishment. Staging a modern, all-singing-and-dancing stage show at a temporary venue has provided the producers with additional challenges, though they managed a successful run at the leisure centre in 2016.
Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy, Dance, Fairfield Halls, Music, Theatre, Waddon | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Owner ‘rises to the challenge’ as businesses quit Boxpark

Posted on December 8, 2017 by insidecroydon

“Stop sort of complaining about your lot and get on with rising to the challenge, that’s my message to people,” businessman Roger Wade said recently.

“You can’t have the council going out trying to protect local businesses.”

Open all hours: Boozepark

Wade is the founder of Boxpark, the East Croydon-based venue which ahead of its first year of operation received a £3million loan from Croydon Council, plus £180,000 in public subsidy from the Town Hall. So the idea of Wade offering tough-love advice to other businesses which have not received a penny from Croydon Council may seem a little rich.

Especially so since, in the past couple of months, Wade’s Boozepark has seen around half a dozen of its food and drink tenants shut up shop and quit Croydon amid growing discontent at the management style and decisions of their landlords.

MUD, a fair dink ’em Australian brunch and coffee bar, closed down its Boxpark unit in the past week, to join an exodus of traders which includes Donde tapas bar (still operating in Honor Oak Park), The Potato Project (which has an outlet in Soho), Department of Coffee and Knot. Continue reading →

Posted in Boxpark, Business, East Croydon, Mark Watson, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

‘Too little, too late’ as our politicians wake up to incinerators

Posted on December 8, 2017 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: With the Beddington Lane incinerator about to be fired up for trials, LEWIS WHITE, pictured left, wants to know why it has taken the powers-that-be so long to become alert to the potential threat to local air quality

How come that MPs (well, some of them anyway) and the London Assembly have only now just woken up to realising that air pollution in London is not solely a product of motor vehicle exhausts?.

It is tempting to voice a cry of “too little, too late” over the Beddington incinerator, but we should be thankful that at long last, this important issue of incineration is being raised at a high level. Waste incineration, especially when conducted in high density populated areas such as this part of south London, affects the health of us all. Continue reading →

Posted in Bernard Weatherill House, Broad Green, Croydon Council, Environment, Thornton Heath, Waddon, Waste incinerator, West Croydon | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment