Norbury chip shop fire: Brigade issues warning about fryers

Posted on June 19, 2025 by insidecroydon

Following the latest blaze at a fried food takeaway in Norbury yesterday, firefighters are sharing their advice for cooking with hot oil.

Fat fryers fires: the LFB has attended more than one fire at fried food takeaways in Norbury recently

London Road was closed for a couple of hours as the London Fire Brigade dealt with the blaze. Part of the ground floor of the building was damaged by fire. Five people left the building before the Brigade arrived. There were no reports of any injuries.

The fire is believed to have been caused by a fire in a fryer spreading into the extraction system. Continue reading →

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NHS and agencies urge caution as temperatures soar to 32º

Posted on June 19, 2025 by insidecroydon

With an amber warning issued over rising temperatures in the coming days, NHS London has issued urgent health advice, asking people to take care and use NHS services wisely.

Scorchio!: public bodies are urging the public to take caution in the sun

Weather forecasters are predicting temperatures in Croydon as high as 32º in the next three or four days.

Last night, councils across London, including Croydon, activated SWEP, the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol, to run until Sunday, when teams will provide support to rough sleepers during this hot weather.

Transport for London, meanwhile, is asking all passengers on its Tubes, trams, buses and trains to travel with a bottle of water, to ensure they remain well-hydrated while travelling around the capital.

Hot weather can cause some people to become unwell through overheating (becoming uncomfortably hot), dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Continue reading →

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Croydon residents pick up the £1m tab for ‘improvement’ panel

Posted on June 18, 2025 by insidecroydon

It is residents who will pay the cost of government ‘intervention’ if Commissioners move in at Fisher’s Folly next month, just as they have been paying for a panel of Whitehall-appointed ‘experts’ since 2021.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Official figures show that in the four years that there has been an improvement and assurance panel in Croydon to oversee the council’s recovery from its serial bankruptcies (try not to laugh!), payments to the panel members have cost residents in this borough more than £700,000.

The only problem is that… well… Croydon Council’s figures for payments made to improvement panel chair Tony McArdle and his now five-strong panel don’t stack up.

In fact, based on numbers provided by the council in a Freedom of Information response in April 2024, the bill for the “help” of these half-dozen “experts” may in reality have topped £1million. All paid for, as usual, by the borough’s tax-payers.

Continue reading →

Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Stabilisation Plan, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Join us for our Midsummer’s dream walk at Hutchinson’s Bank

Posted on June 18, 2025 by insidecroydon

A natural wonder: Hutchinson’s Bank is reckoned to be the home of more than 100 species of moth and 28 species of butterfly

Inside Croydon is getting out and about again next week, with a guided walk through the flora of Hutchinson’s Bank to be led by local botany enthusiast, Moira O’Donnell. And YOU could join us on our Midsummer’s dream walk

Exotic flora: be guided through the reserve by our amateur botanist

The walk will take place on Thursday, June 26, starting from 6.30pm. We won’t be going very far, or fast, but it is expected to last about an hour and a half, and will explore the rich and varied nature to be found on the slopes of Hutchinson’s Bank.

The local nature reserve is a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

The London Wildlife Trust, who manage the site, say that Hutchinson’s Bank is “a large area of secluded chalk grassland and woodland, supporting many rare plants and insects, which has benefited from the return of traditional grazing”.

They add that it is “a great place to find orchids and other rare plants… and a hugely diverse range of butterflies. Pyramidal, common spotted and man orchid are among the flora, with grasses including kidney vetch and greater yellow-rattle”. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Charity, Croydon parks, Education, Environment, Hutchinson's Bank, Inside Croydon, Moira O'Donnell, Nature Notes, Walks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lanfranc air disaster author named in King’s Birthday Honours

Posted on June 18, 2025 by insidecroydon

NEIL BENNETT reports on a significant name included on this year’s King’s Honours List

No survivors: 39 lives were lost when the Vickers Viking crashed on Holtaheia Mountain in 1961

Among the 1,215 names on this year’s King’s Birthday Honours list, one has particular significance for Croydon.

Rosalind Frances Barbara Jones is awarded the British Empire Medal “for services to the victims of the Stavanger air disaster”.

Few people remember the Stavanger air disaster. Even fewer will be aware of the many heartbreaking stories behind this award.

Rosalind Jones, née Green, was 15 and living in Norbury when her brother Quentin, two years younger, was one of the teenaged pupils from Lanfranc Secondary Modern who died when the aircraft taking them on a summer trip to Norway crashed into a mountain near Stavanger on August 9, 1961. Two teachers, the two pilots and a stewardess also lost their lives.

The Stavanger disaster changed many Croydon lives forever and was full of cruel twists of fate. Rosalind’s family suffered one of the cruelest. Continue reading →

Posted in Archbishop Lanfranc, Community associations, History, Neil Bennett, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Young couple from Croydon confirmed among Air India victims

Posted on June 18, 2025 by insidecroydon

A young couple from Croydon, Vaibhav Patel, 29, and Jinal Goswami, 27, have been confirmed among the victims of last week’s Air India crash in Ahmedabad.

Tragedy: Vaibhav Patel and Jinal Goswami were flying home to Croydon

Goswami was seven months pregnant. The couple had been visiting Gujarat for a baby shower.

The funeral for the couple was held on Monday.

Patel and Goswami had recently moved to Croydon from Southampton.

There were 242 passengers and crew on board the aircraft, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and a Canadian. Continue reading →

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After four years, man is charged over Birdhurst Road shooting

Posted on June 18, 2025 by insidecroydon

Murder victim: Leroy Mitchell

Almost four years after a fatal shooting in a South Croydon car park, a man has appeared in court charged with the murder.

Cimarron Dume-Gooden, 32, of no fixed address, was charged on Monday with the murder of Leroy Mitchell and perverting the course of justice. Dume-Gooden appeared at at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Mitchell, 35, a father of three, was shot with a shotgun on Birdhurst Road in the early hours of October 2, 2021.

A police man-hunt saw one suspect arrested, but later released, and a £20,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest from charity Crimestoppers. Continue reading →

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From Henry V to Attenborough – David Lean July screenings

Posted on June 18, 2025 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Art, Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Business as usual for Kerswell – but remember to bring a pen!

Posted on June 17, 2025 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Like the captain of the Titanic, but she hasn’t realised we’ve hit the iceberg’. Council managers were ordered to attend briefing sessions on the chief exec’s pet project, Future Croydon, even though it looks doomed to be junked by Commissioners. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter

In Fisher’s Folly, for Katherine Kerswell, it is business as usual, with her typically patronising tone in memos to managers, even reminding experienced members of staff to bring a pen to her meetings.

“She’s like the captain of the Titanic, still at the wheel,” one member of council staff said last night. “Except she’s the only person who hasn’t realised yet we’ve hit the iceberg.”

Kerswell has ploughed on with her “Future Croydon” project, despite it being dismissed last week by the government as flawed, too slow in implementing change, and far, far too costly for the cash-strapped council. Having spent £6million on outside consultants last year, Kerswell is clearly determined to get our money’s worth.

Yesterday and today, Croydon’s £204,000 per year chief exec has been spending her valuable time (all paid for by the Council Tax-payers) attending staff briefings – “Managers Touchbase”, she calls them – to update on the progress (or lack thereof) around the fanciful plans for moving to an AI-driven council. Continue reading →

Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Stabilisation Plan, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Mayor Perry on trial: LTN admission could cost council millions

Posted on June 17, 2025 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: A High Court case claims the authority has misused its powers over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, with lawyers for the council expected to defend the Mayor’s manifesto U-turn by claiming that ‘election promises are not a binding contract’. By STEVEN DOWNES

Tory target: before the 2022 Mayoral election, Jason Perry sid he would remove Croydon’s LTNs

Tory Mayor Jason Perry’s crisis-hit council has an appointment before a High Court judge this week, as Croydon’s policies on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods come under legal scrutiny.

Things are not looking good for the prospects of Perry’s council, following recent Judicial Reviews on other traffic-reduction schemes, such as in West Dulwich, where the scheme was deemed unlawful and Lambeth Council was ordered to remove it immediately.

The High Court ruled there that the council had not properly considered residents’ concerns during the implementation of the LTN, and Lambeth was ordered to pay £35,000 towards the legal costs of the West Dulwich Action Group who brought the case.

In Croydon’s case, the complaint brought to the High Court centres on remarks made by the pro-pollution, anti-cycling Mayor Perry during a public appearance at a far-right ginger group, when he was challenged over his failure to deliver on an election promise to have the borough’s LTNs removed. Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Cycling, Lambeth Council, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, South Norwood, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, Steve Iles, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Prizes in Porter and Sorter’s new quiz are far from Trivial

Posted on June 17, 2025 by insidecroydon

Pubs in and around Croydon are offering prizes worth up to £10,000 cash, holidays, concert tickets and instant win food and drink in a special Trivial Pursuit-themed game.

Win a wedge: Trivial Pursuit is being played in hundreds of Marstons pubs over the next few weeks

Marston’s “Win A Wedge” gives locals the chance to win thousands of exciting prizes by answering general knowledge trivia questions correctly.

Participating pubs in Croydon include the Porter and Sorter next to East Croydon Station and The Ship on Croydon High Street. Others where you can “Win A Wedge” include the Ebb and Flow on Sutton High Street and Caterham’s Boundary on the Green. Continue reading →

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Ministry planning one-year stay in Croydon for Commissioners

Posted on June 16, 2025 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: Buried in the avalanche of emergency documents issued around the government’s statement on the mismanagement of the council was a timetable for the proposed intervention. By STEVEN DOWNES

Commissioners could be in place in Croydon for less than a year, as they deliver what government minister Jim McMahon last week described as “a short and sharp reset, with fast action… to shift the dial” and finally rein-in Croydon’s “runaway” finances.

That’s according to a government document, released last week among an avalanche of papers connected with McMahon’s announcement that he is “minded” to use Commissioners, after giving up on Mayor Jason Perry and his chief exec, Katherine Kerswell, to salvage something – anything – from the wreckage of Croydon’s overdrawn account with the government.

In his written statement to Parliament last week, McMahon had described Croydon as “one of the most financially distressed councils in the country”, mentioning its debts of £1.4billion and his concern that Mayor Perry and Kerswell were seriously planning to increase that borrowing to around £2billion by 2029 – proposals which the previously docile improvement and assurance panel installed in Fisher’s Folly described in its latest report to the MHCLG as “impossible”, saying that it would lead to Croydon Council’s complete “collapse”. Continue reading →

Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Stabilisation Plan, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Coulsdon business makes urgent appeal: ‘Where is everyone?’

Posted on June 16, 2025 by insidecroydon

The decline in retail, and the struggles of Britain’s high streets, has been well documented for two decades. It’s the main reason that Westfield has left central Croydon to rot since 2012, their promises of a £1.4billion redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre broken long ago.

But it is increasingly clear that shop owners are suffering more than ever, facing rising business rates, soaring rents, higher electric, gas and water bills, inflation hitting their stock and a diminishing number of customers visiting their premises.

Inside Croydon has learned of two long-standing businesses facing uncertainty – both restaurants in South Croydon – where the property has been put up for sale and the business owners have no certainty that their new landlords will not seek to increase their rents.

“It’s tough,” one retailer told us over the weekend. “We’re managing, just. But it is a real struggle.”

One Coulsdon business, Cozy Glow in Coulsdon, issued this plaintiff plea for customers last month: “Where is everyone, Coulsdon?” Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Town | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

South Koreans visit South Croydon on an education mission

Posted on June 16, 2025 by insidecroydon

Making a splash: the delegation of educationalists from South Korea was shown Rutherford School’s pioneering education methods

A special school in South Croydon had a visit from a delegation from South Korea’s Ministry of Education, the Korea National University of Education and city education officers last week to find out more about its inclusive and progressive provision.

The Rutherford School was one of only two educational establishments being visited on the delegation’s British tour, selected for its unique educational setting for young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Providing education to students who are unable to explore mainstream opportunities due to their physical and medical needs, Rutherford School’s pioneering curriculum combines education, therapy and nursing, ensuring that pupils can be in a school setting more regularly, pushing against the limits of their disabilities. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Garwood Foundation, Schools, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Austerity has been a ‘false economy’ says economics professor

Posted on June 16, 2025 by insidecroydon

In our latest Andrew Fisher Interview, our columnist discusses Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review with Jo Michell, Professor of Economics at the University of the West of England in Bristol

Given the news around Croydon Council over the past few days, the discussion takes a look at local authority funding, or the lack of it.

With Chancellors of the Exchequer since George Osborne in 2010 all choosing to squeeze the central government funding of councils, in an outsourcing of taxation misery in the name of “austerity”, Prof Michell describes the past 15 years’ policy as “a false economy”. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Fisher, Inside Croydon, The Andrew Fisher Interview, Under The Flyover | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

South Norwood coffee entrepreneur lined up for national prize

Posted on June 16, 2025 by insidecroydon

Bean there, done that: south London-based Rise coffee is up for an award

Wake up and smell the coffee!

A business partnership originally from South Norwood has been named among the finalists for this year’s Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

Rise Coffee Box is a subscription service delivering what the owners describe as “ethically sourced, speciality coffee from independent roasters”.

Named “Best Value Coffee Subscription” by Good Food and “Best Multi Brand Coffee Subscription” by The Guardian, Rise has been on the…err… well rise pretty quickly with their post-lockdown business, where 1% of all revenues is given back to coffee farmers. Continue reading →

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Kerswell rejects government decision in Q&A to council staff

Posted on June 15, 2025 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: The day after Jim McMahon, the local government minister, announced plans that could see Commissioners appointed to run Croydon, the £204,000 per year CEO issued a lengthy note defending her position.
Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, obtained the confidential document

Katherine Kerswell was at her patronising and passive-aggressive peak on Friday, as she issued a 1,500-word briefing note to all council staff.

Kerswell’s missive simmered with resentment and defiance over the government’s announcement that it intends to send in Commissioners to run the council’s affairs after years of failure by the CEO and her leadership team.

The council’s £204,000 per year chief executive probably has most to lose over the announcement, made by local government minister Jim McMahon on Thursday, after he and Whitehall mandarins lost patience with cash-strapped Croydon and its “runaway” finances under Kerswell, which he said was creating yet another “financial crisis”. Continue reading →

Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Stabilisation Plan, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Admiral Aldrich and lasting mystery of the Arctic’s lost ships

Posted on June 15, 2025 by insidecroydon

Lost in time: this 1895 painting by William Smith, at the National Maritime Museum, shows the imagined last moments of John Franklin’s Arctic expedition from 1849. But even today, mystery still shrouds the final fate of the two Royal Navy ships

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: In 1849, the Admiralty sent out two ships, the Erebus and Terror, on a mission to find the North West Passage. The mystery of what happened to the ships of the Franklin Expedition has never been entirely solved. Even Lord Nelson’s godson couldn’t find them.
By DAVID MORGAN 

A tale which carries its readers from the icy stretches of the Canadian Arctic, involves a senior officer in the Royal Navy and the search for mysteriously missing ships, and reaches into The Oval Office in the White House might just be the setting of a new thriller novel, even the next Bond movie. Add in a Croydon connection, and this true-life story becomes the tale of a local resident. Continue reading →

Posted in David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Old Coulsdon Village Fair 2025, Grange Park, Sat July 12

Posted on June 15, 2025 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Charity, Community associations, Coulsdon, HADRA, Old Coulsdon, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Help the Separated Child Foundation, Croydon Minster, June 29

Posted on June 15, 2025 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Activities, Charity, Church and religions, Croydon Minster | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Panicked Perry admitted to Rayner: I can’t balance the budget

Posted on June 14, 2025 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: Correspondence released following this week’s announcement from Whitehall that Commissioners are likely to be sent in to run the council included a letter from the Mayor that admitted his failure to ‘fix the finances’. By STEVEN DOWNES

The government announced its decision to appoint Commissioners to run Croydon’s affairs after the borough’s Conservative Mayor had admitted that he would not be able to balance the council’s budget next year.

Under Mayor Jason Perry, the cash-strapped council has voted through unbalanced budgets in 2023, 2024 and in February this year, only keeping itself afloat with increasing additional borrowing from the government. In March this year, the government agreed to £136million in exceptional financial support for Perry’s basket-case council, the biggest settlement yet.

A report to government, dated April 25, from the improvement and assurance panel which has been overseeing the council’s conduct since 2021, advised that under Perry and his chief executive Katherine Kerswell, the council’s finances had become “runaway”.

Perry and Kerswell’s “plan” for recovery was to borrow tens of millions of pounds more, something the panel repport described as “an impossible position”. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Jane West, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis, Section 114 notice, Stabilisation Plan, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Fears Croydon residents may have died in Air India tragedy

Posted on June 14, 2025 by insidecroydon

Unconfirmed reports suggest that as many as three people with Croydon connections may have been among those killed when an Air India flight bound for Gatwick crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Bleak: the crash devastated a residential area close to Ahmedabad airport, and hs claimed more than 260 lives

There were 242 passengers and crew on board the aircraft, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and a Canadian. Only one passenger survived the crash, 40-year-old British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.

At least another 20 people were killed when the aircraft crashed into the ground at Meghani Nagar, destroying a hostel where medical students were living. Wreckage was spread over an area of more than 200 metres radius. Continue reading →

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Thornton Heath wrecked: council destroys wild flower meadow

Posted on June 14, 2025 by insidecroydon

Blitzed: Mayor Perry’s grass-cutting programme has destroyed half a wildflower conservation meadow at Thornton Heath Rec

Hard-working community volunteers were left devastated this week when grass-cutting contractors hired by Croydon Council visited Thornton Heath Rec and proceeded to destroy a large part of a carefully nurtured wildflower meadow.

A council official has quickly issued an apology to the community group which does so much work to maintain Thornton Heath Recreation Ground. The official said that the grass-cutting team’s performance was “wholly unacceptable” and “will not be tolerated again”.

But in mid-summer, when wildflowers are coming into bloom, with the prospect of them self-seeding the area for future seasons, the damage has been done.

“Words fail me sometimes,” said one local. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Thornton Heath Rec, Thornton Heath, Thornton Heath Rec | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

South Croydon Village Fayre, St Peter’s Church, Sat June 28

Posted on June 14, 2025 by insidecroydon

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Friends of Millers Pond Summer Fayre, Shirley Way, July 19

Posted on June 14, 2025 by insidecroydon

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