Historic Glamorgan pub’s threat of demolition from developers

Posted on November 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Time is running out to try to save a Victorian era pub building for community use continues, as JERRY FITZPATRICK, a former Addiscombe councillor, explains

Left to rot: the developers who own the site have allowed The Glamorgan to fall into disrepair over several years

Campaigners determined to save a historic pub in Cherry Orchard Road have come out swinging against the developer who wants to demolish it.

A young Victoria was on the throne when the Glamorgan, then called the Horse and Groom, opened on Cherry Orchard Road, close to the new railway lines, in 1855.

It remained a popular pub for more than 150 years, most recently as a successful gastropub, until it was suddenly flogged to developers in 2016. They wanted to demolish it at once and replace it will high-rise flats. They were thwarted by the Save the Glamorgan Campaign, who persuaded Croydon Council to stop the development. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Community associations, History, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Planning, Property, Pubs, Sean Fitzsimons | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

College given ‘Good’ rating after Ofsted inspectors’ return visit

Posted on November 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

A year and a half after being rated as “Inadequate” following an Ofsted inspection, when the leadership was warned “about the risks associated with radicalisation and extremism” on its campus, Croydon College, together with Coulsdon Sixth Form College, has had its rating upgraded to “Good” overall, including “Good” in all eight assessment areas.

Much improved: Ofsted inspectors were satisfied that Croydon College is ‘Good’

The May 2023 Ofsted report had been the first since Croydon College’s merger with Coulsdon Sixth Form College in 2018.

Croydon College, located in a bustling town centre site between East Croydon Station and the Fairfield Halls, is among the biggest further education institutes of its kind in the country, with almost 6,000 on its roll, including nearly 1,000 pupils at the Coulsdon site. Continue reading →

Posted in Caireen Mitchell, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Sixth Form College, Croydon College, Education | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TfL set to take Oyster card applications following cyber attack

Posted on November 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

Transport for London has begun accepting applications for some Oyster cards, following the malicious cyber attack in September that compromised its computer systems.

Re-opened: applications and renewals for Oyster cards are about to get back online

TfL says it is reopening photocard applications in phases, and that bus, Tube and tram passengers who have not been able to use a photocard for discounted travel should be able to claim refunds.

Following the cyber attack on September 1, about 5,000 passengers were contacted by TfL to advise that their bank sort codes and account numbers may have been accessed by hackers.

It was then that TfL paused concession photocard applications to undertake security checks. Continue reading →

Posted in TfL, Transport | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Tories back Perry to have another go as £82,000 per year Mayor

Posted on November 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

Remember, remember, the fifth of November… There might be an election going on elsewhere today, but in Croydon the selection results are already in, and local Conservatives are standing full-square behind part-time Perry in his bid to remain as Mayor. As WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor reports, the way things are going, he might just win

With 18 months to go until the next Town Hall elections, and Croydon Conservatives have gone out and declared that Jason Perry, the piss-poor and part-time Mayor of Croydon, is to be their candidate for the £82,000 per year job again in 2026.

Not that they had much of a choice. There was no other candidate for selection.

Conservative Party rules are such that, if an incumbent wants to stand again, no one should be so impolite as to require any kind of democratic process to challenge that. So the Tories are stuck with Perry, despite his record of failure since being elected in 2022.

And the way that the polls, and by-elections, have been going, it could just be that the people of Croydon might end up stuck with Perry, too. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Neil Garratt, Rowenna Davis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

They’re back! Cash-strapped council is staging its own awards

Posted on November 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

Katherine Kerswell’s council is spending money on a ‘special’ awards event, while at the same time preparing to close libraries and children’s nursery schools, and looking at another round of redundancies. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter

Echoing the terrified small girl in the horror movie Poltergeist, Croydon Council’s internal comms department issued a message to all staff this afternoon: “They’re back!”

But this was no timorous warning of a spooky presence.

Just a heads up of the latest distraction for staff at the cash-strapped council, ahead of closures to public libraries and nursery schools, as well as the inevitable next round of redundancies that are sure to be built in to the current budget-setting process.

The coming budget is likely to be harsher than all othrs, since Katherine Kerswell, the £192,000 per year chief executive, and £82,000 per year executive Mayor Jason Perry, discovered that they’d completely lost control of spending in this financial year. Last time they looked, they were running £42million over budget.

“Back with a bang…,” today’s cheery memo chirped, “the Croydon Council Awards!” They do like their exclamation marks in Fisher’s Folly. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

In memory of Arno Rabinowitz, always positive, always a friend

Posted on November 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

ARNO RABINOWITZ died at the weekend. He had been one of Inside Croydon’s earliest and staunchest of supporters, and one of our most frequent and most sage of comment writers, even gracing the pages of Croydon Commentary on occasion. Here, his neighbour and party colleague, Jerry Fitzpatrick, pays tribute to his old friend

Arno Rabinowitz, 1934-2024

Fifty years ago, Arnold Rabinowitz was on a list of names I was given from whom I was to collect their Labour Party membership subscription. He handed over his 50p, had a chat, and I have been a friend and neighbour of Arno and Gwen since that time.

Arno was born and educated in South Africa, his parents immigrant Jews from eastern Europe, his father Russian and his mother Ukrainian. Arno was brought up in the Jewish faith but by adulthood he was utterly secular. Continue reading →

Posted in Inside Croydon, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on In memory of Arno Rabinowitz, always positive, always a friend

Philp gets a Tory top job to provide a never-ending punchline

Posted on November 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on a Parliamentary appointment that has had Westminster watchers rolling around in laughter

Gis a job. Any job: the spirit of Yosser Hughes lives on, as Chris Philp selfies with Kemi BadEnoch on Saturday

Chris Philp, the Croydon South Conservative MP notorious as “the nose in search of a bum”, has finally landed a prize for all those hours spent prostrating himself in front of television cameras, repeating whatever absurd party line he had been instructed to trot out.

Kemi BadEnoch, the new Tory Party leader, this morning named Hampstead-based Philp as her shadow Home Secretary, the chief opposition spokesperson for one of the great offices of state. Yvette Cooper must think all her Christmases have arrived at once.

The sound of a barrel being scraped could be heard all the way from Land’s End to Inverness. It was like the absurd punchline to a joke that even the combined comic geniuses of Monty Python, The Mighty Boosh and Private Eye could never manage to come up with. Maybe a bit Benny Hill?

Oh, how they laughed. And announced on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, too. It was almost as if to prove that Guy Fawkes had the right idea all along… Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon South | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Football club delays its kick-off for a hedgehog pitch invader

Posted on November 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

Last night’s AFC Croydon Athletic under-18s game against Corinthian Casuals at Mayfield Stadium was forced to delay its kick-off – there was a hedgehog on the pitch!

Pitch invader: football fans were charmed by their unexpected visitor at the Mayfield Stadium last night

The Mayfield at Thornton Heath is surrounded by open ground, havens for wildlife, as it sits between Croydon Cemetary and Mitcham Common.

The club, part-owned by Stormzy and former Palace star Wilfried Zaha, has been in contact with the Mitcham Hedgehog Project for some time and had already agreed to install footprint tunnels and detection cameras to monitor any hedgehog activity. Continue reading →

Posted in AFC Croydon Athletic, Football, Gardening, Thornton Heath, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minister Reed attended unminuted meetings with water bosses

Posted on November 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

Feeling let down: marchers at yesterday’s Clean Water demo are demanding that the water industry is re-nationalised by the Labour government. Steve Reed, meanwhile, has been holding secret meetings with water industry bosses

Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, reports on how the tide of support for one local MP in government is going out very quickly

Steve Reed, the Croydon MP promoted to environment secretary in Keir Starmer’s government, is rapidly finding himself out of his depth in a sea of sewage… and worse.

Knee-deep in sewage: smirking Steve Reed is causing increasing distrust over government policy on pollution

Devoted townie Reed was quickly found out by the farming lobby, who are ready to march on Westminster after changes in inheritance tax announced in last week’s Budget.

But he is also being deserted by celebrity supporters, who spotted Reed on the anti-pollution bandwagon before the General Election but have since discovered the Labour MP for Streatham and Croydon North is really doing next to nothing over the dumping of sewage into our rivers, lakes and along our coastlines. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Frankie Goes To Croydon – a walking show with a big reveal

Posted on November 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

The first Croydonites Fringe Festival was staged over the weekend, a curtain-raiser for a month-long programme of theatre around the borough, and KEN TOWL was there to see it all unveiled at one of the shows

Build it up, knock it down: Amy Gwilliam, as Frankie Foxtone, leads us, and a bemused on-looking Peter, around Croydon town centre

I’m standing in the “bar quarter” of Croydon, as a hard-hatted, power-dressed Frankie Foxtone points out yet another abandoned building development in Croydon, this time the Nestlé Tower, and tells us of her “ambitious” plans for the centre of town.

She is keen, she says, to get our input. Foxtone bills herself as a “perfectly poised and ruthless property developer… Famous for award-winning schemes in Marbella and Slough… She’ll change your life, and your postcode”. She is the darkly comic creation of performer Amy Gwilliam. Continue reading →

Posted in "Hammersfield", Art, Centrale, Croydonites Festival, Ken Towl, Theatre, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Surrey Police make arrest after stabbing at Whyteleafe pub

Posted on November 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

Surrey Police have arrested a man in connection with a stabbing in Whyteleafe last week.

Police said they were called to the Whyteleafe Tavern at 5.30pm on Wednesday.

The victim, aged in his 30s, was taken to hospital with stab wounds and later released, Surrey Police said.

A 43-year-old man, from Whyteleafe, was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Knife crime, Surrey | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture! And all by Royal command

Posted on November 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A chance letter to Croydon Minster has sparked an investigation by DAVID MORGAN into a briefly thriving Victorian era photography studio on North End. But who is the mystery priest?

Family visit: Bertie, the Prince of Wales (left) with Princess Alexandra and the King of Greece, as photographed by the Southwell Brothers in 1863

Almost everyone today can take a good photo, thanks to the sophisticated technology contained within our smartphones (although there’s plenty of really bad selfies taken, too).

But back in Victorian times, a trip to the photographic studio, for those who could afford it, was pretty much the only way of having a moment in their lives captured on film. Many of these photos were turned into “cartes de visit”, visiting cards, which the sitter could distribute to friends and family.

One such photographic studio in Croydon, Southwell Brothers, operated out of 27 North End. Town directories didn’t list the business until 1878. It had gone by 1886.

The photography business shared No27 with many other tenants over the years. The variations reflected the diverse use of office and shop space in what was then a busy and bustling centre of a Surrey market town, bringing together the affluent suburbs of London and the farmers of the North Downs. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

ASPRA Festive Lights, Blackhorse Sq, Addiscombe, Nov 15

Posted on November 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe and Shirley Park RA, Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Palace Art and Craft Market, Crystal Palace Subway, Nov 23

Posted on November 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Business, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace Park, Friends of Crystal Palace Park | Tagged , | Leave a comment

British spy who flew from Croydon to start Spanish Civil War

Posted on November 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

Leading the fight against fascism: International Brigade volunteers from Croydon, clockwise from to left: Miles Tomalin, Cyril Sexton, Harry Evans, John Peet, George Wheeler and Bill Harrington

The prelude to World War II in Europe was a nasty and brutal civil war in Spain, used as a proving ground for Hitler’s troops. And Croydon played a role in its start and its end, writes JIM JUMP

Croydon has an honourable place in the annals of the World War II. It was from Croydon Airport that RAF fighter squadrons helped see off Hitler’s Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Throughout the war, Croydon remained an important RAF base and a gateway for thousands of troops being sent into action.

Espionage mission: a Dragon Rapide aircraft, like the one used by Major Pollard to fly Franco to Morocco

But the history of the airport hides a darker secret from the years leading up to that war that engulfed the world.

On July 11, 1936, Major Hugh Pollard took off from Croydon for the Canary Islands in a chartered de Havilland Dragon Rapide. He told everyone he was going on holiday.

The truth was very different. Pollard was a British spy. Working with plotters in Spain, Pollard’s mission was to pick up General Francisco Franco and take him to Spanish Morocco.

Franco had been exiled to the Canaries by the elected government of the Spanish Republic, who didn’t trust him – with good reason, as it turned out. Once airlifted to Morocco, the general took command of Spain’s elite Army of Africa and launched a fascist-backed military uprising that sparked the Spanish Civil War.

The people of Croydon shouldn’t despair, however, over this blot on their history. During the ensuing war in Spain, many local men volunteered to fight against Franco and the jack-booted leaders of fascism. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Airport, History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Croydon’s 2024 Remembrance Services, Nov 10 and 11

Posted on November 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

The council has announced the details of Croydon’s civic services and commemorations for this year’s Remembrance Day.

They begin on Sunday November 10, when the civic Service of Remembrance will take place at Croydon Minster. This is open to all and is not a ticketed event.

Anyone who wishes to attend is asked to take their seats by 10.40am for the 10.55am service.

After the service, there will be a procession of military personnel and what the council calls “other uniformed organisations”. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Council, Croydon Minster | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Bonfire Night for children with SEND, LFB Croydon, Nov 8

Posted on November 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, London Fire Brigade | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Perry and Kerswell ask for your ideas to fix their budget mess

Posted on November 1, 2024 by insidecroydon

Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on Mayor Perry and the council directors’ latest lame efforts to make a (empty) silk purse out of a debt-laden sow’s ear

Could there ever have been a more misleading headline to a council press release, from a council that routinely misleads with its press releases, than what was issued last night: “Have your say in our 2025/26 budget”.

Croydon’s residents had no say in Mayor Jason Perry’s 2024-2025 unbalanced budget, and they were certainly ignored a year earlier when the Tory Mayor hiked Council Tax by 15%.

So the public is hardly likely to be listened to with the latest set of proposals, when Mayor Perry and council chief executive Katherine Kerswell were predicting a £42million budget overspend after just a couple of months of this financial year.

But hey… the six-figure salaried executives and £82,000 per year part-time Mayor like to pretend they are in any way accountable, and so it is that we begin the pantomime season a few weeks early at Croydon Town Hall. Continue reading →

Posted in Adult Social Care, Children's Services, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Sutton puts Carshalton’s Grade II*-listed Old Rectory up for sale

Posted on November 1, 2024 by insidecroydon

Quite a sight: Carshalton’s Old Rectory, bottom right, with central London in the far distance

Sutton Council has put the Old Rectory in Carshalton into the hands of estate agents, as the local authority makes attempts to raise some extra cash while driving down costs incurred through building maintenance. Not that the council appears to have spent very much on that in recent years.

The Grade II*-listed Old Rectory has appeared on the Carter Jonas website this week, though without any sale price listed.

Thought to have been built between 1703 and 1705, during the reign of Queen Anne, the Old Rectory has four rooms on each of the ground, first and attic floors, and in its heyday provided very comfortable accommodation for the vicars of All Saints Church, which is just the other side of the ponds. Continue reading →

Posted in Carshalton and Wallington, Environment, History, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

GLA rejects Polaska Purley Pool plan as ‘wholly unacceptable’

Posted on November 1, 2024 by insidecroydon

London’s deputy mayor Jules Pipe has stepped in over a project with 220 retirement flats worth an estimated £70m and not a single affordable new home. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Off target: Polaska wants to build £70m-worth of ‘later living’ flats, without any affordable homes

City Hall has rejected proposals from shady developers Polaska to build 220 “later living” flats on the site of Purley Pool as “wholly unacceptable”, blowing a massive hole in another of Croydon Mayor Jason Perry’s increasingly crackpot and unviable schemes.

The GLA has rejected the scheme because of the lack of any affordable housing in the proposals, despite Polaska having had the benefit of at least two pre-application meetings with planners from City Hall and Croydon before submitting their application.

The £70million-worth of “later living” flats proposed by Polaska would also remove around 400 car parking spaces from Purley town centre, which attracted widespread criticism from several residents’ associations. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Community associations, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, HADRA, Housing, Jules Pipe, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, Parking, Planning, Polaska, Polaska Assets Ltd, Property, Purley, Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown, Purley Pool, Selsdon Residents' Association | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Tram crash civic memorial service to be held on Nov 9

Posted on November 1, 2024 by insidecroydon

On the eighth anniversary of the Croydon tram disaster, in which seven people died and dozens more were injured, the borough will pay its respects with civic ceremony in New Addington on Saturday, November 9.

Today, the council issued a statement which said: “Residents are invited to attend the service to pay their respects. It will be held at 11am on Saturday November 9 at Market Square, Central Parade, New Addington. Continue reading →

Posted in Kola Agboola, New Addington, New Addington North, Sandilands derailment, Tramlink | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Markets, comedy and cinema coming to Crystal Palace Subway

Posted on November 1, 2024 by insidecroydon

More event dates have just been announced for the newly restored Crystal Palace Subway, as it is brought back to life and starts to be used for a whole range of activities. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace Park, Crystal Palace Park Trust, Friends of Crystal Palace Park | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Emergency tram works announced for weekend of Nov 2-3

Posted on October 31, 2024 by insidecroydon

Transport for London has issued a late-notice announcement of closure of a large section of the tram network this Saturday and Sunday.

TfL says that the closures are caused by “essential engineering works”. Continue reading →

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

Get stars in your eyes on our next Croydon ramble, Nov 17

Posted on October 31, 2024 by insidecroydon

For our next Inside Croydon guided walk, we are returning to a route first checked out by KEN TOWL seven years ago – a short, sociable autumn stroll up a hill and through the woods and meadows passing Kenley aerodrome and the Croydon observatory. And all to raise some money for one of Croydon’s long-standing charities

Join us!: we’ll be off to Kenley Common, seeking a yellow-brick road

Inside Croydon’s guided walks around the outskirts of London offer our loyal readers a chance to find out more about the area, their environment and history.

Our next walk is on the afternoon of Sunday November 17.

We will be exploring a modest three miles through to gorgeous Kenley Common (“a piece of countryside preserved for you, denizen of the capital, by the foresight and munificence of the City of London Corporation”), and Kenley aerodrome, a base for Battle of Britain Hurricanes and Spitfires, now home to a more peaceful gliding school. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Community associations, Croydon parks, Environment, Inside Croydon, Ken Towl, Walks, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Children’s theatre receives £50,000 grant for new play garden

Posted on October 31, 2024 by insidecroydon

Theatre of dreams: the Polka Theatre is opening its doors to thousands more schoolchildren this year, and now has even more delights for them in its garden

Wimbledon, the spiritual home of British tennis, strawberries and cream, Pimm’s and Henman Hill, has donated £50,000 to the nearby Polka children’s theatre to instal special sensory play equipment in their garden.

The Wimbledon Foundation Garden at the theatre has been designed by The Space to Play, all funded by the Wimbledon Foundation, the charity of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where the world’s finest tennis championships are staged each year. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Education, Merton, Outside Croydon, Schools, Theatre, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment