Recent Comments
David Wickens on 100 to lose jobs as Selsdon Bi… Ian Bridge on 100 to lose jobs as Selsdon Bi… Paul Ainscough on Trades unionists accuse MP Jon… A Fernandes on Investigation call over proper… insidecroydon on Investigation call over proper… AJ on Investigation call over proper…
Tag Archives: Mary Portas
Portas Pilot has been a flop, admits scheme’s ex-chair
The Portas Pilot project, intended to revive business in Croydon’s ancient Surrey Street Market, has been a failure. That’s effectively the admission of Mary Portas, Prime Minister David Cameron’s “retail guru” and self-proclaimed “Queen of the High Street”. It is … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Business, Centrale, Planning, Surrey Street, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, David Cameron, Eric Pickles, High Street, Mary Portas, Portas, Portas Pilot, Surrey Street Market
1 Comment
Croydon’s secret tax on car parking that divides the borough
CROYDON COMMENTARY: For a town that has built itself around the demands of the motor car, parking the vehicles is an ever-growing problem, and Croydon Council has yet to find the right, or fair, way of dealing with it, CHARLOTTE … Continue reading
Portas Pilot one year on: more shops have closed in Croydon
The state of Surrey Street and Church Street markets in Croydon are worse now than 12 months ago, when the area was awarded a £100,000 grant by the local government department as part of the Portas Pilot scheme, according to … Continue reading
Portas starts to opens doors – for £1bn “Hammersfield”
LAST NIGHT’S TELLY: DAVID CALLAM, the former local newspaper business editor, reviews the opening episode of Mary Queen of the High Street, the Channel 4 series that spawned £2.7 million-worth of public grants, and poses an important question about her … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Activities, Business, David Callam, Surrey Street, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Hammerson, High Street, London, Mary Portas, Roman Road, South Croydon, Tesco
10 Comments
£10,000 tunnel artwork paid for out of riot recovery fund
In the matter of one of Croydon’s concrete underpasses, it seems that the council’s press office has forgotten the old adage about what to stop doing when you’re in a hole… Confusion reigns between Taberner House and the Croydon Conference … Continue reading
Portas fund pays £10,000 for Waddon underpass mural
Phil Thomas, the Croydon cabinet member in charge of the borough’s highways system, has broken a promise to meet with residents in Waddon to discuss progress on the area’s pedestrian underpasses – which were often ill-lit, covered in animal excrement, … Continue reading
Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Phil Thomas, Surrey Street, Transport, Waddon
Tagged Croydon, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mary Portas, Phil Thomas, River Wandle, Waddon
5 Comments
“Wastefield” finally plugs the £200m Hole in Bradford
Another straw in the wind for Croydon Council’s dependency on high street retail this morning, as the Telegraph and Argus is reporting that Westfield has cashed its chips on the controversial land holding in Bradford, where a vast, water-filled crater … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Centrale, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Estates Gazette, George Galloway, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mary Portas, Westfield, Yorkshire
Leave a comment
Croydon gets ready for a royal visit from the Queen of Shops
Croydon is readying itself for a royal visit today: Mary Queen of Shops may be heading into town. This is not to be confused with Kate Middleton’s in-laws pressing the flesh along London Road, back 13 months after last year’s … Continue reading
One-third of Portas Fund being used to pay for a committee
Nearly one-third of the £100,000 “Portas Fund” promised to try to revive Croydon’s ailing Old Town shops and stalls is to be diverted to pay for the running of a council-run committee, Inside Croydon has discovered. Much was made earlier … Continue reading
Council staff’s special offer: a course on going self-employed
Despite the exciting prospect of nearly £1 million-worth of new furniture in the shiny new glass palace of council HQ that is leaning over the flyover, those members of council staff who have survived the cuts so far are finding … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Charity, Croydon Council, Eddy Arram, Jon Rouse
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Jon Rouse, London Borough of Croydon, Mary Portas, Mayor
Leave a comment
Save Our Shops: Buy from an Allders concession this week
From the Editor Allders, Croydon’s landmark department store for 150 years, stands on the brink of closure. The administrators were called in last Friday, the Closing Down signs went up at the weekend, the website’s offline. Things are grim. In … Continue reading
Posted in Allders, Business, Fairfield
Tagged Allders, Croydon, Exchange Square, Mary Portas, Mike Fisher, Surrey Street Market, Viyella
5 Comments
Tesco Town: South End community to meet this Friday
The first meeting of the South End Community Forum takes place this Friday, May 25, when sure to be close to the top of the agenda is the dire threat to local businesses of the decision of the Whitgift Foundation, … Continue reading
