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Tag Archives: Whitgift Centre
MP Jones ‘gravely concerned’ over closure of her old school
Local MP claims she is ‘picking up information from a standing start’ over plans to close 600-pupil girls’ private school, but says she has obtained guarantees from the property Foundation that runs the site. By STEVEN DOWNES Sarah Jones, the … Continue reading
Falling rolls and rising fees: how Old Palace got squeezed
Our education correspondent, GENE BRODIE, examines the likely reasons and consequences of yesterday’s announcement of the decision to close one of Croydon’s oldest and best-known girls’ schools For the 80 or so 11-year-old girls who started their secondary school careers … Continue reading
Whitgift Foundation decides to close Old Palace School in 2025
Pupils at a £20,000 per year independent school in Old Town which is operated by the borough’s biggest land-owners will be told at assembly on Friday morning that it is to close after ‘many years’ of financial struggles EXCLUSIVE by … Continue reading
Squatters take over Brick by Brick’s abandoned office building
Perhaps this is the start of a people’s fightback against the Croydon Establishment. A group of squatters calling themselves “Reclaim Croydon” has moved in to the abandoned offices of Brick by Brick in the town centre, to show the high … Continue reading
Council’s debt costs could hit £70m next year warns Mayor
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Jason Perry says he’s still hoping to get a Government write-off of a chunk of the borough’s borrowing, but otherwise he’s short on ideas or solutions. KEN LEE endured the latest ‘Question Time’ at Norbury, so that … Continue reading
Perry’s council refuses to name its design review panellists
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Mayor decided to re-boot Negrini’s Place Review Panel, but after almost a year’s delay, the identities of the ‘experts’ assembled remain closely guarded secrets. By WALTER CRONXITE “Just what are they trying to hide?” a Katharine Street … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Croydon Council, Design Review Panel, Environment, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Place Review Panel, Planning, Whitgift Centre
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Brick by Brick, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Design Review Panel, Hawkins Brown, Hugh Pearman, Jo Negrini, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Place Review Panel, Royal Institute of British Architects, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wayne Hemingway, We Made This, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Farewell Jamie Reid, artist and anarchist, forgotten by Croydon
Jamie Reid, the anarchist artist and graphic designer who devised the designs and artwork that defined the punk era’s iconoclasm, has died. He was 76. Reid’s ransom note-style collage work for the Sex Pistols was “a central pillar of the … Continue reading
Serious concern raised over brutal end to town centre artwork
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES There’s growing concerns and “disappointment” that Croydon, the 2023 Borough of Culture, has managed to lose yet another significant piece of public artwork, right from under the noses of the council. A much-admired, mid-20th Century frieze … Continue reading
Posted in AMP House, Art, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Chris Clark, Croydon Council, East Croydon, Environment, Fairfield, History, Property, Ria Patel, Stiles Harold Williams, Whitgift Centre
Tagged 20th Century Society, AMP House, Croydon, Croydon Council, Cultural Quarter, East Croydon, East Croydon station, Humanity Relief, John Grindrod, Richard Plant, Stiles Harold Williams, Whitgift Centre
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Having a giraffe! Business group spends thousands on statues
Town centre business group Croydon BID is spending thousands of pounds on a collection of oddly-decorated, mostly eight-foot-tall fibre glass statues of giraffes, which are due to be distributed among shops and on street corners later this summer, in the … Continue reading
Now German shoe retailer decides to give Croydon the boot
Shoe retailer Deichmann is the latest business to decide to close their store in central Croydon. As Inside Croydon reported exclusively earlier this week, the Sainsbury’s supermarket in the Whitgift Centre, which has traded there ever since the shopping mall … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Deichmann, North End, Sainsbury's, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Sainsbury’s confirms it is to close Whitgift Centre store
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Supermarket chain says it was a ‘difficult decision’ to close flagship shop – but at least they have five higher-profit ‘Local’ shops nearby. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Britain’s second-largest chain of supermarkets has admitted that it can … Continue reading
Whitgift Centre ever-present Sainsbury’s opts to shut up shop
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Latest exit of flagship store will be a hammer blow to the town centre. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The exodus of major stores from the blighted Whitgift Centre is about to get worse still, with Sainsbury’s to … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Marks and Spencer, NatWest Bank, Sainsbury's, Sainsbury's Local, Waitrose, Westfield, WH Smith, Whitgift Centre
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Perry admits he has failed to secure £540m debt write-off deal
CROYDON IN CRISIS: After a year in office, the Tory Mayor told a Purley audience last night that he has failed to ‘fix the finances’ and he won’t be opening the local swimming pool without lumbering the area with another … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Purley, Purley Pool, Rishi Sunak, Tory, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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What will the ‘new’ Westfield deal really mean for Croydon?
STEVEN DOWNES outlines some of the likely consequences of this week’s announcement that Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield have bought out their former partners Hammerson for the redevelopment of the town centre In all the flurry of civic excitement over the announcement that … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Growth Zone, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Planning, Sadiq Khan, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, FreeState, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jean-Marie Tritant, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor Sadiq Khan, New Working Class, Tony Newman, Unibail Rodamco Westfield, URW, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
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MP Jones: Time for Westfield to grasp Croydon opportunity
Sarah Jones, the MP for Croydon Central, today responded to the news that Westfield’s parent company had bought out Hammerson’s half-share in the Croydon Partnership, including the Centrale shopping mall, potentially removing the log-jam in the long-delayed redevelopment of Croydon … Continue reading
Perry blasted after trying to take credit for Westfield’s new deal
Political correspondent WALTER CRONXITE on how elected Mayor’s grandstanding over a deal with which he had no involvement has been seen through by ordinary Council Tax-payers Croydon Mayor Jason Perry came under fire last night, as he tried to take … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, Mayor Jason Perry, Sean Fitzsimons, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Mayor Jason Perry, Sean Fitzsimons, STUART KING, Tory, Unibail Rodamco Westfield, URW, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
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Westfield seals deal to buy Hammerson out of town centre
Westfield’s parent company has this afternoon confirmed that they have bought out Hammerson, the owners of the Centrale shopping centre, from their half-share of the Croydon Partnership, the joint venture which has inflicted a decade’s worth of development blight on … Continue reading
M&S announces Purley Way store opening date as Apr 27
Using the former John Lewis At Home site, the Croydon 38,000sqft clothing store and foodhall is the first of 20 stores being opened by Marks and Spencer in 2023 Marks and Spencer has announced Thursday April 27 as the official … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Parking, Purley Way, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Hammersfield, Marks & Spencer, Marks and Spencer, MS, Purley Way, Whitgift Centre
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London Repair Week activities, Whitgift Centre, Mar 20-26
Posted in Activities, Community associations, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Repair Cafe, Repair Week, Whitgift Centre
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Free cyanotypes photographic workshop, Turf Projects, Mar 25
Posted in Art, Turf Projects, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Cyanotypes, Heather Lawrence, Turf Projects, Whitgift Centre
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Windrush Generation’s exhibition is playing sounds of the 70s
After a week spent playing ‘silly games’ with the borough’s politicians, for a deserved break, KEN TOWL got serious about Lovers’ Rock Croydon’s musical heritage is immense. It is so rich and varied that the council is putting together some … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Art, Borough of Culture 2023, Community associations, History, Ken Towl, Music, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Christine McNabb, Janet Kay, Ken Towl, Lovers' Rock, Sonia Williams, Whitgift Centre, Windrush Generation, Windrush Generation Legacy Association, Wraydette McNabb
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Westfield non-developers facing £5m fine for failed supermall
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Council concedes it is virtually powerless over land-owners and developers for long-delayed regeneration scheme, as influential scrutiny chair admits her committee is not convinced things will change. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES The company formed 10 years ago … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Business, Centrale, CPO, Croydon Council, Growth Zone, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Planning, Property, Rowenna Davis, Tony Newman, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
Tagged Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Partnership, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Jo Negrini, Mayor Jason Perry, Rowenna Davis, Tony Newman, Tory, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
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