(I think) Croydon’s a bit more subtle than meets the eye. It struck me that, in the day time, it attracts – for want of a better phrase – ‘bargain shoppers’ from a huge catchment area across south London, ditto at night in relation to de yoof; Croydon’s been a night out for decades and the club/bar culture is as strong as ever in a Benidorm kind of way. A lot of those people come into Croydon for shopping and fun.
Visually, there is the late 60s architecture and, what seems now, a bizarre dual carriageway running through the middle of the town like a huge scar.
So, it doesn’t look so good on first appearances, but it has 3-4 very nationally rated schools, a really decent housing stock and fantastic transport links, which will improve even more when the East London Line kicks in.
Away from the main throng – mainly going south – there are decent places to eat and drink.
It feels suburban to the south and pretty close to metropolitan to the north, imo.
