Croydon - nightlife, accommodation, things to do and general chat

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I can only report as I found the place!

I've been there a few times and always found the architecture bleak, the pubs awful, the gig scene just about non-existent and the general vibe horrible. It feels like a London version of Milton Keynes.

The pubs Callie mentioned are pretty good but any live music I have seen in them has been rather embarrassing. The architecture varys. South Croydon is nothing like west Croydon. There are some great parks and woodlands. If you get out and head to the shopping centre and clubs then I can understand, it really can be depressing. The way they have laid out the roads and ignored the towns history has not done it any favours.

 

[editor]

The pubs Callie mentioned are pretty good but any live music I have seen in them has been rather embarrassing. The architecture varys. South Croydon is nothing like west Croydon. There are some great parks and woodlands. If you get out and head to the shopping centre and clubs then I can understand, it really can be depressing. The way they have laid out the roads and ignored the towns history has not done it any favours.

I've no doubt that there is something good going on there somewhere, but I've yet to find it, and the architecture in the centre of town really doesn't do much to raise expectations.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I've no doubt that there is something good going on there somewhere, but I've yet to find it, and the architecture in the centre of town really doesn't do much to raise expectations.

I agree. If you only see the centre it truly does look shit.

 

[xenon]

you People deserve Croydon. You created it. It's what you want. Deal with it.

Wankers. Croydon is shit though. The town centre anyway.

 

[xenon]

Since when do we have to make sense.

Merry Christmas motherfuckers.

 

[Callie]

Not me. I played a gig there a while ago and found the place SOUL DESTROYING.

Ooh where did you play?

 

[Callie]

If I stay put in my current job (SW Londonish) then I really do need to move a bit closer. I am pissed off with the balls-aching commute from darkest berkshire, and could do with being a bit nearer mum-tat who is not getting any younger.

In terms of travel and affordability, Croydon seems a reasonable option.

In all other respects, blargh.

I'm not sure there's anything I can put into words, but I have never liked Croydon. I regard it as the murky end of the 75 bus route and that's about it.

Can anyone persuade me Croydon is a good idea?

What do you need to persuade you Tat? What are the things you think are bad about Croydon and what do you need to make a happy home? We have a wealth of knowledge here to help you!

 

[boohoo]

Croydon is really growing on me. Glimmers of the older market town poke out here and there - the museum is interesting and I'm looking forward to exploring the parks. I'd hate for everyone to come and move in and gentrify the place so let's keep telling everyone it's a shit hole.

 

[Dan U]

Croydon used to have a thriving music and record shop scene. Like many places it got licensed pretty much out of existence over the last 20 odd years.

It's never been bohemian and middle class enough for some so it gets hated on.

 

[editor]

Croydon used to have a thriving music and record shop scene. Like many places it got licensed pretty much out of existence over the last 20 odd years.

It's never been bohemian and middle class enough for some so it gets hated on.

It's mainly the architecture that does it for me.

 

[Callie]

embrace the architecture!

 

[Dan U]

It's mainly the architecture that does it for me.

It certainly felt the rough end of the town planners back in 60s, no denying that.

Today they seem to be having a crack at the gleaming glass tower thing.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

It's mainly the architecture that does it for me.

Most of Croydon is low level suburban housing. Some grotty some not. The built up area of horrible office buildings and shopping centres by the flyover do not interest me.

The impression you get from what you see by the stations and the main through roads and around the purly way would indeed put me off, and did for many years of house hunting.

 

[Callie]

Today they seem to be having a crack at the gleaming glass tower thing.

disaster IMO and will just become dated and grim like the rest of it, especially the multicoloured giant mega tower at saffron square.

I do not understand the building of new office spaces when there are so many empty office buildings. Im sure there is a need for all the residential builds going on (not that any of them are affordable) but the office blocks are just stupid.

 

[Dan U]

disaster IMO and will just become dated and grim like the rest of it, especially the multicoloured giant mega tower at saffron square.

I do not understand the building of new office spaces when there are so many empty office buildings. Im sure there is a need for all the residential builds going on (not that any of them are affordable) but the office blocks are just stupid.

It's The Island that is the poster boy for foolish Croydon projects.

They started building that when I lived on Lower Addiscombe Road over 5 years ago. Still going...

I saw a TV show a while back about the London property market and investors in at a property show in Hong Kong were buying flats off plan at Saffron Square with the intention of selling them on before they were built at a profit.

Madness.

Re office buildings I assume developers have an eye on the Thameslink upgrade and the opening up of East Croydon station at the back with the new bridge. Plus Stuart Wingate at Gatwick is wooing very hard for support from Croydon businesses for a second runway. Chuck all that together and with relatively affordable rents and Croydon could potentially have a boom in relocations again. It's speculate though as you say.

 

[Callie]

It's The Island that is the poster boy for foolish Croydon projects.

They started building that when I lived on Lower Addiscombe Road over 5 years ago. Still going...

well it did get zapped by lightning so even him upstairs isnt impressed. How the fuck they can charge £300K for a 2 bed flat thats actually a roundabout I do not know.

 

[xenon]

It's mainly the architecture that does it for me.

That is just the town though. It is not somewhere I'd want to live, that bit. But shit though it is, I like the Lego Manhatten, dystopian scifi-ness of it.

 

[editor]

That is just the town though. It is not somewhere I'd want to live, that bit. But shit though it is, I like the Lego Manhatten, dystopian scifi-ness of it.

The thought of living in some satellite suburb of Croydon depresses me even more than the architecture in the centre of town!

 

[xenon]

Well as others have said, it's a big burrough.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

disaster IMO and will just become dated and grim like the rest of it, especially the multicoloured giant mega tower at saffron square.

I do not understand the building of new office spaces when there are so many empty office buildings. Im sure there is a need for all the residential builds going on (not that any of them are affordable) but the office blocks are just stupid.

Yes, there are empty office blocks everywhere. Just across the road from where they built the new council building, a whole relatively new towerbock stands empty. They want a new shopping centre, yet the newest one right in the heart of town has stood more than half empty for years, with more shops closing and leaving all the time.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

It's The Island that is the poster boy for foolish Croydon projects.

They started building that when I lived on Lower Addiscombe Road over 5 years ago. Still going...

I saw a TV show a while back about the London property market and investors in at a property show in Hong Kong were buying flats off plan at Saffron Square with the intention of selling them on before they were built at a profit.

Madness.

Re office buildings I assume developers have an eye on the Thameslink upgrade and the opening up of East Croydon station at the back with the new bridge. Plus Stuart Wingate at Gatwick is wooing very hard for support from Croydon businesses for a second runway. Chuck all that together and with relatively affordable rents and Croydon could potentially have a boom in relocations again. It's speculate though as you say.

They seemed to stop working on it for quite a long time, seems like they have had a recent spurt though. I think its been going on since I moved to croydon , which would now be something like 10 years!

 

[Dan U]

Yes, there are empty office blocks everywhere. Just across the road from where they built the new council building, a whole relatively new towerbock stands empty. They want a new shopping centre, yet the newest one right in the heart of town has stood more than half empty for years, with more shops closing and leaving all the time.

Part of that is due to the interminable process to finally agree on a developer to move forward, it's been going on for years and years.

Should change when Westfield and other developer finally get their claws in to it

See also the site next to East Croydon station, has been going to be a sports stadium and God knows what else over the years. Iirc Croydon couldn't agree on a developer for that either!

 

[ffsear]

I do not understand the building of new office spaces when there are so many empty office buildings.

To be fair you could say exactly the same about the City of London. I'm sure someone knows what they are doing.

 

[ffsear]

If I stay put in my current job (SW Londonish) then I really do need to move a bit closer. I am pissed off with the balls-aching commute from darkest berkshire, and could do with being a bit nearer mum-tat who is not getting any younger.

In terms of travel and affordability, Croydon seems a reasonable option.

In all other respects, blargh.

I'm not sure there's anything I can put into words, but I have never liked Croydon. I regard it as the murky end of the 75 bus route and that's about it.

Can anyone persuade me Croydon is a good idea?

I just moved to South Croydon and am very happy their having lived in Brixton for the last 10 years. Loved Brixton but was sick of renting. As long as you are in walking distance to either East/West or South Croydon stations then is as good as living near a tube station IMO. I can actually get in to town much faster now then I could from Brixton hill. Ok the Architecture ain't great, but this is London, Not Venice.

As a South Lononder, wanting to buy. Croydon was the best option really. I looked at places like Norbury, Hither Green, Ladywell etc etc... When you look round those areas, croydon becomes a brighter prospect

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Well as others have said, it's a big burrough.

Indeed.

Part of that is due to the interminable process to finally agree on a developer to move forward, it's been going on for years and years.

Should change when Westfield and other developer finally get their claws in to it

See also the site next to East Croydon station, has been going to be a sports stadium and God knows what else over the years. Iirc Croydon couldn't agree on a developer for that either!

They kept trying to put through stupid bids that campaigners always blocked. There was overwhelming hatred for the new tower but they put it through anyway. Shops want more business, and the developers agreed to update the stations understructure. I'm not sure how providing easyer access to the platforms
is going to make them less crowded.

 

[Callie]

I often use the 'back' entrance/exit these days from East Croydon. Its much better for me getting back to West Croydon and I would imagine it helps clear the platforms a bit as you dont get the stampede up to the front. Never there at peaks times though so it probably doesnt help much then.

 

[Callie]

There is a survey from the council going on at the moment for people to comment on the cultural side of Croydon life so if anyone can be arsed it might be worth a minute of your time. I mentioned the lack/under use of live music in Croydon and the fact that we have lots of potential but not much to my interest going on.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ambitiousforculture

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I took a camera out on my jog around Croydon. I don't think it looks too bad. I run past some shit bits sometimes too, but in general the shit bits are by the busy roads.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]