Croydons’ Town Hall on Katharine Street in Central Croydon houses the committee rooms, the mayor’s and additional councillors’ offices, electoral services and the arts and heritage services.The ever-present Town Hall is Croydon’s third such…

The first town hall is thought to have been assembled in either 1566 or 1609. The second was assembled in 1808 to serve the growing town but was dismantled after the present town hall was put up in 1895. The current town hall was fashioned by local architect Charles Henman and was officially opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 19 May 1896. It was built in red brick, sourced from Wrotham in Kent, with Portland stone dressings and green Westmoreland slatings for the roof. It also housed the court and most fundamental council employees.

Portions, including the onetime court rooms, have been turned into the Museum of Croydon and expo galleries. The original public library is now a movie house, part of the Croydon Clocktower. The Braithwaite Hall is utilised for events and public presentations. The town hall was refurbished in the mid-1990s and the impressive central staircase, long shut down to the public and kept for council members only, was re-opened in 1994. The civic building complex, meanwhile, was considerably expanded, with constructions across Mint Walk and the 19-floor Taberner House to house the quickly increasing corporation’s employees.

Taberner House was built betwixt 1964 and 1967, fashioned by architect H Thornley, with Allan Holt and Hugh Lea as borough engineers. Although the council had demanded extra space since the 1920s, it was entirely with the impending creation of the London Borough of Croydon that activity was taken. The building is in standard 1960s style, praised at the time but afterwards much derided. It has its stately upper slab block constricting towards both ends, a conventional device which has been likened to the famous Pirelli Tower of Milan. It was named after Ernest Taberner OBE, Town Clerk from 1937 to 1962.

Taberner House now houses most of the council’s central employees and its ‘one-stop shop’ is the main location for the public to access data and services, especially with respect to housing.

Ruskin House is the headquarters of Croydon’s Labour, trades union and Co-operative movements and is itself a co-operative with share-owners from establishments across the three movements. In the 19th century, Croydon was an active commercial centre of the British capital. It was said that, at the turn of the twentieth Century, roughly Â?10,000 was spent in Croydon’s taverns and hostelries each week. For the early labour movement, then, it was natural to meet in the town’s pubs, in this environment. However, the temperance movement was equally strong, and Georgina King Lewis, an eager member of the Croydon United Temperance Council, took it upon herself to institute a dry centre for the labour movement. The first Ruskin House was highly successful, and there’s been two additional ones since. The current house was formally opened in 1967 by the then Labour premier, Harold Wilson. Ruskin House remains to serve as the headquarters of the Trade Union, Labour and Co-operative movements in Croydon, hosting a range of encounters and being the base for several labour movement groups. Office tenants include the headquarters of the Communist Party of Britain and Croydon Labour Party. Geraint Davies, the MP for Croydon Central, had offices in the building, until he was defeated by Andrew Pelling and is now the Labour representative standing for Swansea West in Wales. The likes of the hunt sabeturs and vegan society are also known to meet at Ruskin House and far from it being dry it has a well stocked bar selling discount drink to it’s members.

Mayday University Hospital is a major NHS hospital built upon a nineteen acre site, situated on the boarders of  Thornton Heath near the west of the borough. Mayday is a District General Hospital with a 24-hour accident and emergency department. NHS Direct has a regional centre based at the hospital. Former names of the hospital include the Croydon Union hospital from 1885 to 1923 and the Mayday Road Hospital from 1923 to around 1930. The NHS Trust also provides limited services on an outpatient only basis at Purley War Memorial Hospital, in Purley.

There once was a hospital on Duppas Hill but services were reassigned to Mayday, as the size of this hospital was inadequate to cope with the growing population of the borough. Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Centre and the Emergency Minor Treatment Centre are other smaller hospitals operated by the Mayday in the borough. Cane Hill is a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon is no longer,
being replaced by flats.

The borough has the most schools in it compared to most other boroughs in London. They include elementary schools (94), middle schools (22) and three further education establishments.Croydon College has its main building in Central Croydon, it is a high rise building. John Ruskin College is one of the other colleges in the borough, located in Addington and Coulsdon College in Coulsdon. The London Borough of Croydon is the local Department of Education for the borough.

The borough of Croydon has fourteen libraries, a joint library and a mobile library. Several of the libraries where built a years ago and therefore have become out-of-date, so the council started updating a few including Ashburton Library which moved from its former spot into the state-of-the-art Ashburton Learning Village complex which is on the previous site of the old ‘A Block’ of Ashburton Community School which is now located inside the centre. The library is now on 1 floor. This is what the council wanted to roll out around the borough but due to the price of this one, it was determined that doing this would cost far too much.

South Norwood Library, New Addington Library, Shirley Library, Thornton Heath Library, Selsdon Library, Sanderstead Library, Purley Library, Coulsdon Library and Bradmore Green Library are representatives of old council libraries. The main library is Croydon Central Library which holds many reference books, newspaper archives and a tourist information point (one of three in South East London). Upper Norwood Library is a joint library with the London Borough of Lambeth. This means that both councils fund the library and its resources, but even though Lambeth have nearly doubled their funding for the library in the past several years Croydon has kept theirs at the same basic level.
Religion
2001 Census
Croydon London
Christian 215,124 4,176,175
Buddhist 1,579 54,297
Hindu 16,781 291,977
Muslim 17,642 607,083
Sikh 1,310 104,230
Atheist (No Religion) 48,615 1,130,616
Other Religions 2,830 186,347

Croydon is comprised of many different cultures and ethnicity’s from around the world. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the borough has over 215,124 Christian’s, mainly Protestants. This is the largest religious following in the borough and has many more believers than the next religion Islam. There are just 17,642 Muslim followers in the borough, which makes up some of the 607,083 in London in general. But over 48,615 people are atheists, meaning that they do not believe in any religion at all, compared to only 26,506 people in close by borough of Kingston upon Thames, although this is a less inhabited borough. These figures may change considerably in the next census, only time will tell.

There are currently more than 35 churches in the borough, with Croydon Parish Church being the main one. This church was established in Saxon times, since there is a record of “a priest of Croydon” in 960, though the first record of a church construction is in the Domesday Book (1086). In its concluding medieval form, the church was chiefly a Perpendicular-style construction, but this was seriously damaged by fire in 1867, following which only the tower, south porch and outer walls remained. Under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott the church was reconstructed, integrating the remains and essentially following the design of the medieval building, and was reconsecrated in 1870. It still contains several significant monuments and fittings preserved from the old church.

Croydon is presently experiencing a large re-generation programme and part of that plan is to add a Cultural Quarter to the centre of Croydon. This includes Bridge House and The Exchange, plans for trendy loft style urban living to the centre of town.

Croydon has firm religious links, from a royal charter for Surrey Street Market going back to 1276, to Croydon Palace which was the summertime residency of the Archbishop of Canterbury for over 500 years. With visitors such as Henry III and Queen Elizabeth I. The Bishop of Croydon is a position as a suffragan Bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Southwark.
The boroughs’ been knocked in the past for not delivering adequate leisure facilities, maintaining the position of Croydon as the ‘Three Star Borough’. At the moment only 3 leisure centres are open to the public use and two of these are anticipated to be shut down in the near future, with plans for only one of them to be restored. Thornton Heath’s aging sports centre was recently knocked down, and replaced by a newer more innovative leisure centre. South Norwood Leisure Centre was closed down in early 2006 so that it could be knocked completely down and re-designed from scratch like Thornton Heath, which would cost around Â?10 million. In May 2006 the Conservative Party became in charge of Croydon and decided that arranging this would cost so much money, so they came up with a different idea of just freshening up the centre, although this determination didn’t come without its controversy.

Purley Pool, closed in addition, but a new “super-pool” is planned in Coulsdon. The aging New Addington Leisure Centre is also set to close but is to be re-built. A new leisure centre is also going to be built on the A23, southern end of Purley Way in Waddon apparently to. Sport Croydon, currently is the commercial arm for leisure in the borough and the logo is seen somewhere in each of the centres. Parkwood Leisure renders the services for all the boroughs leisure centres, along with close by Lewisham.

Football teams around the area include Crystal Palace F.C. who play at Selhurst Park in the Coca-Cola Championship and Croydon F.C. who play at Croydon Sports Arena in the Isthmian League. Coulsdon United F.C. (formerly Coulsdon Town F.C. before the meld with Salfords F.C.) are a team that presently play in the Combined Counties Football League Division One. Croydon Athletic F.C., whose local nickname is The Rams, is a football club based in Thornton Heath’s Keith Tuckey Stadium and play in the Isthmian League First Division South. And Holmesdale F.C., who were founded in South Norwood but currently play on Oakley Road in Bromley, are in the Kent League. Non-football teams that play in Croydon are Streatham-Croydon RFC, a rugby club in Thornton Heath who play at Frant Road in the Surrey 2 League, in addition to South London Storm Rugby League Club who play at Storm Park who play in the Rugby League Conference. The London Olympians are an American Football team that play in Division 1 South in the British American Football League.

The London Borough of Croydon also has over 120 parks and open spaces inside its limits, ranging from the 200 acre Selsdon Wood Nature Reserve to many recreation grounds and sports fields sprinkled throughout the Borough.

Economy
Labour Profile
Total employee jobs 128,800
Full-time 91,100 70.7%
Part-time 37,700 29.3%
Manufacturing 5,400 4.2%
Construction 6,300 4.9%
Services 117,000 90.9%
Distribution, hotels & restaurants 30,500 23.7%
Transport & communications 6,900 5.4%
Finance, IT, other business activities 33,800 26.2%
Public admin, education & health 38,900 30.2%
Other services 6,900 5.3%
Tourism-related 9,100 7.1%

The main employment sectors of the Borough is retail and enterprise which is principally based in Central Croydon. Major employers are well known companies, who hold stores or offices in the town. Purley Way is a major employer of people, seeking jobs as sales assistants, sales consultants and store managerial jobs. IKEA Croydon, when it was built in 1992, brought many non-skilled jobs to Croydon. The store, which is a total size of 23,000m2, took over the former site of Croydon Power station, which had led to the unemployment of many skilled workers. In May 2006, the extension of the IKEA made it the 5th biggest employer in Croydon, and includes the annex of the showroom, market hall and self-serve areas. Other big employers around Purley is the large Tesco Extra store in Purley, along with other stores in Purley Way which include, Salisbury’s, B&Q, Comet, Vue and Toys “R” Us along with numerous others.

The Croydon Tramlink produced many jobs when it opened in 2000, not only drivers but engineers besides. Many of the people involved came from Croydon, which was the original hub of the system. Sales outlets inside both Centrale and the Whitgift Centre as well as on North End employee people on a regular basis and create many jobs, especially at Christmas. As well as the new building of Park Place, which will produce yet more jobs, so will the regeneration of Croydon, called Croydon Vision 2020, spotlit in the Croydon Expo which includes the Croydon Gateway, Wellesley Square, Central One plus a good deal more.

Croydon is a major office area in the South East of England, being the greatest outside of Central London. Many powerful companies in Europe and worldwide have secondary and UK headquarters in the urban center. American International Group (AIG), the sponsors of Manchester United F.C. have their European headquarters in Croydon. AIG has been described as the sixth-largest company in the world accordant to the 2007 Forbes Global 2000 list. The Swiss company Nestle© also has there UK HQ in Croydon, known as the Nestle© Tower, and is on the site of the purported Park Place shopping centre, so the offices may be modernised and re-newed causing the company to relocate for a while. ntl:Telewest now Virgin Media has offices at Communications House, from the Telewest side when it was known as Croydon Cable The Home Office Border and Immigration Agency has its headquarters in Lunar House in Central Croydon. BT has large offices opposite Lunar House in Central Croydon. The Royal Bank of Scotland also has large offices in Purley, south of Croydon. Direct Line also has an office opposite Taberner House. Croydon aims to become one of the hearts of Culture in London and the South East of England. This has been demonstrated with the dedication the council has exhibited to projects such as the proposed Croydon Arena. Although, in spite of the aim, it has also cut financial support to the Warehouse Theatre, which should be key to any cultural plan. This seems to be a fairly characteristic self-contradictory act, that many have come to expect from Croydon Council.

In 2005, Croydon Council drew up a Public Art Strategy, with a vision that’s accessible and heightens people’s enjoyment of their surroundings.The public art strategy should deliver a new event called Croydon’s Summer Festival, a creative industries hub in Old Town, assure public art is included in developments such as College Green and Croydon Gateway and investigate the theory of gallery space in the Cultural Quarter.

Additional cultural activities, including shopping and exhibitions, are Surrey Street Market which is mainly a meat and vegetables market near the main shopping surroundings of Croydon. The market has a Royal Charter going back to 1276. Airport House is a newly refurbished conference and exhibition centre inside part of Croydon Airport. The Whitgift Centre, the current main shopping centre in the borough is also one of the biggest in-town shopping centres in the whole of the European Union. Centrale, a new shopping centre that houses a lot more familiar names, besides Croydon’s House of Fraser. North End, the main shopping street, which holds both centres. Park Place, a shopping centre that’s planned to be built in Central Croydon by Minerva plc. Purley Way, a large out-of-town retail and entertainment area that caters for South London and areas South of London, it includes an IKEA store, Vue and City Limits. Croydon Arena, a proposed arena which will feature more commercialised exhibitions and sport events next to East Croydon station.

There are three local newspaper publishers which operate within the borough, each with considerable history in the area. The Croydon Advertiser started out life in 1869 It is the third-highest selling paid-for weekly newspaper in London. The Advertiser is also Croydon’s major paid-for weekly paper and gets on sale every Friday in five geographical editions: Croydon; Sutton & Epsom; Coulsdon & Purley; New Addington; and Caterham. The paper changed from a broadsheet to a compact (tabloid) format on 31 March 2006. The Croydon Guardian is another local weekly paper, which is paid for at newsagents but free at Croydon Council libraries and via deliveries. The newspaper is published every Wednesday. The paper is owned by regional newspaper publisher Newsquest Media Group and is inside the South London branch. The other paper in Croydon is the Croydon Post (a.k.a. The Post Croydon). The borough is served by the London regional versions of BBC and ITV reporting, from either the Crystal Palace or Croydon transmitters.

Capital Radio began transmitting on October 1973 from Euston Tower, North London. The station, now owned by Gcap Media, broadcasts as Capital 95.8 from Leicester Square in Central London. The group also has a sister station on the medium wave frequency, called Classic Gold Digital 1521. Local BBC radio is provided by BBC London 94.9. Large radio stations picked up by transmitters around Croydon are Kiss 100 London from Emap, Choice FM London from GCap Media, Heart 106.2 from Global Radio UK, Magic 105.4 FM from Emap, Virgin Radio from SMG and 102.2 Smooth Radio from the Guardian Media Group.

There are a large number of attractions and places of interest all across the borough of Croydon, these range from historic sites in the north and south to modern towers in the centre. Places include Croydon Airport which once was London’s primary airport, but closed down on 30 September 1959 due to the expansion of London and the need of more elbow room at the airport which was impossible to provide, so Heathrow International Airport took over as London’s main airport. It’s now obsolete and is a tourist attraction. The Museum of Croydon is a museum which highlights Croydon in the past and the present. It was formerly known as Croydon Lifetimes Museum and currently features high-profile exhibitions including the Riesco Collection and the Whatever the Weather gallery. Shirley Windmill is a working and among the only surviving large windmills in Surrey, built in 1854. It’s a Grade II listed building and accepted a Â?218,100 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The old London to Brighton road, the A23, passes through the west of the borough on Purley Way, the retail district of Croydon which includes an IKEA store. The M25 motorway forms part of the boundary of the borough. The M23 motorway also starts at the very south of the borough and borders Tandridge. Attributable the lack of London Underground stations in the borough, South London has an extensive railway network, the busiest in London. The main line through Croydon is the Brighton Main Line which travels from either Victoria or London Bridge station to a number of termini in Sussex, Surrey and Kent. The main operator of services in the borough is presently contracted to Southern although others include Southeastern, First Capital Connect and Virgin Trains. East Croydon station is currently the largest and busiest station in Croydon, 3rd busiest in London (barring Travelcard Zone 1) The East London Line is to be extended to the borough by 2010 as part of London Overground, two stations, Norwood Junction and West Croydon, will be connected to London Underground services. Currently the closest tube station is apparently Morden tube station, 139 minutes away to the west. Croydon is the hub of Tramlink services in the capital. It’s the only tram system in London at the moment and was once called the Croydon Tramlink but was changed attributable expansion. Now it serves Wimbledon, New Addington, Elmers End, Beckenham, Mitcham and the Purley Way retail and industrial area.

There are also a large number of London Bus services in the borough that reach Central London, Purley Way, Bromley, Lewisham and a number of other civic centres in the South. London Buses route X26, the longest London Bus route in London, provides services to Heathrow Airport via Richmond and Sutton. There’s a large bus station at West Croydon which is undergoing a major re-development to make the station more forward-looking and future proof.

Croydon is indeed a strange mix of all sorts in terms of buildings, people and entertainment, which on the whole seems to serve the somewhat eclectic tastes of It’s residents. If anything locals call for more diversity in all things, not less. More needs to be done for young people in the area still and reviving Croydons long standing tradition of having many and varied intimate, and indie live music venues would be a most welcome step (back) in the right direction.