Coulsdon is a town in the London Borough of Croydon on the Brighton Road (A23). Couldson appears in Domesday Book as Colesdone. It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its Domesday assets were: 36 hides; 1 church, 7 ploughs, woodland worth 3 hogs. It was valued at 17 bits.

Unlike Purley, Coulsdon has managed to retain a good mix of traditional high street shops. It also has a large number of restaurants for its size and it remains more of a place in its own right rather than just another Croydon suburb.

Since 2005 there has been a large empty space in the middle of Coulsdon following the demolition of the Red Lion public house, plans for the site are for an Aldi supermarket. Plans have yet to be agreed for this site and include:
the Red Lion site, documented at length for instance during the consultation procedure for the Coulsdon Area Regeneration Strategy in 2004.  The principal suggestions for the site were:

*       set back the building line
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*       create a town square for pedestrians
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*       incorporate a meeting room
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*       put in a discreet high quality toilet block
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*       install CCTV coverage
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*       include a pub, cafe, and restaurant
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*       provide seating
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*      use a sculpture/a water feature/a clock

There is also a scheme to replace the Pinewood garage site near Smitham station with a branch of Sainsbury’s. Controversy surrounds both projects, mainly because of the large – six storey – scale of these developments and doubts about the need for yet more supermarkets in the area. (There is a Waitrose across the way from the planned site for the Sainsbury’s. Recently the Coulsdon branch of Co-op shut down, due to lack of trade. It’s being converted by the Barracuda Group into a Smith and Jones branded pub. One of the largest Tescos in the country is at Purley Cross, a mere mile or so away from the centre of Coulsdon. Many people belive that this ruined Purley and sparked the demise of the place leaving it for some time a high street strewn with empty and charity shops and nothing more. Even today, it doesn’t have much by way of shops like butchers, bakers etc. as it did in the past. Chic coffee shops seem to be sprouting everywhere, but how much coffee and cake do local residents need? There has been talk of Tesco’s Superstore relocating to the Purley Way instead of it’s Purley location. Which after changing the very  fabric of Purley with it’s presence seems to a little bit of a disaster for Purley.

Prominent in the middle of Coulsdon is the head office of the world-famous Jane’s Information Group. Places of worship in Coulsdon include a St Mary and St Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church, an Anglican Parish Church and a Messianic Synagogue.

Around Coulsdon are attractive and important open spaces, largely chalk downland – the beginning of the North Downs. Farthing Downs and Happy Valley are managed by the City of London Corporation and are popular with walkers. The London LOOP footpath around London passes through on the route between Hamsey Green and Banstead. The Coulsdon section was the first of the 24 to be opened. The Doomsday Book even gives the place a mention saying ‘Coulsdon have grown a lot, the total population in 1811 of Old Coulsdon was 440′ How the place has grown! The area is much improved by the closure of the Cain Hill Hospital site. A new pool could be built in Coulsdon after the council revealed it was in talks with a supermarket chain to Lion Green Road car park. The council says it is close to finalising a deal with the undisclosed supermarket to develop the 2.5 acre site to create 120 houses, a 3,500 sq ft supermarket, a gym, a 25m pool, four-court sports hall and parking for up to 300 vehicles. Coulsdon seems to be an area on the up and it seems set to change dramatically in the next couple of years.

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