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Home , Addington Palace, Bernard Weatherill House, BRIT School, Croydon Airport, Croydon Minster, Warehouse Theatre

Where is ? ABOUT Croydon

Croydon is a thriving retail and commercial hub at the very heart of south

It is one of the capital’s two strategic office centres outside of the city. Linking central London with the countryside and the south coast, Croydon provides the lifestyle With a multi-billion pound regeneration underway, the best connections in south east benefits of the country while being only England and one of the biggest retail centres outside central London, Croydon is the 15 minutes from town and the same from London’s Gatwick International . capital’s third city in everything but name. London’s most populated borough, with more Croydon also offers a wealth of leisure options. , where more than 13,000 than 340,000 residents – it is a vibrant, bustling More than £1 billion is spent in Croydon’s shops people choose to study every year, is is now area with a strong business community which every year, with 28 of the UK’s top 30 brands known as University Centre Croydon, building contributes more to the regional economy than having outlets here, and it has more green on its partnership with the University of any other outer London borough. Three million spaces than any other London borough. Sussex – one of the UK’s top 10 universities. people live within a 10-mile radius. After years of carrying a reputation for being South London’s largest entertainment venue, For getting around, Croydon is unrivalled. Its a concrete jungle, the face of the borough is , is about to undergo a major public transport system, which includes the changing rapidly. Seven major regeneration facelift and refurbishment while you will find south’s only major tram network, is one of the sites are underway, introducing an exciting Michelin-rated restaurants in South End, the best in London and the south east. You can mix of residential, commercial and leisure town’s restaurant quarter. live and work just a few miles from the rolling developments, and more are planned in the countryside of Surrey, but still be in London next few years. Thousands of new homes are Bridge in just 12 minutes from East Croydon also being built. station, one of the UK’s busiest interchanges. On top of that, office space here costs half Families also prosper in Croydon with GCSE the average in Victoria – just 16 minutes by pass rates well above the national average, train. More than 200 businesses relocated to while Croydon offers more childcare places Croydon during 2010. per child than any other London borough.

* Refers to travel by car – all other times relate to travel by train. Business & Enterprise

With lower office space costs than central London, Croydon is one of the capital’s most attractive office locations. A number of high-profile brands, government departments and multi-national companies are among the 9,000 businesses which have chosen Croydon as their home.

One of London’s most important office Croydon has nearly eight million square feet infrastructure and transport links to hubs, Croydon is home to 24 blue chip and of office space, the largest area of office accommodate substantial numbers of government organisations. In particular, floor space in London outside the core of new jobs and homes and has announced a Croydon has a large number of leading the West End, City and Canary Wharf. £23 million regeneration fund for Croydon. multi-national companies in the finance, Planning consent has been given for a And there’s funding available to investors insurance and engineering sectors. further 1.4 million square feet of office too – £5 million of the regeneration fund Major companies and organisations based in space in the borough. is earmarked for Croydon’s new business Croydon include Mott MacDonald, Sir Robert support package which will offer funding The London Borough of Croydon has an McAlpine, Carillion, Network Rail, Barclays for office refurbishment and business rate energised and focused inward investment Financial and Insurance Services, and the relief within the Croydon New Town. management team dedicated to making UK Border Agency. Croydon an enterprising zone by removing Croydon is part of the Coast to Capital Croydon is the biggest commercial hub for potential barriers to improvement, Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which the south coast and London region, which including a stream-lined planning process enables it to capitalise on the major stretches from to Kent. with fast turnaround times. business centres of Gatwick, Brighton and Croydon – an area with a business Top office rent is half the central London The Mayor of London has designated community of 79,000 firms and some average at £23 per square foot, yet central Croydon as an Opportunity Area: he 721,000 jobs. London is as little as 12 minutes away by train. believes Croydon has the necessary ARTS & CULTURE

Croydon’s diverse arts and cultural activities are housed in a range of historic buildings, attractive open spaces, and bespoke venues, two of which (Fairfield Halls and the ) will play a major role in the town’s regeneration. More than ever, Croydon is a place where people choose to live, work, study and socialise – a place that is visually attractive and with a new wave of landmark buildings contributing to the town’s unique identity.

 Croydon is home to Crystal Palace Football  Fairfield Halls is south London’s largest  The critically-acclaimed Warehouse Club and Croydon Sports Arena, as well as entertainment venue with a 1,794-capacity Theatre produces many of its own having Crystal Palace National Sports Centre concert hall, a 750-seater theatre and shows and hosts an annual international on its doorstep. Meanwhile, an area for gigs with standing space for playwright festival. Situated in the heart of hosts A-list cricket matches between Surrey 400. It is set to undergo a £20 million a major regeneration site, it will shortly be and other counties, entertaining crowds of refurbishment. replaced by a brand new facility. up to 5,000.  Modelled on the Royal Festival Hall and  The world famous BRIT School is Britain’s  Croydon is within easy reach of the major opened by the Queen Mother in 1962, only free performing arts and technology London Olympics venues including the Fairfield Halls has some of the best school. Many of its students go on to take Olympic Stadium at Stratford and the concert acoustics in the UK and is home jobs in the entertainment industry. tennis at Wimbledon. to the London Mozart Players.  Green space covers one-third of Croydon  Visitor Centre pays tribute Croydon also hosts jazz, food, fashion and and it has no fewer than 127 parks and to the pioneering days of air travel and was Christmas festivals every year, attracting open spaces leading it to be named ‘the the world’s first . tens of thousands of visitors. UK’s greenest large city’.  regeneration

Croydon is undergoing massive change. Construction work is already underway on a number of projects which together will deliver one of the biggest and most ambitious programmes of regeneration and development in the UK.

Seven sites are currently under a new nine-acre city quarter comprising and other public agencies, is being construction in the metropolitan centre, five grade A office buildings, 550 delivered by the Croydon Council Urban a further 13 have planning approval while apartments, shops, restaurants and the Regeneration Vehicle (CCURV), a joint 12 more are in pre-application discussion. new Warehouse Theatre. venture between John Laing plc and Over 5m sq ft of development is proposed the London Borough of Croydon. It is Berkeley is building an iconic 45-storey including thousands of new homes. scheduled for completion by spring 2013. tower near . Its The Mayor of London has announced a development includes On the Cherry Orchard Road site of East £23 million regeneration fund for Croydon, a new one-acre public space which will Croydon station, Menta is to develop a £18 million of which is earmarked to house shops, cafes, restaurants, a gym and £250 million scheme including a landmark transform the public realm in and around offices, together with 755 residential units. 55-storey residential tower, offices, a the town centre. boutique hotel, community amenities and Barratt Homes is creating a modern significant public realm improvements. A £20 million upgrade of East Croydon urban village of 923 homes at New South  station will see a new entrance and Quarter, alongside Wandle Park, set One Lansdowne Road, to be developed pedestrian bridge open in 2013, enhancing up around courtyards and landscaped by Guildhouse Rosepride LLP, with a strikingly curved design by architect Piers east-west links and connecting key gardens and with the River Wandle Gough, will feature a 55-storey tower development sites. running through its heart. containing grade A office space, nearly Next to , Stanhope , a public service 400 apartments and a 200 bedroom four and Schroders’ will provide delivery hub, housing the council offices star hotel. Connectivity

Croydon is the most connected urban centre in the south east. Fast and frequent transport links connect Croydon to the capital, the coast, the countryside and the .

Rail links between East Croydon and Direct rail services to Brighton, Kings Croydon is only 8.5 miles from junction Central London are fast - London Bridge Cross St Pancras and Luton Airport. seven of the M25 motorway, linked directly 12 minutes, London Victoria 16 minutes, There are more than 10 direct trains an by the A23 London to Brighton road. It is London Waterloo 20 minutes. hour between East Croydon and London just 23 miles from London Heathrow, the Victoria, London Kings Cross and London UK’s busiest international airport. 14 minutes by train to Gatwick Airport, the Bridge. There are eight trains every hour UK’s second busiest international airport. There are 17 overground stations and 43 to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. bus routes in the borough. The East London Line has put Croydon Stratford, home of the London Olympics on the Tube map, linking to Highbury and Croydon is ideally placed between a choice 2012, is just 37 minutes from West Islington via London Overground. of airports - London City, London Gatwick Croydon station. and London Heathrow. Heathrow and Croydon Tramlink is the UK’s biggest East Croydon is the second busiest station Gatwick Airports can be reached by road tram network. It is used by 28 million in the country outside central London in about 50 and 30 minutes respectively. passengers a year. The first of six new and is used by 27 million passengers a In addition, London Biggin Hill Airport is trams is due to enter service this spring year. A £20 million refurbishment, due for less than 25 minutes drive from central to cope with rising passenger numbers completion in 2013, will accommodate Croydon and offers a fast-growing as the service prepares to enter a new ever-rising demand. executive and commercial service within phase of expansion. the UK and to mainland Europe. RETAIL

Croydon is London’s biggest shopping experience outside the West End. The vibrant and modern town centre, with 2.5 million square feet of retail space, generates more than £1 billion in spend every year.

28 of the UK’s top 30 retailers are in is London’s eighth largest Croydon Business Improvement District Croydon, with major outlets of John retail area, with a high concentration of (BID) represents nearly 600 companies Lewis at Home, Debenhams, House of trade counter and retail warehouse units committed to enhancing the town Fraser, Marks & Spencer, IKEA and Miss including IKEA, Homebase, Sainsbury’s centre. The second largest business-led Selfridge as well as a host of fashion and PC World superstores. initiative in the country, its £1 million shops from River Island and Republic to annual budget is raised through a levy on In the first part of 2011 footfall in the town LK Bennett and La Senza. participating businesses. centre increased to 2.4 million per month Croydon’s shopping centre has 2.5 million – up 6.3% against a national 3.5% decline. Croydon is a top-20 UK shopper square feet of retail space. destination, presently ranked at number 16. The Whitgift and shopping centres £1.2 billion a year is spent in town centre offer some 200 stores between them. The last remaining department shops. In London that is second only the store can be found in North End. Built in , Croydon’s West End and the fourth largest spend in 1862, it is the fourth largest department flourishing fruit and veg market, has south east England. store in the UK. existed by Royal Charter since 1276 and Croydon’s total catchment spend of still trades six days a week. £5.4 billion is one of the highest in the UK. HOSPITALITY & LEISURE

A mixture of vibrant nightlife and open spaces makes Croydon perfect for families. An exceptional range of hotels, Michelin-rated restaurants, south London’s biggest entertainment venue, a thriving music scene and the world famous Brit School sit alongside some of the most beautiful open spaces London has to offer.

Croydon boasts London’s highest Croydon’s restaurants, cafes, bars and Croydon BID hosts regular BIG Get- concentration of hotel rooms outside the nine nightclubs entertain more than Together events featuring street theatre, West End. 20,000 people every weekend. music and retail promotions. Hotels include the Hallmark Aerodrome There are numerous facilities for those The busy Visitor Centre near East Hotel, Croydon Park Hotel, Hilton Croydon, wishing to participate in football, rugby, Croydon station welcomes thousands of Holiday Inn Express, Jurys Inn, Premier hockey, fitness, tennis, bowls, fitness people to the borough every year. Travel Inns (West and South), and much more. For those wishing to An impressive 800 dining venues can be Park Hotel and Golf Club, Addington play golf, there are no fewer than seven found in Croydon which has a growing Palace Hotel, Swallow Manor quality courses around Croydon. culinary reputation for quality as well Hotel, Travelodge Central Croydon and the Croydon Business Improvement District as quantity, with two Michelin-rated Lansdowne Hotel. (BID) is leading Destination Croydon, a restaurants in its restaurant quarter, A 120-room Hampton by Hilton is under consortium of leading hotels and venues South End, where a diverse range of development and a boutique hotel is looking to establish the town as a centre cuisine exists to suit every taste. planned for Cherry Orchard Road. for conferences. EDUCATION

Croydon is a hotbed of creativity and achievement. Croydon also boasts year-on-year improvement at GCSE in its schools and academies and it also has many of the UK’s top independent schools, including Whitgift, Trinity and Old Palace of . Croydon College is already known as The Brit School for Performing Arts and In 2011, nearly 61% of pupils in Croydon University Centre Croydon, building on its Technology is the first of its kind in the achieved five or more GCSE A* to C partnership with the University of Sussex country and is sponsored by Sony Music, grades, including English and Maths, the to allow students to gain top-quality Virgin Group and Warner Music. eighth consecutive year of improvement. higher level qualifications. There are 12 academies operating in In July 2011, 65% of schools were judged More than 13,000 people, including more Croydon including six in the primary good or better by compared to than 1,000 undergraduates, study at sector operating under educational 59% in July 2010. Croydon College, which has undergone trusts. The Quest Academy showed extensive refurbishment and now hosts the UK’s second highest level of The rate of Croydon childminders judged new industry-standard facilities and a improvement at GCSE in 2011 – up 18% good or outstanding by OFSTED is 13% new library and conference centre. on the previous year. higher than the national average. The percentage of pupils achieving Level Croydon Adult Learning and Training Croydon boasts a number of top 4+ in both English and Maths at Key Stage (CALAT), with more than 50 years independent schools including Whitgift, 2 has risen year-on-year from below the experience, is the sixth largest adult Trinity and Old Palace of John Whitgift, national average in 2008 to 74% (1% above education service in the country, offering all run by the the national average) in 2010. more than 1,500 courses. formed in 1596. HERITAGE

Croydon’s history stretches back more than 1,000 years and the town has been the summer residence of numerous Archbishops of Canterbury, as well as entertaining the kings and queens of England.

The area covered by the present London 11 Archbishops of Canterbury are buried During the Middle Ages, Croydon Borough of Croydon is made up of four in the borough, five in the 1,000 year old expanded as a market town, becoming ancient : Croydon, Addington, St Mary’s Church in Addington and six in a centre for charcoal production, leather Coulsdon and . . tanning and brewing. A market has been held in the Surrey Dating back from to 960, the The Whitgift almshouses in North End Street area since 1276. Church of Croydon was substantially were founded by Archbishop John rebuilt following a fire in 1867 and Whitgift in 1596 and still fulfil their Many Archbishops of Canterbury used became London’s only Minster in 2011. original function today. the estate at Croydon (Old) Palace as a summer residence and manorial court. In 1809, the Croydon Canal opened, Croydon was recorded in the Domesday They played hosts to many kings and linking the town with London, making Book as being the manor of Archbishop queens of England including Henry VIII, Croydon the first town in the country Lafrance, a hamlet of 365 people with a Queen Mary and Elizabeth I. Once the with both a railway and a canal. The church and a mill. old palace was vacated in 1707, they later course of the canal was later included in acquired . the new railways. PEOPLE AND LIFESTYLE

If Croydon were a city, it would be the UK’s 10th largest by population, excluding . With reasonable property prices, a wide range of housing and excellent schools, it is expected to continue out-performing the national average in terms of both population growth and household income.

Croydon’s population is young and Croydon is vibrant and diverse – The average house price is around dynamic with education and skills levels almost 40% of the population has a £245,000, making the borough an that are above the national average. non-British background and more than affordable option for homebuyers. 100 languages are spoken. Croydon offers vibrant, urban living to Three million people live within 10 miles the north and tranquil, affluent districts in of the town. 47.1% of the working population is the south. employed in managerial, professional With 341,800 residents, Croydon is south and associated professional occupations, Croydon people are proud of where London’s biggest borough by population compared to the UK average of 42.9%. they live. A recent survey put Croydon – and that figure is expected to grow by well above the national average for its 16% over the next 20 years. Croydon Business Improvement District populace’s pride in the community and has already invested £7.5m on a series 81% of the working-age population is scale of amenities. of improvements and projects in the economically active, compared to the Town Centre. London average of 75.5%. FAMOUS CONNECTIONS

Croydon has long been a centre for innovation and a place where talent has been nurtured. Famous living Croydonians include illiusionist Derren Brown, businessman Sir Philip Green and artist and film-maker Sam Taylor-Wood.

The world’s first diesel-powered small Croydon locations have been used in a 2012 marks the centenary of the death of vans were manufactured in Croydon at number of TV and film productions including: the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the factory that was also responsible for Da Vinci Code; Made in Dagenham; Brazil; who grew up in Croydon. There is an Lambretta Scooters, Heinkel bubble cars Peep Show; Batman – Dark Knight Rising and impressive grave with a touching poem and the original McLaren racing cars. Werewolves and Vampires. at Bandon Hill Cemetery.

Between the wars, Croydon Airport was Sodium street lighting was first used In 1950, the Croydon branch of Sainsbury’s the start and finish of many heroic long- on the Purley Way, Croydon, in 1932. was the first in the country to move from distance flights. flew from Ironically, the UK’s first car-related counter sales to self-service, launching a Croydon to Australia in 1930, the first fatalities, both as a pedestrian and a retail revolution. woman to do so, and later returned to driver, also occurred in the borough. Some of the famous faces associated Croydon to a rapturous welcome. Fairfield Halls is built on the site (the Fair with Croydon include: Cicely Mary Barker, The 150-year-old Spurgeon’s College, which Field) of a large and infamous public fair creator of the Flower Fairies, the poet Lord teaches theology to PHD level, is referred to that was held for more than 500 years. Byron, the singer , comedien Ronnie as the ‘Vatican of the Baptist Church’. The current town hall is Croydon’s third. It Corbett, cellist Jacqueline du Pre, athlete Donna Fraser, and writers Sir Arthur Conan  was opened in May 1896 by the Prince and Croydon is the setting of two poems by Sir Doyle and Raymond Chandler. John Betjeman, the British Poet Laureate, Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII). entitled “Croydon” and “Love in a Valley”.

Pictured left to right are: Amy Johnson (main image), Sir John Betjeman, Lord Byron, Jacqueline du Pre, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Cicely Mary Barker and the Heinkel bubble car.