Croydon borough profile Overview of borough • Resident population: 336,583 • Economically active population: 214,720 • Key town centres: Croydon, Purley, Thornton Heath, Coulsdon, Norbury. Skills & Labour Force Qualifications • 26% of the workforce is educated to degree level (NVQ4+). International Schools • Saturday schools for the Chinese community are run by The Chinese Church in London in Croydon (Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8656 3532). • Japanese Saturday school is run at Croydon High School, contact – Mr Osa. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8993 7145 web: www.london-hoshuko.co.uk Colleges/Universities • Coulsdon College web: www.coulsdon.ac.uk • Croydon College web: www.croydon.ac.uk • John Ruskin College web: www.johnruskin.ac.uk • Continuing Education and Training Services web: www.cets.co.uk • The BRIT school web: www.brit.croydon.sch.uk/ Business Base • 13,000 businesses are based in Croydon, with both start-up enterprises and established businesses thriving. 160,000 people are employed in the borough. • Croydon has a large number of multinational companies who are attracted by the large amount of office space available, approx. 8.5 million sq ft, as well the excellent transport links. • Companies include: AIG, BT, Direct Line, Home Office, IPC Country and Leisure Media, Jane’s Information Group, Mondial, Mott McDonald, Nestle, Infosys – Indian software company. • Unemployment rate: 3.1% (Sept 2003). Transport • London Victoria and London Bridge stations can be reached within 15 minutes by train. • Gatwick International Airport is just 15 minutes by train from central Croydon and London Heathrow is within an hour by road or rail. • Tramlink connecting Croydon with Beckenham, and Wimbledon. • The A23 London to Brighton road links Croydon directly to the M23 and M25. The A232 provides east-west links with Kingston, Sutton and Bromley. Quality of life Top 5 attractions: • Croydon Clocktower: cultural and leisure complex including museum, galleries, cinema. • Fairfield: the premier entertainment venue for South London. • Addington Palace: former summer home to Archbishops of Canterbury. • Croydon Skyline: unique public lighting programme involving 20 buildings in the town centre between dusk and midnight. • Shopping: One of the biggest retail centres in the South East including the Whitgift Centre, Centrale, Wing Yip Centre and the Purley Way. Business Support • Croydon Chamber of Commerce, Commerce House, 1 Wandle Road, Croydon CR9 1HY 020 8680 2165 www.croydonchamber.org.uk • Croydon Council, Taberner House, Park Lane, Croydon CR9 3JS 020 8686 4433 www.croydon.gov.uk • Croydon Marketing and Development Ltd. 5th Floor, Park House, 22 Park Street, Croydon CR0 1YE, 020 8686 2233 www.investincroydon.com Key Business Sectors 23% Business & Finance Services 25% Wholesale/Retail trade Health and Education 6% Transport and Comms 7% Manufacturing 20% Other 19% Source: The Annual Business Inquiry (2001) [email protected] ©2004 Autumn 2004.