The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Croydon, Greater London*

Croydon, Greater London Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• Litten Tree
• Erm, I guess the library is good. It looks ok from the outside, and is very good inside.
• Those lovely people at the Nestle building make my day complete
• I love em all. Totally. Croydon is absolute proof that the worlds crappest architecture can be utterly transformed by coloured light and extreme self delusion
• the clocktower and grants before the huge black dome was errected
• The library. it looks class. The outside makes me feel like I'm in a Sherlock holmes novel or summat. And the inside's like the starship enterprise. It's cool. No, it's Kool. With a Kapital K!
• town hall, the best looking buillding in the town. croydon councille y do you insist on buillding that fucking monstroserty next to it????????? to join the grants centre up with the next new shoping centre on top of what is now turtles (one of the best tool shops in the world if you like that sort of thing).
• the library, which is lovely and old from the outside, but very modern in the inside. the best library in the world
• The Almshouses, Town Hall, George Street, some of High Street and South End, the record shops.
• I love Grants now. The builders have done a very impressive job of it. Well done!
• Yates Croydon
• St John's Parish Church, sailing along the by-pass like a gallion!
• Croydon is a complete Architectural playground, it's quite ridiculous. My favourite building would have to be Cane Hill, the abandonned mental heath institution in Coulsdon.
• NLA tower by east croydon BR. Just an office block, but immortalised as the 50p building because it looks like a stack of 'em.
• The Clocktower
• Allders
• queens gardens
• The Library/Clocktower - it's brick with all these stone sculptures built into it. You look at Taberner House and the Nestle building and sigh. Why don't they make 'em like this anymore?
• town hall,punk shop.
• Nestle Building, looks good at night when its lit up Leon House, its near my house and would provide a nice view if they illuminated it at night.
• That newish BT building at the end of Wellsley Road, looks great at night when they light it up.
• The New Direct Line offices
• Was the concrete roundabout walkway in the Wickgift Centre, near the great aquarian shop - but alas has since been distroyed. Almshouse, corner of George Street and Allders.
• The old Grants shop....soon to be turned into cinema.

Demolish It Now Building

• Taberner House
• The old "boarded-up" Croydon hospital in London Road...why is it still standing ?
• All the office blocks, in particular the Council Building, with its horrible pink lights which mean that even at one in the morning, the sky is multicoloured and there are rarely stars to be seen. Some of the other ones are pretty bad, too.
• any of the shitty concrete blocks in croydon.
• How about the whole stinking town
• fairfield halls. one question. WHY?!?
• Most of the buildings in croydon. It is JUST A BIT shit after all.
• east croydon station. why build a station out of mechano?? whilst you knock down that y dont you just blow up the rest of the 60's shit. the phillips building was supposed to burn its crap. y they put the bastard out i don't know. nestle buillding could hardly be called attractive and allthough the nla tower (locally known as the thripny bit building) is a land mark and has been a feature of croydon since, it aint pretty. nuke the fuckers. croydon was flattend during the war and that was a good chance to build something worth while. the council building looks shaby so do that as well prefferbly during the day.
• The Blue orchid.. ahem...
• The Flyover. Its hideous.
• croydon council, its an ugly 70's throwback that the council illuninate with florescent pink and green at night time. it does nothing. its hideous. demolish it now.
• The post office near E. Croydon; my block of flats (Cumberland Court)
• Everything in the town centre except the record shops and the almshouses and George Street.
• The Croydon Council building. What a nasty looking place.
• 90% croydon centre
• Pals Croydon
• Taberner House. And leave all the people in it while you smash it down
• The Council Building, well, actually 80% of central Croydon
• George Street
• Blue orchid
• so many
• The Nestle building, hopefully taking the despicable Blue Orchid and Heroes sports bar with it.
• the drummond centre.
• The NLA BLOODY tower has got on my nerves since I was born. Tear it down. Now.
• Fairfeild Halls. It is an ugly buiding with no caracter
• Nestle HQ
• All those office buildings along Dingwall road. They are all dirty, abandoned (every one) and might end up demoloshing themselves.
• The Fairfield halls, or that old Skyscraper right next to the Whitgift centre, it spoils your view of the sky when your inside
• Fairfiled Halls
• NLA Tower
• Tabby House
• Lunar House, The biggest, ugliest, grayest concrete monstrosity ever made by man! It would look out of place in the most run down areas of Warsaw
• Most of Wellesley Road - I'm sorry. It has to go!

The Best Things

• Shops
• The transport is good so you can escape, and it is quick to get to Brighton, which is a lot better. The library is good.
• Up In Smoke, London Piercing Clinic.
• N/A
• the way certain things can happen "only in croydon"- hooded men walking around northend peddaling peacock feathers with one trouser leg up and the other one down- to name but one example of a traditional croydon sighting. oh i and i saw spiderman walking up the highstreet the other day.
• At Christmas. When it gets dark early and one year they put that ice rink thing in the park. The park and library area are class after all. Just the general atmosphere you get in croydon - probably helps me being from there.
• The amount of shops. You've got everything in Croydon
• great fun for the budding criminal master mind. actually to be a crim in croydon you dont actually need to have a phd, just a couple of tattoos in latin. oh and a swallow (it might acttually a swift) on your left hand by the thumb of if youre paticuarly ard then one on each hand plus some runes a staff gold earings bad teath and boots coverd in paint. soverign rings arent in at the moment accept with fat ginger ado slags who think they are black. "love if your finger nearly swallows the ring then its time to get a bigger sizwe or stop eating so many cakes. 101 giant gold earings don't look to hot, neither dose puting so much gel in your hair you make garreth gaits looks human.
• If you keep on your toes and keep your activities to before 8-ish then Croydon can be a great place as a whole!
• To have your meal alone, relax, surrounded by friendly people.Where ? Mentara Restaurant in Croydon.No awkward feeling.No harm being single.
• Its close to london and therefore you can escape quite quickly if you catch a fast train to victoria
• Croydon Clocktower
• Good secondhand record shops. Annual model railway show worth going to. Lots of wannabe nu-metallers hanging around outside HMV with unmarked skateboards, Slipknot hoodies and huge baggy jeans looking 'hard'. Laugh at them-feel free!
• Croydon's great for shopping. It's all here. The Whitgift Centre has been great since it was completely covered. Shame they demolished the pub in the centre though.
• loasd of good shops
• the WHAREHOUSE THEATRE in Dingwall road - great fringe theatre in the most rickety building u can imagine that has nearly been pulled down 100 times and been saved - great little plays - it only seats about 60 people and is definately part of Croydons history
• Crystal Palace Football Club!!!
• cheap drinks from the ship of fools weatherspoon
• Bar Maids, Croydon
• The best thing about Croydon would have to be the variation of people. There's every different kind of person here, and of all ages. There's a reasonable "Alternative" (I really hate that word) "scene" here.. Also theres loads of wierd stuff around the place.
• Unpretentious nightlife and people....you can't be up yourself if you live in bloody CROYDON.
• The shops.
• Parks around Coombe Lane and Lloyd Park
• The 16 to 20 year old girls
• Surrey Street market - the Thai greengrocers is fantastic, mega-cheap butchers, the Dog and Bull pub. The relative absense of racism compared to other areas of London and elsewhere (see comments about restaurants - these places are often full).
• live music venues. Chinese herbal remedy shop. Rasta guy that sells ragga tapes while constantly bunnin one, & grins all the time.
• Allders. 3rd biggest department store in Europe, if I'm not mistaken?
• The small but fantastic metal/punk scene. Everyone knows everyone else and goes to see eachother's band. There's also little of the petty, small-mindedness you find in the other places in Croydon or in similar scenes elsewhere. There are also loads of great record shops dotted around, most second hand indies. And if nothing else works, you've got London a 20 min. train ride away.
• Croydon has one of the best cycling clubs in the country - Addiscombe Cycling Club - and the countryside is only 15 minutes away by bicycle!
• The Crystal Garden is cool if you are a witch or a druid or into that stuff. Relaxed place to hang out, and there arn't that many in Croydon!
• the foxes, jays and cycling to work on a crisp sunny morning
• The Trams, although they have fallen victim to vandals, just like everything else.
• The Trams and the number of shops.
• Buddha Lounge, Kookai, Top Shop (for cheap out-of-fashion-next-week clothes and accessories), French Connection, Pizza Express, Pane & Table, Thorntons, Marks and Spencer take out sandwiches, Books etc (also v.good Mocha available here)
• The Mobile and Detached Project based in Selsdon but covers all of Croydon. Working with young people for young people!! Well worth finding out about!!
• The new tram services - excellent - I use them everyday to-from work - no traffic jams and very frequent!
• It's 20 minutes from the centre of London.
• Lively, loads of shops.
• The staff at the Abbey National in George Street.
• Surrey St market, good travel connections, some good pubs, good shopping, new tram system, lots of places to eat, good library.
• The best thing (and the only reason I go to Croydon) is to buy a donut from the bakery down near '101 Records'. Probably the best donuts in the country!
• Gatwick Airport is just down the road for that quick getaway

The Worst Things

• Pigeons, parking fines, expensive car parks,
• Lousy TV reception in parts of Croydon....and as for the council tax !!!!!!
• The shops that attract all the townies and kevs and pikeys who think they rule the shopping centre with their Nike trainers and Reebok and "bling bling" accessories and white trackies who shout at me and surround me in their stupid loser groups just because I'm not one of them. I'd never want to be one of them!! Ever!! Also, the only real entertainment is watching the few proper skaters between the Fairfield Halls and Croydon College. Croydon is boring.
• Croydon is all that is evil
• Ticket touts always lurking around east croydon - especially the older guy who sometimes seems to hang around with small boys (ugh) and the weedy guy who spat at my girlfriend. Do something, Connex!
• the constant fear of being mugged tends to annoy me a bit after a while
• The crime rate. The general morons and white trash you get on the high street. But I am a generally hateful person. Also, it pisses me off that a THIRD shopping centre has been added. Capitalist pigs!!!!
• West Croydon
• If you want to either get shot, gang raped, beaten, glassed, bottled, mugged, stabbed, knifed or be involved in a hit and run incident by beema driving tossers, then Croydon town centre on a Friday or Saturday night is the place to be!
• All of the girls in croydon wear plsters on their feet, which consequently get soggy and hang off- most unatractive-with their cheap high street shoes. Don yer trainers and head to the black sheep, and leave yer manky stilletoes at home!
• too many muggers - they are such dickheads! when will someone tell them that just because they walk with a bop it does not give them a right to mug us poor sexy chicks - my mate also got...
• Trying to get from West Croydon Station/Bus Station to East Croydon Station for trains, if you dont know the area then you are screwed cos u get lost if u walk, you have to change trams to get there, and the buses never seem to come.] Also trying to use West Croydon Bus Station on schoolday afternoons with little kids and big kids running around (and hooligans!).
• the 100% chance of getting mugged at least twice a year, peoples bad attitudes, blue orchid, the tram
• nothing to do
• The general threatening feeling in many areas; appalling chain/theme bars
• The architecture
• groups of well dodgy looking kids hanging around by mcdonalds on the high street
• Scummy kids vandalising everything. Grow up will you! Go and watch TV, or listen to your 'sounds'.
• too many muggers in gangs, particularly in west croydon. lots of filthy tramps asking you for money. loads of windows and bus stop panes of galss have been smashed by yobs and drunken pikies.
• Wimbledon "Football" Club
• Croydon is THE ugliest example of that horrible 60's "brave new world" architecture that looked fine at the time, but very, very wrong now. Croydon is also the spiritual homeland of that the kev/townie. If you like guys with shaved heads in designer sportswear that hang around shopping centres and get kicked out of pubs, the come to Croydon.
• 10 year olds getting drunk and trying to start on you between west croydon and the realative safety of east croydon.
• Munters, Croydon
• Seems to be more rif-raf in Croydon these days, too many drunks looking for a fight.
• The muggings, and the people who shout at you if you're wearing a trench coat
• Trying to drive anywhere near the town centre unless you are from here and know EXACTLY where you are going.
• Kevs with shaved heads, in YSL shirts and black trousers that sneer at you when they come out of the pubs. Rudeboys (innit!)- Croydon is their spiritual homeland and The Whitgift Centre is their temple.
• Anything North of Allders. West Croydon is a total no-go area. South Croydon is much safer.
• two of the best music venues were cloed down -one of them the ever popular Rawnsleys wine bar. And the amount of violence.
• Lots of french-cropped, Ben Sherman-wearing lads and ugly 'slayyygs' with too much make-up on and a suspicious bump in their bellies. Just about every place plays either 80's pop or garage. If you like house or indie or basically anything else you're probably fucked.
• The fact a chap can't get into a town centre pub unless he's wearing shoes!
• It stinks.
• the smell in west croydon
• Croydon's Cycling Officer and his crap cycle lanes
• The Vandals, or the gangs of teenagers who think they're hard.
• The groups of teenagers that wonder around the town looking for someone to maim. If you see one, turn around and RUN! The Graffitti thats been splattered inside the trams and all over nearly everything, including churches. Is nothing sacred?
• Knowing everytime I go Croydon with my other half we end up going home separate due to silly little sods that want to fight or little tarts that think it's alright to come on to someone else boyfriend!!
• Granaries nightclub- you want trash? You got it here- in abundance.
• the road leading out.........
• Not enough Detached Youth workers to cover such a vast area.
• Arsehole bouncers outside bars. Rowdy locals. Attitude problem of the average male youth whos uniform is the reebok classic, black jeans and bright shirt usually ralph loren with the manditory ear ring.
• Having lived in Croydon all my life(24 yrs) i have discovered through travelling that Croydon is the most unfriendly place on the face on the planet. The locals are all miserable arseholes and the traffic is mind boggling. As a despatch rider for a year on holiday from uni it was a well known fact that the one place that a bike courier hates to go was Croydon. At night large groups of males can be found out being rowdy. The architecture is appauling. The women are classless slags. The police are brutal.
• Whitgift centre security guards have huge chips on shoulders and seem to be a law to themselves, too many people out to cause trouble on a weekend. (Lots of kids fighting for the following reasons,over girls, spilling pints, looking at someone the wrong way, speaking to them........list is endless)
• People from Croydon still think they live in Surrey, even though it became part of Greater London 25 years ago. (It's actualy within the M25!)
• Crowds of drunk teenagers roaming the streets at night. Too many cars.

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

We make no claims as to the accuracy of the information in the Guide - our only purpose is to provide a forum for users to share their knowledge and opinions. So please keep a large bag of salt handy and be prepared to read between the lines!

If you disagree with a comment, or information is out of date, please submit an update! The contributors come from all walks of life, and their opinions are bound to be subjective, so if your view isn't represented, please speak up and contribute to the balance of the Guide. See below in the 'Have Your Say' section for how to add your voice.

If we have helped you out or made you laugh you can buy us a pint.

Have Your Say...

You can tell us more about Croydon. This is also the method to use if you want to correct some of the information already here. (But please remember you're not mailing the person who actually wrote whatever-it-is.)

You can use the add an event form to tell us about events happening in Croydon.

Or, if you'd just like to leave a message for other users of this site, take a look at The Knowhere Board (handy if you're just trying to get in touch with someone).

Credits

Last updated: 2007-12-14