r/croydon

Going to be staying in Croydon on Sunday where will be good to watch the England game? The quieter the better (not as young as I used to be...)

Come into Croydon to watch the game with a friend and gone to the Green Dragon, game is on but no sound and the choice of beer is pretty poor. Any alternatives in the centre?

I'm so gutted. They posted a video today saying that the chain is in liquidation from today. They have such lovely staff. Where to get a good loaf of sourdough now in town without queuing for ages for Julian?

Hi! Looking to get hair done, would anyone recommend any hair salons in or around Croydon that offer quiet girls only/ private spaces that can cater to hijabis? Thanks!!

Wanted to write my own post on this rather than in the comments, because its easy for people to see the headlines posted today and move on with a negative impression of the government when in fact fingers could be pointed elsewhere. My sympathies above all are with the staff who have lost their jobs with a day's notice.

89 year old Surrey bakery. 176 staff. Closed with a day's notice on 1 July, with a tearful post blaming fuel prices, National Insurance and business rates, and asking people to "shop local, our high streets need your love."

Here's what the Companies House filings show, and it's a lot to leave out of a farewell letter.

There are two companies run by the same family: the bakery (the bit that closed) and a property company that was basically dormant until 2023, then took ownership of the bakery's buildings and 60% of the bakery itself.

Over the two years before closure, according to the filed accounts:

• £3.28 million was moved out of the bakery in a single year to it's parent company (a year it made a loss).
• The buildings were moved into the family's property company and revalued to around £5.2 million.
• The bakery then paid rent back to that family company to use its own former premises (about £384,000 in the last year, and rising).
• Strip out that internal rent and the group actually made around £200,000 profit, held roughly £470,000 in cash, and was worth about £4.8 million on paper.
• The property company paid its owners around £274,000 in dividends while saying it wanted to "retain capital to support future growth."

On the "government killed us" line: the last accounts (year to September 2025) were signed off by the auditors in early 2026 with no going concern warning, and the directors described the group as "stable and well positioned for continued trading growth" in May 2026, about six weeks before shutting. The employer National Insurance bill actually went up by roughly £74,000 for the whole year. The farewell post claimed an "extra £20k a week." You do the maths.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan came on board as a partner shortly before all this. Worth noting the outside investment went into the trading side, the bit that closed. The buildings sit in the separate property company.

Caveats, because I'm just someone who read public documents: splitting property from trading, charging rent between your own companies, and paying dividends are all perfectly legal and extremely common. The audited figures only run to September 2025, so trading could genuinely have fallen off a cliff after that. I'm avoiding accusing anyone of anything. Just presenting the public record (which most people don't know how to access, but are readily available on companies house) sitting next to the public statement with is very political in nature and assigns zero blame to themselves.

In short...blaming the minimum wage while millions in assets and cash have quietly been tidied into a company your staff and customers will never see a penny of is a bold way to remind people to "shop local."

Hi All,

I'm looking for recommendations for lakes &/or nature trails in and around Croydon.

I'm a wheelchair user so ideally they'd have accessible toilets in them or near enough - and for the trails, some amount of level ground - even if it's only for a portion of it.

Hoping to just have some chill picnics and a bit of exploring in nature this summer.

Thanks so much.

If you live in Thornton Heath, you probably already know the homeless woman in question (overweight, mixed race, often sits outside and around the station). Usually, she’s harmless and sticks to just verbally accosting people for money, but what happened to me last night was so disgusting that I reported it to the police.

On my way to take out money from the cash point by the Tesco at around 11pm, she is standing by the bus stop and does her usual “hello, hello, hello” spiel, which I ignored as a few months back she had called me a “shitty black bitch who deserves to die” all because I politely asked her to step back while I was withdrawing money from the same cashpoint (money that I was going to give her, mind you!).

Back to yesterday: she calls out to me trying to get my attention, I ignore her, she then tries to block my path from heading to the cashpoint, forcing me to go around the bus stop to avoid her. I then attempt to go to the cashpoint and she sees it fit to call me a “black bitch” again and that “if [I know] what’s good for me, [I’ll move] from the cashpoint”, essentially alluding to attacking me because I didn’t want to give her money.

I ended up going to the cashpoint at the other end of the high street to avoid her and whilst doing so I reported her to the police. I’ve lived in Thornton Heath all my life and no homeless person is as vile as she is - she needs to be institutionalised!

Hi everyone,

I’m a 31F relocating to London from Singapore for work and am considering renting a one-bedroom apartment at **The Residences** near East Croydon station.

I’ve read mixed things about Croydon online, so I wanted to hear from people who actually live there or know the area well.

My main questions are:
How safe is the area around The Residences, particularly for a woman living alone?
Would you feel comfortable walking to and from East Croydon station after work (around 8–10 pm)?
Is the immediate neighbourhood around the building generally busy and well-lit?
Would you recommend it, or would you suggest looking elsewhere?
Does anyone have experience with The Residences and do you recommend it? Any hidden costs I should be aware of?!

I’d really appreciate any honest insights, especially from current or former residents. Thanks in advance!

hiiii!! american dating an english boy that lives in croydon :) i’ll be there visiting later this month for a while and looking for a day spa, ideally something that offers packages with massage, facial, pedicure that sort of stuff. bonus points for a pool and steam rooms. I’m hoping not to pay central London prices and would also love to take his mom who has mobility issues so going into central wouldn’t be ideal anyway. Does anyone have any suggestions tysm!!! ❤️