It's headlines like this that give local papers a bad name:
10-year plan: Could Croydon be the next New York?
All credit to the Croydon Guardian for having the balls to even ask the question, but if you're going to make those kind of grand claims then you need the evidence to back it up:
"New York City may have the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre and Central Park but if developers have their way over the next decade, Croydon will have a 25-storey residential tower, a 40-storey business park, music and sports arena and a £500 million shopping mall."
And it gets worse...
"And Croydon – already dubbed mini Manhattan – could soon rival the real Manhattan after London mayor Ken Livingstone earmarked the borough as the site for more than 17,000 new homes over the next 15 years."
Well they've got a point, we always refer to Croydon as 'mini Manhattan'. "Do you want to go up to 'mini Manhattan' for a pint?" you'll hear us say. Or maybe: "Fancy going up the shops in 'mini Manhattan?"
No one calls Croydon 'Croydon' any more. That's so last year.
Just to give you an idea of what Croydon is going to have to compete with over the next decade, here's a photo of the Manhattan of the future courstesy of our sister site Gothamist.
