We know Croydon has big ideas, angling for a city style makeover New York or Barcelona style but the south London suburb is really going to have to buck up its ideas if it wants to stay ahead of the Zone 1 game - their high street hot spot, Tiger Tiger, was a clear 3 weeks late getting unseasonably festive, having been pipped to the yuletide post by Harrods with its midsummer move to......

Could EMI be moving to Croydon? No, we don’t think so either. The Cultural Olympiad is afoot: the launch on the 26th – 28th September looks set to be a weekend of pretty special events. And construction on the cupcake is proceeding apace. Fingers crossed an’ all. Specially as 9 out of 10 Brits currently verge towards pessimism on the games front. What housing slump? The super-prime end of the market is thriving, thank......

Don’t worry – this isn’t the start of a slightly off-the-wall new series: it is merely a round-up of several grave matters which have come to our attention today. Firstly, try not to die in Tower Hamlets. They’ve run out of room to bury people, and are in fact paying families to inter their loved ones elsewhere, in neighbouring Newham or Redbridge. This situation has been looming for several years: the government reckons that within......

Fed up with attention being focused on its crime rates and general roughness, Croydon is fighting back with the help of its very own super heroine. And we’re not talking about the e-less sort that normally seems to pepper the streets of this ailing borough. News reaches us today that the new Lara Croft is actually none other than the very lovely Alison Carroll, a soon-to-be-former-receptionist from Croydon. She is to be the face of......

Back to Croydon. This time it’s all about chewing gum, and the borough’s efforts to get the stuff off the streets. They are one of 16 town centres being asked to participate in a carrot and stick scheme to cut back on careless gum disposal: state-of-the-art gum wraps are being distributed to kids, and there’s a gum poetry competition (yes, really). The alternative facing serial gumpsters is £75.00 fines. This Londonista has to admit to......

This could be a case for Mulder and Scully (good job too, seeing as they're currently in town). A war-time airplane, apparently crushed behind the walls of a perfume factory in Croydon, is vexing locals, who've sniffed the stagnant stench of conspiracy and cover-up. If this isn't a job for the X-Filers, we don't know what is. The Croydon Guardian was contacted earlier in the year by two individuals who reported, in hushed tones,......

Olympic Delivery Authority criticised over construction emissions Attack on police in Croydon may have been gang retaliation Don't read this if you ate strawberries at Wimbledon Notting Hill Carnival will be "Welcoming the World" "funkapolitan" style with Boris ululating on the side Image courtesy of Kayode Okeyode via the Londonist flickr group.......

Barely a week after a vicious gang attacked police officers in Croydon, we bring you another sobering tale of needless violence from the blighted borough: an unruly mob has caused £10,000 worth of damage to a 150-year old church in Shirley. Before you get scribbling to the the papers with hand-wringing woes about the yoof of today, with their iPods and idiotic idioms and bulletproof hoodies, bear this in mind: the miscreants in this......

We'll likely avoid Croydon this weekend. Lovely place though it is, news reports are coming in from around Croydon that suggests that Lady Luck is not currently visiting the area. First off, news came in of police officers being bitten by 15-year olds and attacked by a mob after one of their group refused to pick up litter they had dropped. Then in comes a report of a new mum giving birth in a......

Occasionally an event happens so spirit-sappingly depressing to make us wonder if those millenarian, "hell in a handcart", death knell-sounding types in the Mail's employ might actually have a point after all. Here's one: two cops are on sick leave following an attack by a mob in Croydon, after they had the temerity to ask a 15-year old girl to pick up her litter. The mob, some 30 people strong and made up largely......

Alex the Croydon gangsta seems a little lonely. The third runway debate at Heathrow rumbles on. There’s yet another racism allegation for the Met. Jennifer Aniston flies into London. And then straight out again.. Aren't we friends any more? Boris’ pledge to map the crime stats of London street by street has gotten hiccoughs. Paddington becomes a quinquagenarian if not in style, then at least with lots of fun. Croydon sunset from pixelhut’s flickr......

The Face of Croydon: it's not, despite what you may hope, the perma-tanned scowl of Palace chairman Simon Jordan, nor the sneering snarl of ex-Big Bruv contestant Alex de-Gale. No, it in fact belongs to one Kym Whittle, who became the Face of the borough after winning a modelling competition last weekend. Yet the result, announced at a festival on Saturday by organisers Fashion Enter, has been thrown into doubt after questions were raised......

23 year old Croydon mum, Alex De-Gale, was last night removed from the Big Brother house for "behaving in an unacceptable and sometimes intimidating manner towards fellow housemates". Tonight's BB footage will show her in discussion with Darnell about her "gangster friends" on the outside and generally making Croydon cringe about their latest headline hitting local. Alex was clearly under stress, having been nominated for eviction but she'd hardly been sweetness and light beforehand.......

Tamil people in London have hit the news twice this week for very different reasons. Firstly, seems Croydon is in the grip of gang fear following a spate of violent clashes in recent years. Local police claim these Tamil gangs are "tooled up" and looking for trouble. On Monday 4 young Tamil men were found guilty at the Old Bailey for committing the so-called "Chicken Cottage murder" last year. The men denied all charges. At......

Here’s what we’ve learned this weekend whilst you’ve been slapping on that Factor 15: Now that that annual backstabbing fest otherwise known as Big Brother is underway, the knives are out for Croydoner Alexandra, who is apparently dating a man accused of murder. Yesterday’s anti-knife and gun rally was understandably well-attended… …even if a debate on the issue in the Commons shamefully wasn’t. A huge fire in South London left thousands without power overnight......

So the local football team failed to clamber up the rope ladder to the departing helicopter of the Premier League, and in truth it's nothing more than an ancient dump where the council will spy on you without reason. Yet Croydon's future looks rosy: Mayor Boris has lavished praise on plans for an exhaustive regeneration of the borough. Croydon Gateway, as this swanky, Flash-heavy website ably demonstrates, is a scheme that aims to "shape......

It wasn't so long ago we were discussing the ease of scoring Es and whizz in Croydon. Perhaps stung into action by such reports, it appears that Croydon council are getting tough. They've invoked anti-terror legislation, in the form of the RIPA, six times in the past 12 months for offenses such as illegal trading and fly-tipping. RIPA, for those who don't follow the ever arcane activities of our increasingly Orwellian society, is the......

So you've had your fun day out in Croydon. You've visited the Whitgift Centre, rode the tram, watched the Palace game, and before you know it, 4.20's rolled round. Got a buzz for the sticky icky? Well, the Croydon Guardian has published an article telling you just what to do. Masquerading under the rubric of "investigative journalism", the newspaper sent a reporter to see how easy drugs are to come by on the mean......

In the relentless battle against anti-social behaviour and juvenile crime on our public transport we've reported on 999 text hotlines and genuine gansters brought in to educate the kids. We've had local heroes, PCSOs, poster campaigns and overzealous bus drivers. Now, apparently, we need God. The Ascension Trust have been deploying Street Pastors over large parts of South and North East London since 2003. Their mission "engaging with people on the streets to care,......

Today marks the case of March literally going out like a lamb. Well, a ewe, if we’re going to split, uh, wool here. Croydon’s Happy Valley Park will host 20 Herdwick and Jacob ewes over the next three months. The sheep will dutifully graze the chalky grassland in one of Britain’s most diverse wildlife habitats. You know, how it used to be done before lawn-mowers sputtered across the nation every Sunday afternoon. For the......

The Londonist flag is flying at a respectful half mast today: London’s oldest columnist has gone to the great printing press in the sky at the age of 101. Croydon gets less des res by the day: there’s been another stabbing at a school there. Laid-back London listens to a listless 90 bpm*: it’s northerners who top the toe-tapping leagues of Britain with the Scots on 160bpm. It’s probably just to keep warm. The......

Time was when it cost just a tenner and the promise of a better life to tempt British folk into a new life down under. Modern times call for modern measures, however, and an Aussie tourist board has found itself in hot water after besmirching the character of our cherished city. Marketing gurus for the Australian city of Adelaide, looking for new ways to entice people southwards, are running an advertising campaign featuring legends......

Londonist asks if Croydon is turning into the new Kings Cross, as yet another brothel is raided and shut down. Ealing authorities reckon real actors from The Bill will give a new anti-kiddie-crime documentary enough clout for it to be effective. It is part of a programme to be unrolled in West London schools. Lee Jasper’s deputy is forced to resign over illicit luxury beano to Nigeria. And for being daft enough to lie......