To wonder why Croydon/Sutton get so much negativity

[Dobdebdop]

Me and dh are looking to move from our current house and our currently house hunting in these two boroughs. We are seeking to be able to go mortgage free so I can start a business.

When we brought this up to family and friends, many sounded absolutely horrified at the idea.

When viewing properties we found most of these areas to be pleasant and absolutely fine. The high streets in both are a bit shabby but Central London is less than 30 mins for shopping so we can just go there.

I dont understand why there is so much negativity to this part of South London, I don't know much about this area but my impression is that it was an absolutely fine place to live.

I’m laughing at the poster who said someone got decapitated in Sutton and that shit like that happens all the time.

I promise you that Sutton is not a hotbed of decapitation!

@Ellisandra perhaps they were thinking of the Croydon cat killer who also struck in Sutton? Only decapitation I have ever heard of in the area!

These threads always make me smile I live in Croydon and was born here. I don’t think it’s any ‘worse’ than any other London Borough. There are pockets of it I would probably avoid after dark but I would expect there are other places around the country I would do the same.

It was me with the decapitation 😀. It wasn't that that particular thing happened all the time (I think we'd all remember that,) it's just that I remember a set of really nasty murders / beatings in a short space of time, which I noticed as I was living in south Norwood, so not that far away. Which as I said was proper, proper rough. Sutton is definitely nicer than that! Would have been 2008 to 10 time.

Watching

South croydon is full of places to get a glass of wine and pizza .... are you sure you’ve got the right place?

I live in one of the areas near South Croydon that several other posters have said they’re from . It’s lovely here. There’s a sense of community, green space, nearby woodlands, good schools and it feels very safe. It’s also very easy to get to London or Gatwick/the south coast. Central Croydon on the other hand is dire. I never go there and tend to shop in places like Bromley or Sevenoaks as both are very close. As with all areas of London, you get wealth right next to poverty. I don’t think it’s much worse in Croydon and there’s a lot of investment going into the area at the moment.

If anybody thinks Sutton is nicer, I must point you towards the sorry tale of the bloke found in several places after an altercation at the St Helier Tavern (now a block of HA properties).

Organised crime and score settling happens everywhere.

@fancynancyclancy Ashamed we used to call it that also

South Croydon does have loads of restaurants tbf.

Please could someone tell me what the nearest station would be for the South Croydon that has nice places to go?

My friend in East Croydon will want to know - she commutes into central for work and is finding it hard to go local at the mo and also tells me there's nowhere to go. Thank you.

anitagreen

Logically enough, if you're talking about South Croydon restaurants, South Croydon.

Or just hop on the 119/466/312 from outside ECR to get to South Croydon. Ten minutes, if that.

Or go to the Oval Tavern in East Croydon if you've got vegetarians/vegans in your midst.

Posted too soon anitagreen. One of DH's siblings was given the choice of Kings or Mayday after calling 999, the paramedics strongly advised to chose Kings. This was back in the day though.

Rosa it's South Croydon funnily enough, one stop from East Croydon or 5 mins on many buses. Tell her to try the Joker is amazing (and has the original Sainsbury's decor, it's gorgeous) www.thejokercroydon.com/photos

@MitziK

St Helier tavern closed mid nineties so not sure its really representative of the area now!

Also tell her to go to Surrey St, couple of new bars/pubs there or Ludoqvist games cafe which is awesome if you like that kind of thing

@fancynancyclancy I can imagine my mums friend went in there for something simple and died it was scary was like 20 years ago now but it was really bad no idea though what it's like now

Chart thanks. she told me there wasn't much but that looks lovely!

Not looking for The Ritz, but a something Pizza Expressy or a Tapas place or similar

Well, in addition to the ones mentioned above there's also an actual Pizza Express on George St as well as the one in Purley (and West Wickham) and in addition to Las Fuentes (which is great) there is also Galicia, which is where now-DH and I went on our first date. Or indeed the Croydon stalwart which is Bagattis - looks in unprepossessing but actually does fantastic, unpretentious Italian food. Or Ponte Nuevo actually which is better for pizza IMO.

Also, for those of you who live in and around CR0, Basil and Grape on George St is really very nice and has a great wine list, The Joker is extremely family friendly and has an excellent gin selection, and the new Turkish place which replaced Anna's (the Thai restaurant) by Leon House is excellent, really good value for money and was HEAVING when we went in there on Friday night.

Yep, that's where I meant, @Lakielady, sorry!

Epsom isn't that bad, @carbuncleonapigsposterior - the high st is a little tatty in places but overall it's still quite nice and you can at least get stuff you need there. The trick is to live out of the centre proper but still be in walking distance. Banstead High St is fairly meh again now it's being taken back over by charity shops & homogenized by Subway & similar. It's got a few really good shops and a couple that I go to specially but not the most useful selection overall. Pistachios in the park is cute though.

My master plan is to move over Guildford away eventually anyway, I miss being over there!

That's sad anitagreen. I've not heard anything recently and know some of my friends parents still use it so Im sure its improved

Croydon is a shit hole.

It’s illustrates the level of inequality in this country and the failure of any government to do anything about it.

No amount of culture etc is going to tackle the gap between rich and poor.

I hate croydon. I worked there, I grew up there and it’s just depressing.

@fancynancyclancy I hope so because it doesn't need to be that bad no hospital does I use St Helier now if I need to and that's ok bit slow though for the children's services but adults is fine I've found and for pregnancy too x

@LBOCS2

Haven't been to bagattis for years - glad to hear it's still good. I should probably go back for another visit.