Croydon - Good or Bad? (Croydon in General)

Member Name: Auryvf

Product:	Croydon in General
Date:	17/09/09 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great public transport, great pubs, loads of shops

Disadvantages: Some not very nice areas, no community spirit, not very nice looking

"...Its like being on the road to hell"
"What like taking the bus through Croydon?"

"The next topic is Unlikely Road Signs"
"You are now leaving Croydon, well done!"

Both of the above are quotes from the popular comedy TV show 'Mock the Week' and both were met with much laughter, I typed these from memory so they may not be exact but the message is still clear - Croydon has a bad reputation. If you want more proof, in an online survey of which 4,000 people took part in, Croydon was voted the chaviest town in the UK with a 22% majority.

The big question is then - is this reputation correct? My answer - No, while Croydons not perfect, is not that bad either.

There are many good points about living in Croydon, it has a large high street with all the shops you'd expect as well as a fair few you wouldn't (a sci-fi bookshop and a punk/rock clothes shop in the chaviest place in the UK?). The main shopping centre - 'The Whitgift Centre' is not the prettiest of places but it's well laid out and is rarely either too busy nor too empty.

Sticking with the high street, there's a large cinema on the outskirts which plays every new release including the new 3D films. There is a lovely park called 'Queen's Gardens' which is just a few minutes walk away and the perfect place to have lunch on a sunny day. There's also a large theatre/arts centre called Fairfield Halls which has a variety of shows on throughout the year including plays, comedies and classical music. (Trivia time - the Fairfield Halls was used to film the first 10 minutes of the film the Da Vinci Code when Langdon is giving a talk to his students)

A short walk from the high street brings you to East Croydon Station which leads me to one of Croydons best features - brilliant public transport. There are loads of buses around every nook and cranny in Croydon - you really can get a bus anywhere, most buses come every 10 minutes and there are also several tram lines. As Croydon is a borough of London, all buses and trams can be paid for using oyster cards which are relatively cheap compared to most non London transport. Also, if you fancy getting away from Croydon, it takes only half an hour to get to the centre of London from the Station and it has good railway links to anywhere else you could want to go in the South.

Another plus point is the nightlife; Croydon has a large number of great pubs, mostly weatherspoons, around the high street and in the surrounding area. There are also a few, small but decent, clubs to suit every taste; I'm planning on reviewing each of these separately in the future.

Yes, there are Chavs in Croydon, there are areas in Croydon I feel uncomfortable walking around alone, there are gangs of youths and scary looking people I cross the street to avoid and I would never be out alone after dark. However, I lived there for the first 18 years of my life (I'm 19 now), I often walked around outside on my own and I've never been attacked nor have I seen anyone being seriously attacked. Perhaps I'm just careful or lucky but it really is possible to walk down the streets in Croydon without anything bad happening.

However because of the fear factor of simply being in Croydon, the lack of community spirit and the bad reputation created by the minority of Croydon youths, people don't trust each other and somehow it just doesn't feel safe. Even though when I'm out with my friends we probably look more like a herd of nerds than a gang, I've noticed people crossing the streets to avoid us and giving us nervous looks. It's sad really, while there's nothing especially special there and it's not the nicest looking place, Croydons actually not that bad.

Summary: Croydon, while not especially good, does not deserve the bad reputation its been given.