r/croydon • u/Jamity647 • 1d ago

Whitgift Closing Down?

Is it true that the Whitgift will be closing down? Is so sad if this is the truth 😞. I have been visiting it for the past month or so as I heard these rumours but got told they might not be true??? Is it not going to close down after all?

Many thanks

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10

u/BluejaySignificant82 1d ago

Let’s be honest guys that place has seen better days, been in Croydon for a year now and walking past that everyday makes that drab Nestle building look like the shard

7

u/turbothingy 1d ago

It's a shame cause it was once a top class shopping centre. They built centrale in the 2000s just across the road, then started telling everyone westfield was coming. All the business is just spread thin now, it's no wonder half of the shops are empty.

1

u/BluejaySignificant82 1d ago

definitely out of curiousity tho what caused the decline of that part of croydon? i lvie in thonrnton heath and see a significant diff to the city when walking into town
1. the west croydon area has massive potential with trams
2. the east croydon area outguns the area just by the massive buildings and classy feel
3. scratch everything i said because those tunnels that are in the underpass of the intersection off the high street/park lane are full of piss and i've unfortunately seen excretement sitting firmly there one tiem too

Big exhausted SIGH
For what its worth Croydon is malleable- offers a fair bit

3

u/AntysocialButterfly 23h ago

I used to know people who owned a unit in the Whitgift Centre around twenty years ago, and they said the rent was comparable to Bluewater for a fraction of the footfall.

That goes a long way to explaining the churn of units outside the anchor stores even when the Whitgift Centre was a lot closer to being fully occupied.

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u/BluejaySignificant82 23h ago

oh bombaclart thats a fair amount bluewater must cost half of kent to pay for

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u/turbothingy 22h ago

Does all that money go to the Whitgift foundation then? I bet they own half of the town centre

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u/turbothingy 1d ago

Yeah Croydon has great people, great infrastructure, a lot to offer tbh, it's just been massively let down.

Personally I think it's a toxic mix of the London property bubble making rents unaffordable and Croydon being just far away enough from London that it's not getting the public investment it deserves. And just a catastrophic series of unforced errors from council after council.

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u/RelevantReporter6748 18h ago

Definitely shit management by the council but ultimately high streets are dying just about everywhere, can't do anything about online killing retail paired with a shitty economy which means people have less disposable income than ever.

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u/turbothingy 17h ago

Very true. Skyrocketing rents also aren't just a Croydon problem.

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u/BluejaySignificant82 23h ago

absolutely i think its a shame i heard croydon has the highest council tax around too?