After the harrowing images of Croydon streets ablaze, last summer, during the worst rioting the country has ever seen, it is no surprise the South East London town wants to shed its skin. Much like a snake sheds its skin to remove parasites and allow for growth, the town is regenerating itself.
In conjunction with other key stakeholders, Croydon Business Improvement District (BID) is leading
a wide range of initiatives to improve safety and security in the town centre, increase its appeal to visitors and counter negative, and in its words “unfair” perceptions.
Croydon BID’s Chairman Max Menon told CN: “One of the positives to have come out of last summer’s disturbances is a renewed vigour among the local community to work together to restore confidence and progress in the town and this has been supported by a wave of additional marketing activity led by the BID in conjunction with Croydon Council and other key partners in order to support the town’s recovery.
In addition London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson has recognised Croydon as an Opportunity Area, pledging £23m of additional funding for regeneration.
As part of the initiative, Croydon’s hotels and conference centres have come together to form a new convention bureau for the town, Destination Croydon, to put Croydon firmly on the conference circuit map, while helping to maximise the potential to secure conference, event and accommodation bookings.
“This potential was brought into sharp focus last August when around 1,800 technology professionals from across the globe came to Croydon’s Fairfeld Halls to attend DrupalCon London, the biggest conference hosted so far in Croydon.
The US organisers decided that Croydon offered huge advantages over other parts of the capital because of its connectivity and competitive cost,” said Menon.
“Such was the level of success of the Drupal event, that it helped bring forth the idea of creating a dedicated hotel and conference group for the town centre under the auspices of the BID project
in order to provide a joined-up approach to marketing the town as a conference and leisure destination,” he added.
Other members of Destination Croydon include Croydon College, Croydon Conference Centre, Croydon Park Hotel, Fairfield Halls, Holiday Inn Express, Jurys Inn and the Lansdowne Hotel.
Fairfield Halls’ Marketing Manager John Spring told CN: “Croydon has been one of the conference world’s best kept secrets for a long time. We’ve been hosting large conferences and events
for quite a few years here at The Fairfield Halls. Recently these have been for organisations as diverse as the international Mother’s Union and the International Youth Foundation.
“One of the big benefits has always been that because we’re so close to central London organisers can usually make some big savings by coming to Croydon. These are across the board savings in terms of venue hire, catering, travel and hotels. The savings all add up and they are especially important in the current economic climate.
“What’s changed more recently, however, is a large amount of property development coming into Croydon.
A beneficial by-product of this has been a considerable increase in hotel rooms at both ends of the spectrum. This now means that Croydon can be self-contained in terms of delegate hospitality but it still has the benefits of fantastic transport links to central London and Gatwick.
This means that getting the delegates here and lodging them is considerably easier, and cheaper, than it might be elsewhere. This is especially beneficial to those organisers having to cater for over 1,000 delegates at one time.
“The Destination Croydon initiative is going to proactively promote all these benefits, and hopefully the secret will finally be out.”
Croydon’s offering
A vibrant and bustling commercial centre, Croydon offers organisers all the advantages of the centre of the capital, without the high cost.
Croydon is rapidly expanding as a business centre. In 2010 alone, 200 businesses relocated there.
The town is also currently undergoing significant regeneration and a host of major new developments are due come to fruition in the next few years. Hampton by Hilton is almost complete while other recently-approved planning applications including the Piers Gough-designed development at One Lansdowne Road and Menta’s scheme close to East Croydon Station, which comprises a four-star hotel, retail space and housing.
The retail sector is set for huge expansion with Hammerson having already committed a further £50m of investment in Centrale Shopping Centre, to include plans for a cinema and additional dining, while Westfield has announced its intention to make Croydon its third destination in London after its redevelopment of Shepherd’s Bush and Stratford.
There is also a huge amount of office redevelopment taking place which means that, in the next 10 years, Croydon will become the third largest office location outside of the City and Canary Wharf.
There is no doubt the future is looking brighter for the troubled London Borough of Croydon. If its potential is to be realised it will be a shadow of its former self in years to follow. Perhaps leopards really can change their spots?
This feature was first published in the March edition of CN.
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