Foxton’s to open shop in High St
On Saturday 26 September the estate agency Foxton’s opens a shop in Croydon High St. The news is reported by Croydon Guardian at http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/13647406.Foxtons_eyes__considerable_growth__in_Croydon_s_regeneration.
A Guardian reporter rang me up for a comment but did not use it. This is what I confirmed by email:
‘For several years Foxtons appears to have been one of the most aggressive agents in London. They will not be coming to Croydon Town if they didn’t think the area was on the up in terms of house prices and rentals and therefore estate agents fees.
They will contribute nothing to increasing the number of homes for young people and families not earning enough to even buy an apartment costing £250,000. They recently let a new build 3 bed house in South Norwood at £1,800 per month, a 2 bed ground floor maisonette for £1,400, and a one bedroom for £1,200. The charges for being the lettings agents to latter flat was £1,662 deposit and £420 admin fee. I hope they are ensuring these private rented properties are being registered under the Croydon Council licensing scheme coming into effect on 1 October, and that they have provided the new tenants with the appropriate refuse bins and Council pamphlet on the refuse/recycling collection service.
The national Guardian newspaper reported on their aggression in June and the campaign against them in Brixton. The article quotes Ivor Dickinson, a former managing director of one of Foxtons’ competitors, Douglas and Gordon, as saying: “If you have a name as a really ruthless, sharky bastard estate agent, a lot of people, when they come to selling their house, will think, ‘I want that ruthless, sharky bastard”
– Sean Creighton, Convenor Croydon TUC Croydon Assembly Local Economy & Housing working group’
Two Croydon multi-millionaires invest £20m in Town Centre Tower Blocks
Two multi-millionaires 19 year old Hashim and his father Nisar Haq are investing £20m into developer Phoenix London and Regional’s two proposed 16 and 38 storey tower blocks on the College College College Rd carpark. Hashim plans to open a rooftop shisha bar on the smaller block. Nisar Haq says: “We are seeing two-bedroom flats in central Croydon breaking the £500,000 price barrier, five years ago that would have been almost unheard of.” Read more: http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/Millionaire-son-s-big-plan-boost-Croydon-s-future/story-27729737-detail/story.html#ixzz3l4z113Ba
Meeters and Greeters Start work for BID
Having closed the Visitor Centre at East Croydon Station Croydon Bid has employed three Meeters and Greeters for the Town Centre. You can spot them by their pink coats and bags. The BID’s spin can be read at http://croydonbid.com/news/street-ambassadors-debut-croydon. Andrew Kennedy comments on Historic Croydon Facebook. ‘Well it is an historic occasion. The arrival of the new Meeters and Greeters. 2 out of the 3 are local lads/lasses. A new website is due to come on line in October to compliment them. (I hope they’ve used local talent to write it). All to replace the closed Visitor Centre. We need to give them our support to keep their peckers up. Presumably they will be on their feet all day. I can’t see personally how this can be cheaper than a proper staffed visitor centre in the town hall but we’ll give it a go.’
Are People deluding themselves over Boxpark?
Is the hype over the Boxpark development at East Croydon Station misleading some people to think something beneficial is going to happen. Pro Boxpark advocate Lauren Furey discusses in Croydon Citizen her support for the scheme and some of the concerns raised. http://thecroydoncitizen.com/politics-society/boxpark-coming-dont-panic. I have posted the following comment:
The following questions need to be answered::
- Why is it concentrating on food outlets?
2. Why are not units being offered to small retail non-food businesses who will need to move out of the Whitgift Centre if that development goes ahead?
3. Is it true that businesses in the Restaurant Quarter are being approached to re-locate?
4. If Boxpark’s operation elsewhere is so successful it should have been able to borrow from the developers or got a bank loan, so why did the Council make available a loan of £3m?
5. Why did the Council not insist that part of the loan be spent on including a new Visitors Centre?
Time to remember that the glitzy marketing of Croydon is simply pushing up rents and house prices. The new apartment blocks are not meeting the housing needs of thousands of existing Croydon residents. £3m could have been used to better effect to help make real improvements in the District Centres. The corporate capture of the Town Centre is only going to increase the Borough’s inequalities, and one of the social groups that is going to find life more and more difficult in Croydon are young adults.
Hammerson News
Its all go now for Hammerson for its redevelopment of the Swansea Parc Tawe retail park.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/multi-million-pound-revamp-swanseas-9988965
Added 8 September
What will the Menta Scheme Look Like?
See Menta video of its development on Cherry Orchard Rd – http://www.menta.co.uk/project-cherry-orchard-road.html
Thanks to Andrew Kennedy for drawing attention to this on Historic Croydon Facebook.
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