You slowly drop used engine oil into a hot soapy fresh bathtub what happens the British are the hot soapy clean water in the tub mass migration is the used engine oil dripping into it
Yep even Camden, the ''hip'' touristy area he starts in, is looking run down, most of the shops on Chalk Farm Rd behind him are boarded up and graffiti'd there are beggars and people sleeping in tents, and it's dirty and littered.
I broke down in Croydon about 20 years ago. And the guy in the yellow sweater reminded me of the guy who came to my assistance, nobody asked him to, but he did, he let me crash out in his flat, we went for a beer with him and his pals, and he wouldn't take anything from me even though without his help I'd have been totally screwed. Good people. Makes you proud to be British
Did it ever occur to you that was because the fellow that helped you was actually British? Bet you won’t admit that to yourself, though. But you know it’s true. You really think Midnight Rude Boy at 6:52 is going to extend that kind of local hospitality to you, especially if it happened after sunset?
I could cry when I see what's become of Croydon. I grew up there in the 70's and it was a fantastic place. It is unrecognisable now to the town i once knew. Like the 62 year old interviewed, I was born in St Mary's maternity hospital back in the mid 60's. I could not have wished to grow up in a nicer area. But like others have said, it's not just Croydon, so many other towns have taken a similar downturn. Though gladly, not all have become as dangerous as Croydon. But honestly, if you could look back in time to the 70's you would not believe you were in the same place. Very sad.
Lots of places in the UK were fantastic places to live in the 70s and 80s, but not now. There are other places that were down at heel at that time, such as inner south London, and then became gentrified only to go downhill again.
@@lemsip207 this whole country is being wreckballed at the moment and we haven't even reached the end of that process. But in another decade it should start to improve again, I can't see this lasting because the countries causing it are on the slide.
They are building tower blocks, but most sit empty, Saffron Tower the tallest one with purple and red colours on the outside currently has 66 flats for sale on one website. A one bed flat starts around £70k up to £250k. The ones that are occupied are going to the new arrivals.
I was born in Lewisham in the 70s. It was always poor and scruffy, but it was safe and had a community. The place changed beyond all recognition for various reasons. My Dad moved us away and it was the best thing we ever did. My Aunt and Uncle are the only members of the family who are still there. They are trapped. They are the only Londoners living on her street. Everyone else escaped or died.
I was just there on Monday and the streets around Lewisham are just filled with halal chicken shops,I a swear it's the only places to eat there and you barely ever see any white people there I was quite disappointed about the area.
@gordonmullen9128 The only really good takeaway in Lewisham is a Lebanese place. Everything else is as you said. Halal Fried Chicken. Oh and there's a good Chinese but it is more towards the Greenwich end of Lewisham.
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Croydon was a great shopping destination, as a kid I used to get on the 264 bus with my mum and dad from Tooting and go into Croydon often. As I grew up into my late teens Croydon was a decent night out, many would travel into Croydon from afar to party. Now Croydon in my opinion is a place to avoid, they can build as many souless lego blocks as they want but you can't polish a turd. It's grimy, dangerous and will only get worse. The council are corrupt and useless and any decent people in Croydon have moved away.
There’s still plenty decent hard working ppl in Croydon, but there definitely is a corrupt council, they practically steal our money for themselves and don’t reinvest back into the community
I was there in February 2023. Went to watch a match between crystal palace and Liverpool on a Friday evening. Going back to the Hotel in the Centre ( just opposite that empty shopping center you showed) was quite a scary experience. Some kid cut himself with a flick knife on the bus. The bus floor was full of blood. Some guy took off his shirt and applied it as a tourniquet around the kid’s wrist. I would definitely not have gone had I watched this video first. Didn’t feel safe at all. On the bus afraid to look at anyone just stared outside me and my son and were massively relieved to get back to the hotel safe and sound
Good video mate. I'm from London north. Where you were, I had passed by there few weeks ago...smh.. absolutely dreadful mate. Bleak, depressing. When I went to visit my mates in Swansea,(townhill, mayhill) it was similar. England unfortunately is falling apart. I guess everywhere has its no- go zone. Be safe mate, cheers 👊🏻
I was born in the UK and lived in South London and Bristol but have spent my life in Australia travelling back and forth every 3-5 years for the past 40 years. Parts of those areas have always been rough. However, during that time I have seen quite big changes in places that were once familiar to me. Now I don't really have any urge to return.
is it heck. have lived here many years. you need to behave sensibly like in any gritty town centre, but its perfectly fine for every day living. your daughter and husband must be a bundle of joy being scared to work in a place blimey.
Good video but I have to critique you on some of your points/musings about Croydon. I think you've read some puff pieces about it. Contrary from being 'on The Up' Croydon is in steep decline. -The residential prices are actually insanely high, not affordable. And with more London professionals and office workers able to work from home for some of the week people are moving further down the train line where they can get houses for the same prices they can get a tiny flat in Croydon. -On the commerical front, Croydon was a retail town for decades, and at one point people came from quite far away for the shopping. As a result of council mismanagement and increased competition elsewhere from places like Westfield in London. Croydon's retail sector has been declining since the early 2000s. The COVID lockdowns essentially finished off most of what was limping on. The remaining big chain stores that are left are dropping out 1 by 1. And the smaller high street stores are either abandoned/derelict or occupied by take-aways and vape shops. There's no real retail here now. On the office space side of things, there's basically a whole road of empty office buildings 5 minutes from the station. On top of all of that the council has been bankrupt 3 times in recent years, so we have less and less services, but ridiculously high council taxes. A 2 bedroom flat will run you about £2400 a year in council tax. In short Croydon is in late stage decline, with no real prospect of it turning around. Most people with the means to are either leaving or looking to leave as soon as they can.
100 per cent facts. I was born in Mayday in 1976. Educated locally. University was my ticket out of Croydon. Exited HMS U.K. in 2015 for safer, warmer, cheaper, more meritocratic climes.
Up until the mid-1980's Croydon was a fantasic town to live and work in, vibrant and full of energy with the best and most varied retail outlets in the whole country, after Harrods and Selfridges (In London), Allders was the largest department store in the UK, and many people to this day thought it was the best to shop in - Not to mention Croydon's two other iconic department stores, Kennards and Grants. Prior to 1989 when North End was pedestrianised and closed off to traffic, on a Saturday, around Christmas and during the annual shop sales (Without exaggerating), it was impossible to walk along the high street without brushing every single person you passed, to say Croydon was busy back then would be an understatement. Surrey Street Market has been trading since 1276, one of the oldest markets in the UK and there was a time during the 1970's / 80's when there was up to a five-year waiting list for a stall, and many generations of families worked there. Today Croydon is a shadow of its former glory, totally neglected with 80% of the shops either dilapidated or boarded up, depressing, filthy and full of unemployed wondering immigrants. This demise is solely due to Croydon Council and the amount of corruption, incompetence, and their mismanagement - Unfortunately not one Council leader was held to account or prosecuted, but instead getting massive financial payoffs and moving on to other high-powered jobs - All well documented. There is investment but only hungry opportunist investors constructing high-rise low-quality tower blocks, mainly rent only apartments. Unfortunately, Croydon is not an isolated case, there are literally 100's of other towns and area’s just like Croydon throughout the United Kingdom. I have travelled and lived in most of Asia and when one compares the United Kingdom to all these other countries you realise just how backward and third word the United Kingdom has become - Extremely sad but 100% fact.
As a son of Croydon (b.1976, Mayday Hospital) educated locally I confirm this is true. Allders was a massive draw along with Grants. I did OK in life and emigrated from the U.K. (as did many of my peers) several years ago. The past is a foreign country. Thank you for your comment.
i'm sure that when you were living in Asia the locals were cursing what their community had come to now that unemployed longhaired white people were mooching around their town and degrading their atmosphere! Croydon is alright. loads and loads of green spaces. loads and loads of great international food and ingredients. great transport, great culture, easy to lose a tail, easy to meet new people.
Same as me,used to go to Croydon regularly for the shops and for pie and mash,people were friendly always ready for shits and giggles,never had a drama whilst there,saw a few but never felt uncomfortable or worried
I lived on the pollards hill estate as a kid back in the 80’s - early 90’s! Went to Alfred Mizen school and my sister went to William Morris! Still remember the library and the shop on the corner by the bus stop! Happy memories!
Wendell, I appreciate your compassionate approach to these videos. I know some people would characterise it as poverty porn, but you give people a chance to speak and you do so without judgement.
At 8:18 he frames out a really nice craft beer bar called Art & Craft on Surrey Street market that would represent what Croydon still stands for. The fact he spent most of his time in West Croydon says a lot. South End, a 5 minute walk away is all restaurants and also where suburbia is. East Croydon Station has always been a major commuter hub for the city as it goes to Victoria Station and London Bridge, there is a lot of money there and Purley has more millionaires than anywhere else in the UK. The real cause of all shut shops is a long dragged out Westfield deal so no investment was put into the whitgift centre as it was going to be torn down. This has been a very surface level and very selective image of Croydon. That market has been there since given its charter by Henry VII.
My grandparents moved out of central London to Croydon in the 1940s, it was a prosperous town near the ‘countryside’, many happy memories, I went to school there and worked there for several years and it was always thriving, I remember everyone coming out of shops and offices to watch the Olympic torch procession in 2012! Rapidly went downhill in last 10 years, I only live a few miles further out but never go there 😢 Would have been good to look at the history as well, the Almshouses, the Minster and the Palace!
Back in the 60`s, when I was a teenager, Croydon was a nice and popular place. Good shops, bowling alley and some decent pubs and clubs around and I did my apprentice training in Croydon Technical College. My in laws came from Roundshaw, a rough estate from when it was built, but most of the people were OK. Then the Home Office building opened in Wellesly Road, and it attracted the cause of the current problems, who were housed in the local area. Now, it`s a right shit hole.
Even in the late 90s Croydon was good. Buzzing night life with loads of clubs and bars. The Whitgift Centre at the weekend was so busy and full of people shopping it took ages just to get up the road. Its interesting you mentioned the Home office. Croydon has a lot of immigration with west croydon in this vid, a hub, I'd say 90% of the people are immigrants. Nice to see people from literally all over the world in one area but 90%? Theres an alarming amount of mental health issues and homelessness too.
Yes I use to go to Croydon in the 70s to see Bands at the Greyhound on a Sunday Night great times .Status Quo played there all the time .Spent some time in the pubs in South Croydon ,Worked At Dees of Croydon as well .I also attended Croydon Tech for a while, but I thought in those days they classed it as being in Surrey ???But I wouldn't visit it today times change but not for the better.
I lived in Croydon for 33 years, when I had enough money to buy a property I decided to move to East Grinstead. I never had any trouble in Croydon, but even in my lifetime it changed drastically. I wouldn't feel safe going down London Road at night at all. I still work near East Croydon station so I'm there once a week or so. Still feels like home. Great video, really interesting to read some of the comments.
The town centre in Croydon has gone massively down over the last 10/12 years. The High Street used to be buzzing. The Whitgift shopping centre (where you go to here) was meant to have a complete refurbishment in to a Westfield which has been stalled for years. This has meant the town centre retail hasn’t been invested in at all as there is the potential for this to come along. A previous Labour run council invested very badly in housing projects and commercial property which bankrupted the council. High property prices have pushed some in now more gentrified areas of Brixton and Peckham in to cheaper Croydon. The North is very different to the South. The worst parts of Croydon are in the North, Thornton Heath and Selhurst are particular problem areas for crime etc. They are worse than where you are here. Sanderstead and Selsdon in the South are far more affluent and are much safer. Other tough areas of London are some parts of Brixton, Tottenham and North Peckham
Yeah the area he spent most of the video in has gotten really hurt by the general decline in brick&mortar retail. Even 10 years ago there was a lot of activity in the Whitgift Centre and in that stretch of North End. The rougher elements where there as well but you might not notice them much in a sea of shoppers. Now retail footfall is so much lower and the whole atmosphere is grim. Still, it's hardly an excursion into a warzone... you're just a few minutes walk from Boxpark, random indie coffee houses, etc. During daytime I wouldn't worry about that patch at all. Despite its current state it's still a commercial area that people go to all the time. There are worse areas in Croydon and in London more generally.
People shopping online has partially caused this. It's not always cheaper as then you have to pay shipping costs. They do that mostly because they get harassed by drug dealers, beggars, hawkers, and chuggers in town and city centres. I try and buy what I can in supermarkets and then suburban shops before I go to the city centre.
@kscterry "A previous Labour run council invested very badly in housing projects and commercial property which bankrupted the council." Says it all really doesn't it? Them and the scumbag tories have ruined our once great country.
Croydon used to be such a wonderful place to live. I grew up on the borough where there was a great community feeling about the place. The shops, night time economy, pubs, restaurants and night clubs use to be in abundance where everyone would travel from all over London for shopping or great night out. It's a shame you only managed to speak with two genuine local Croydonians who told you how great the borough of Croydon used to be. Surrey street market definitely is not the same, all the old stall holders have long gone! Apart from one or two of the old stall holders remain like the bloke you briefly spoke with. Croydon is such a huge borough to police, this is why you never saw many police. I recall from my time growing up there, the police were there in great numbers, unlike today, officers now have to cover three boroughs, Bromley, Sutton and Croydon with lower numbers etc. I like many others Croydonians have left the borough for pastures new. I still come back to the borough to watch my beloved Crystal Palace FC, at Selhurst park, soon as the game is over I am out the ground and back in the safety of my car for the journey back to the south coast. If I get the train to London, it's amazing to see how many people are making the journey Selhurst Park. Lots of the original locals to Croydon have left for Kent, Surrey, Sussex to escape the place which was home for me and them also. Croydon is now the biggest dumping ground, which in my opinion has brought the issues, deprivation and violence which you see today. All I will say. God bless RIP Croydon.🙏🏼
I was born in London in the early 50s, I still live here, I would put the London indigenous population at around 15%. I travel all over London and never feel threatened or in danger, maybe because I am no longer a teenager, just a Pensioner
What does that even mean? What do you mean by indigenous British? The Regional ethnic diversity UK government statistics doesn't classify any group as "indigenous British". It uses the terms "White British", "White Other", of which collectively, they weigh in at a sum of 54%. This far outweighs any other individual ethnic group, and far outweighs "Black" and "Asian" which together has a sum of 34%. Stats taken from: www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest/
@@albert21able yeah the people talking like it's the South side of Chicago are people who live in county durum and further afield and very rarely visit London. I've felt less safe on bristol than I have in London.
My Mum was a Psychology lecturer back in the 90's when i was growing up as a kid. She had studied at Oxford and knew lots of well-to-do people who were "finacially blessed". I travelled to London with her one particular weekend and stayed in an incredible multimillion pound residence near Camden which had marble floors and high ceilings. When my Mum and her friend went to sleep i snuck out onto the balcony to smoke a cigarette (i was only 14). As i smoked i looked down on the streets below. I was absolutely astounded at all the drug dealing, crime, yardies and fights going on in what was supposed to be an afluent area. I ended up sitting there watching the madness unfold for at least an hour before i crept back inside. I'm no sociology expert but something tells me that London has been full of crime and skulduggery since its inception.
I can honestly say I wish I moved out of London way before I did. I've been away over 4 years now after 29 years of the craphole that is london.. and even on the rare stint i do go back for a weekend (to see naive family who still live there) I get an overwhelming feeling if dread as the train leaves Newcastle to go down. It's not even just the crime etc.. its just the normal uncriminal people... you smile at someone and they look at you like there's something wrong. Having to analyse everyone instantly.. its draining.. I hate it
So much worse when I moved there in the 90s. Even King’s Cross is amazing nowadays. You don’t like shit areas getting nicer? You preferred Peckham and Hackney in the 90s? Surely not. Virtually all areas in zone 1 ,2 and 3 are better.
Being from the midlands myself, I could tell exactly where about you are from. Your accent was difficult to place at first. Then I could hear you replacing the “Th” sound of words that begin with “Th”, with a “V” sound and it told me a lot. I love what you’re doing with your channel and how you confidentially approach people with a plan for your video 👍🏼
Wendell sir, it's because the police have withdrawn from the streets over decades from foot patrols that crime across the country, including Croydon, has gone up. The police are supposed to prevent crime before it happens by a visible presence, not react to it afterwards.
Lol yep my misses lives in Croydon and I lived in West Norwood. I used to go to Bruce Grove a few times a week - seeing someone there - and yes another wonderful diverse place
I was born in and spent the first 40 years of my life in nearby Sutton but moved to the south coast about 30years ago. In those days everyone used to go to Croydon for the shops, night clubs and 'in' pubs, so I found this video SO depressing. The thought of re-visiting Croydon, after watching this, is BOTTOM of my bucket list.
Very articulate and fair in how you investigate these statistics. Great the way you interview the people who truly know what’s going on- the people who live it in the streets and residents. Great videos my friend! Keep up the great work!!!
I dont think Croyden is London's most dangerous town mate. Try the Wandsworth estates after dark. Try the estates of Harlsden -- Stonebridge. Try Woolwich, try Haringey, which had the highest knife crime incidents between 2022 and 2023 (632), followed by Enfield (599) and Barnet (399 incidents). Gun crime: try Haringey and Southwark.
We lived in croydon for 60 years was nice place until 20 years ago I hate going back there but have family in south croydon it has changed for the worse to many yobs on the street to much knife crime
@@EpicAelflaedShame the migrants always get the blame. To be fair, if the British tax payer chose to invest in them and a decent security service, I think things would be different.
Croydon high street was always alright when I grew up in the 80s and 90s, full of people, loads of good shops, and while it could be a little rough, it wasn't what you'd consider dangerous. But for the last 15 years or so I've been living in Suffolk and love where I live. All the places in this video I recognise well, but it looks so run down and bad. I'm glad I'm not bringing up my kids in Croydon, but its sad.
As a young lad in the 1970's a posh English family moved to my Scottish village from Croydon. At that time, i assumed Croydon was a rather nice town. The only part of London I've ever lived in was Woolwich way back in 1984/5. Went back for a visit, in 2012 and the whole place was completely different! It felt like I was in foreign city.
My view on Croydon, I grew up here from 1982 onwards, then it was a very middle class area, great community spirit it was mainly white then. When the housing prices went up in nearby areas like Brixton, Battersea, Clapham and such. Resulted in an influx of people from rougher areas moving in as they could sell their homes , move to Croydon get a better home with money left over. They brought that more ghetto culture to the area, be it violent crime, and drug culture. This resulted with a lot of people moving out to towards coulsdon, redhill, Guildford and outside of London. The area has been neglected by the government and council as it mainly minorities and poorer English people. Where areas like Brixton and Clapham have gone through regeneration, Croydon ha gone through degeneration. The council has mismanagement public funds , fraudulent council staff, council being bankrupt, councils placing ridiculous charges making it not viable in terms of business. Croydon also has a massive rat infestation problem. Croydon is okay if your don’t present as vulnerable in terms of how you carry yourself. No local resources for the youth, no support for the vulnerable, local healthcare extremely poor, as the chap stated local hospital which use to be called Mayday is referred to as Maydie. I could go on and on, really sad when you think of the potential in the area, nice buildings, good transport link’s. On a governmental level no discipline in school, teachers are unable to effectively correct misbehaving children, like wise parents have their hands tired. This lack of discipline in the homes and schools just extends to the local and greater community, were some youngsters feel they can do what they like with no repercussions. A lot could be nipped in the bud if deal with it effectively at school level and homes
I was born in Luton 1980, lived in the burbs and London for a while. The further you move out the better your life gets. Until Covid19, they managed to wreck almost every other place during that time. Now the country is a smouldering pile of faeces and not even as bad as it will get.
Well said bro. Very much spot on! I was born in Brixton and grew up there all my life (early 90s). I watched areas and estates around me getting gentrified, my old friends who were in the life of crime and many others who grew up in Brixton and neighbouring areas, were forced to move out from their council homes and homes they had on mortgages and given money to move out of the area, most of my friends moved further down south (South Croydon, Croydon, Mitcham, Thorton Heath) this was around 2006, even though Brixton was once the gun crime, and drug capital of London, over the years we heard and saw crime rates sore in Croydon whilst crime in Brixton started to decrease, .
@@sweetbutshowa Where are the other 7 comments gone? Lol wow free speech is another thing that this country can no longer boast about. Big Trouble In Little Britain. Great.
I use to work in West Croydon as i lived in Sutton most of my life ,and always went shopping in Croydon there as well as bars and clubs, my cousin lives off London Road, i walked along there last year to her house 20 minutes each way, thankfully didn't see any thing bad going on.
Croydon the most dangerous place in London!?!? LOOOOL Even in the local area, Streatham, Peckham and Lewisham are more dangerous places to go. Croydon is a shopping centre.
Definitely Lewisham and some parts of Peckham. Streatham not so much now. Because Croydon is so big, it gets more attention than the other worse places.
Brixton is the worse, far more gangs than anywhere else. Lewisham is better than West Croydon. South Croydon and East Croydon are not bad places. Its West Croydon and Thornton Health that's more problematic.
@@Tinker8531Brixton isn't that bad now. Gentrification has changed the demographics for good and bad, but for crime, it's nowhere near as rough as it used to be. It's more full of yuppies than criminals nowadays.
Blairs' Britain?. Last year had record immigration, 1.25 million under a Tory Brexit government that vowed to cut immigration. And these are not white, hard working European immigrants but mostly third world with no assets, few skills and no concept of or desire of UK society.
Born, raised and still living in Croydon. Whilst crime is still a major issue here, I feel as though a lot of it usually happens between parties who are already on bad terms with each other (e.g. gang or school related) and if you just keep to yourself you'll be fine. It really is sad to see the state Croydon is in, though. I have very pleasant memories of being a kid in the 2000s and messing about in the Whitgift Centre with my brother whilst on a shopping trip with our mum. Went back in there recently and I honestly could not believe how hauntingly quiet it is. Most people nowadays will just go to Bromley or Sutton (also going downhill a bit) for all their shopping needs.
Open your eyes. Awaken from your happy nostalgic images. Its beyond The Crusades 4. Thats why we went there x3 times. To avoid this. 1.2 MILLION PER YEAR EVERY YEAR. explosive exponential breeding. Its over. Keep the memories. @@007JNR
That Whitgift shopping centre is absolutely incredible. I remember being brought shopping there before Christmas with my parents when I was a kid (so you're talking 25 years ago - I'm 33 now) and it was heaving with colour and Christmas lights and busy people and happy crowds and packed shops and so on. To see it just utterly collapse in that space of time is mental.
Hello Wendell, glad to see you back my friend. Love your videos. We love you here in northern California. Thanks for all your hard work my friend peace and God bless.🙏💯💙🇺🇸
@@Westhamsterdam I’m from London and spent some time in Oakland, what an absolute hole. Feel very sorry for the locals with so many implants from all over the US going there. What a true dump.
It's not us it's this Tory government cheap labour they bang on about labour there the the ones who these migrants here to line there pockets and get rich 🤑
born in 64. grew up in croydon. so many wonderful memories of family friends the town it was bustling. i moved to usa and have visted uk & croydon many times since. still always a joy. then didnt visit for several years. was back in 2022. i was gutted. people ask me where im from and i get 'the look'. tragic. just tragic. im from a massive family. only one aunt & uncle still liove there. i cry 'what happened to my home'. much of it to do with post war 'development' when they ripped the soul out of the place. croydon town centre and thge shopping center used to bustling & vibrant. thank you fdor this upload. i was alos thyere in 2011. the pall in the air was creepy. two days later the town got ripped to shreds in the riots. the global news footage was all croydon. yeah.
I moved to Croydon from Nottingham when I was 18, and I never personally felt in any danger because I'm very aware and street smart, but I witnessed a lot. Decided enough was enough when not only a kid was stabbed to death across the road from my house, but someone also got shot, so I moved myself and my kids to Kent.
"Fugue for a Darkening Island" by Christopher Priest tells the story of Croydon and the UK, written 50 years ago but spot on with its predictions. Life goes on.
I grew up in Croydon and moved away with my parents at 17, I’m. 61 now. There were places that were rough then but a visit to the Whitgift centre 5 years ago broke my heart to see how run down it was. I was also struck by how friendly and engaging strangers were, something I have brought with me through the years but had forgotten how prevelent it is in Croydon you noticed it too. Good old Surrey street market looked like a shadow of what I remember back in the day you couldn’t move down there. I used to wander all those streets in the middle of the night without a care for my safety. You wouldn’t catch me out there after dark these days it’s becoming a sad world😢
Born and bred here. Growing up in the 80s and 90s was great, I only remember good things about it friends family Whitgift was a vibrant shopping area along with the new Drummond centre which is now centrale. Had three cinemas, London road was always safe to walk down even at night.They had a massive Victorian department store called allders everyone was for healthy and worked had good incomes as they commuted from the city. Then labour took over the running of the council A bad bunch moved in, the people who grew up there all fled to Sussex, Essex etc not a good thing to abandon your home town but what was left then started to decline rapidly throughout the 2000s and never worked its way back again, so it is what it is now ☹️
@@PrinceJohn84 don't know. All I can tell you there were 6 buttons for different channels : As this was for the Irish market, 2 buttons were RTÉ 1 and rte 2. I managed to put it out of order a couple of times ( born 1972 ) : very bad idea to turn this thing back in again just after turning it off. It ended its days being used for my Atari ST.
Back in the day when Britain had production and the stuff they pumped out was super awesome. These days the only super awesome finds are American fast food chains for junkies.
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Hello how do you make such monthly, I am a born again Christian and sometimes I feel so down 🙁of myself because of low finance but I still believe in God.
I was born in Mayday hospital and grew up in Thornton Heath. Along with W Croydon, probably the roughest parts of the borough. Croydon is one of the largest London boroughs, with some very nice and wealthy areas, but varies greatly. I left in 1991 and don't think I'd go back.
also | was born mayday hospital early 60s also grew up Thornton heath went to ECclesbourne school then Whitehorse manor then moved to Shirley moved away 2001 and wont be going back
I went to do a scene in a rap video in Thornton Heath, and the camera man was attacked when arriving, though i did not see it. Truthfully not an area where I would mess with anyone.
Hi mate, i'm following you from Paris, as a french who used to live in London (Willesden Green) for two years, between 2001 and 2003. It seems that London, and England overall, is much more dangerous now. Anyway, i still love your country and english people as well ! Good job, love your vids, mate !
I had a friend 2004 ish. Crying his eyes out he was on min wage delivering shoes to shoe fare. From Leicester to London we went with him even 3 of us couldn’t do it.. and seeing London me and my brother were crying snot bubbles at the IMMIGRATION it was hell on earth HELL ON EARTH live there no fking way
A while back I got stranded in Croydon overnight, I had a really nice homeless man, offer me what little change he had so I could get a bus to Brixton, obviously I didn't accept, but every encounter I have had with people from Croydon has been positive. There are some really good souls there!
I went to church in Harlsden and school in Croydon. Only saw shit happen in Stockwell, bits of Brixton (the ungentrified bit), Camberwell and Newham where I worked for 3 years each
Top video Wendall. I have only been to Croydon once when I traveled from the Black Country down there for work at the council depot. Driving through the local area was enough to back up comments on the video and that was a number of years ago now. Keep up the good work! …. Smithy
I found your channel by chance and I really enjoyed this video. I’ll watch a few more for sure. I subscribe to Danny’s channel (that’s why you video popped up I think). Great to see him in yours too. Take it easy man, nice one!
Im a foreigner, went to Camden in 2023 with a friend, the punks were there, the vibe was overall positive, not the cleanest, but I didnt feel in danger. Lots of crappy stuff bring sold on the streets. This was the thing I liked least.
I remember Croydon around 1970. Just your normal regular town. Alas all swept away amidst the mass immigration and social replacement. Dystopia here we come !
You moved to Brixton and you think Croydon has changed for the worse ... No disrespect but last year me and my girlfriend moved in together. She was living in Brixton near electric avenue. The day we moved her out I saw 4 people openly smoking crack in the alley, police cordoned off area where someone was stabbed, a drug deal behind our moving van and people trying to steal what was in the moving van. Before her and her flat mate had been sexually harassed and blokes tried to follow them into their flat on more than one occasion. She had been spat on and called a white wh*re and had to be escorted by a security guard in Pret back home because again, she was being sexually harassed by a number of blokes.
Is there any white people live in Brixton? I remember Brixton in the 70s, the buses were driven by blacks, all the passengers was black upstairs and downstairs, and just every one was black, this is meant to be London not effing Nigeria and Jamaica, I have seen more blacks in London than Africa I am not kidding 😀😀😆😆
I lived in S London for 25 years and hated every moment. When we retired I told my husband (Born and raised in Brixton), that I was not staying in London anymore. Eventually he saw the sense and we moved 12 years ago. I miss Croydon and Bromley for shopping but that is all.
The state of any town, city or country is a direct reflection of the people that live there... The people have been changed so the state of the place has changed accordingly. Croydon is not the worst. Try around Camberwell.
Pretty nice round Camberwell - lots of students have moved down there, got the UAL art campus. Sure it can be a bit rough sometimes as it borders Peckham and Brixton but overall it's a nice area that a lot of young people would be more than happy to live in if we could afford the rent there.
The market he was on around 15:00 is Surrey Street Market. It's been there nearly 1000 years. It's around 800 but some people say it goes even older than 1000 years to the Anglo Saxons.
30 years ago labour flooded Croydon with immigrants and changed it beyond all recognition! I lived in central Croydon for years and we moved to get our children out and into a good area and secondary school.. just after we moved the riots happened.. right down our road! That was confirmation we’d done the right thing .. having said that people in Croydon are generally friendly!
At the start of the video I was trying to guess where you were heading. I was so shocked when you said Croydon, my home town. I’ve lived in Australia for the past 6 years and it makes me so sad to see what my home has turned in to.
Why didn't you stay to try and fix the problems in your home town.? You can't moan from afar. You are part of the problem. Would you stay and fight? No... Bye then...
I can tell you for sure Croydon has hardly changed in the last 6 years. A few extra shops closed down cause of the pandemic like every high street, but lets not pretend it was some fantastic dream place only 6 years ago!!
I lived in Belize Park and worked in St. John’s wood in 2000 to 2004. Those were both very upscale neighborhoods yet. People frequently had bars on their windows. Further, I had one experience where I was concerned that an older neighbor might be having some problems and we called the police. They told us to call the noise police. There was no concern about property theft. The one thing you saw was a lot of parking in enforcement.
Haha, the buildup to "Croydon" is HILARIOUS. I'm from South London, mate and let me tell you Croydon is no worse now than it was when I grew up in Catford, Bermondsey, Lambeth and the Elephant. I now live in California and can't wrap my head around Croydon being a gang-infested place, especially compared to what we have over here. P.S. The guy in the yellow shirt is a legend as someone else said below.
Thought you were going to say Camden. I would have cried as I love it. Live in Somerset now so haven’t been for a while and miss it so much. Have a good day. X
@@backrowbrighton yes I was there last Xmas walking home with a girl eating pizza and all of a sudden it was kicked out of my hands. I looked up and theres a gang of ?Somalis ..they left me alone thankfully. I went back to Camden again almost a year later...much more sober...and noticed these gangs everywhere
As far as rough sections of major cities go, that doesn't look very bad on video. Be interesting to get your perspective in cities here across the pond. Great vid as usual.
Yeah roughness is very much relative. You have to remember that the murder rate in London is around 12 per million, which is peanuts compared to most major cities in the US. Croydon is rough by London standards, but there are tons of places more dangerous in the US.
Not half as bad as many US cities, its definitely not a ghetto. However, compared to what it was like 20 years ago, the change downwards has been incredible and fast.
Breaks my heart. Went to school in Croydon my whole life in the 90's and 80's. Once the shopping center deal for Allders and the rest fell through and more people looked for cheaper cost-of-living, it crumbled so quickly. So many of my favorite places are gone. Lovely to see Surrey Street market still there. I still go home to visit every year but you have to know where to go and what time to head inside by.
Ex resident to the local catchment area. Whilst Croydon isn't great, and has regressed in the last 15 years, I've been to far worse players in London (Vauxhall, Elephant & Castle, Dagenham, Tottenham a few that come to mind). South Croydon is regarded as quite affluent and a big commuter belt. East Croydon is popular with young professionals looking for a 20 min direct train into central London. Down the road you have places like Purley, Carshalton, Banstead, Chipstead where many celebrities and footballers live. Back in the 90's Croydon was a hub for nightlife and you had clubs like Blue Orchid, Bud World, Joe Bananas, Atlantis (which was where the old Water Palace used to be) Whitgift centre was a vibrant hub, but unfortunately like many shopping centres it has seen more businesses closing than opening. Croydon gets a lot of bad press, some of it justified but there are far tougher places in London from my experience.
Honestly, as someone who lives in Dagenham, honestly, its just a little dirty and very ugly. It has nothing on Croydon, I got uncomfortable just watching this video. Ilford however....
I've lived inCroydon for 15 years and raised both of my daughters here - its a great place to live but has suffered from years of tory cuts and managed neglect - it has Luna House [the immigration centre for the whole UK] in town so attracts a transient and always interesting type of people - its also the youngest borough in London [by population] and has some of the capitols neediest children in terms of SEND - it is also a dumping ground for problem families from other boroughs [Lambeth and Southwark specifically as the property prices are considerably less]- essentially a poor borough with some of the countries nicest people in it.
Fact. There are two thousand and seventy three super rich millionaires living in Croydon. It's true that there are rough parts but there are also hugely wealthy areas in Croydon.
Croydon used to be in the county of Surrey.. it became part of Greater London.. maybe if the county boundaries were restored then things could be better… just a thought!
I would to visit Croydon in the early to mid 80s with a fair amount of cash that I had saved up from my Saturday job and never felt in danger. Allders department store was open and the Whitgift centre was busy with no closed shops. It was a nice place to visit for shopping with a lot more choice than the town in West Sussex where I used to live. I went back there a few years ago and I could see that it had gone downhill with Allders and many shops in the Whitgift centre closed. I would never go back again, but I still have very happy memories of Croydon.
Oh Wendall, I used to have a Partner who lives is South Norwood and we used to go to Croydon a lot and it saddens me to see what has become of the Whitgift Centre which is obviously what you walked through at the end of the video. Just 10 years ago it was a Fantastic Mall, what has happened I wonder for it to decline like it has. I do remember it was supposed to be altered into another Westfield like we have here at Stratford in East London so obviously that must have fallen through. West Croydon has always been the worst part of Croydon though.
Excellent vlog, Wendall.. 👏 You really showed the gritty stuff and interviewed some fascinating people in Croydon! PS) I noticed the shout-out to Turnip.. your channels really compliment each other and I hope you collab again soon.. 👍
The Reason why the whitegift center has so many closed shops is because a westfeild was supposed to be built on top of the whietgift center and all the shops where bought out. This westfeild was never built and now the whitgift center is left to rot.
I used to manage the Riley's club there in the 90s, travelled there often to a shop I like but that was 20 years ago after. It is mass uncontrolled migration, legal and illegal that is dragging everywhere down.
Lived round here for a short while last year. One thing that stood out to me was that they'd have security on the doors of the puregym and locks on the female area within the gym. No music was played in the gym, instead the guys would come in playing their portable speakers from their backpack. Never felt safe walking home late after a workout with all the nutters around.
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westminster and parlinment are the most dangerous places in london
Top comment
And Whitehall, always something incredibly evil lurking in Downing Street
@@chuckc7815 Respectable crime.
That's the truth.
Exactly 😂
It’s not just Croydon, the country is a train wreck…
You slowly drop used engine oil into a hot soapy fresh bathtub what happens the British are the hot soapy clean water in the tub mass migration is the used engine oil dripping into it
Yep even Camden, the ''hip'' touristy area he starts in, is looking run down, most of the shops on Chalk Farm Rd behind him are boarded up and graffiti'd there are beggars and people sleeping in tents, and it's dirty and littered.
You can find dregs anywhere,..The wise people know the best places,..
Tell me a place on Earth with western Christian values that's not.....
@@billybatts8283 They must all be great as the rest want to move there.
The man with the dirty yellow top is a legend. Had a rough life but gets his points across very well
Hope someone is looking out for him.Seems like a nice bloke.
I broke down in Croydon about 20 years ago. And the guy in the yellow sweater reminded me of the guy who came to my assistance, nobody asked him to, but he did, he let me crash out in his flat, we went for a beer with him and his pals, and he wouldn't take anything from me even though without his help I'd have been totally screwed.
Good people.
Makes you proud to be British
and all he wanted in return was for you to w*nk him off?
That was 20 years ago. Britain has changed immeasurably since then. Your experience unfortunately is well within a bygone era.
@@jamesgraham446 Since when exactly? There's lots of good people around
Louder for all the doom and gloom merchants. The country is in a terrible state because of austerity
Did it ever occur to you that was because the fellow that helped you was actually British? Bet you won’t admit that to yourself, though. But you know it’s true. You really think Midnight Rude Boy at 6:52 is going to extend that kind of local hospitality to you, especially if it happened after sunset?
I could cry when I see what's become of Croydon. I grew up there in the 70's and it was a fantastic place. It is unrecognisable now to the town i once knew. Like the 62 year old interviewed, I was born in St Mary's maternity hospital back in the mid 60's. I could not have wished to grow up in a nicer area. But like others have said, it's not just Croydon, so many other towns have taken a similar downturn. Though gladly, not all have become as dangerous as Croydon. But honestly, if you could look back in time to the 70's you would not believe you were in the same place. Very sad.
Multiculturalist policy-making did this to Croydon.
Lots of places in the UK were fantastic places to live in the 70s and 80s, but not now. There are other places that were down at heel at that time, such as inner south London, and then became gentrified only to go downhill again.
@@lemsip207 this whole country is being wreckballed at the moment and we haven't even reached the end of that process.
But in another decade it should start to improve again, I can't see this lasting because the countries causing it are on the slide.
agreed from a early 60s born person from Croydon
sad very sad
They are building tower blocks, but most sit empty, Saffron Tower the tallest one with purple and red colours on the outside currently has 66 flats for sale on one website. A one bed flat starts around £70k up to £250k.
The ones that are occupied are going to the new arrivals.
I was born in Lewisham in the 70s. It was always poor and scruffy, but it was safe and had a community. The place changed beyond all recognition for various reasons. My Dad moved us away and it was the best thing we ever did. My Aunt and Uncle are the only members of the family who are still there. They are trapped. They are the only Londoners living on her street. Everyone else escaped or died.
I was just there on Monday and the streets around Lewisham are just filled with halal chicken shops,I a swear it's the only places to eat there and you barely ever see any white people there I was quite disappointed about the area.
get out my country
@gordonmullen9128 The only really good takeaway in Lewisham is a Lebanese place.
Everything else is as you said. Halal Fried Chicken.
Oh and there's a good Chinese but it is more towards the Greenwich end of Lewisham.
The majority of Britain has been turned into a futuristic, dystopian horror movie. Thanks Government. It resembles the film, "Escape From New York".
Yes.
ive been thinking this for a while
It’s not the government it’s the council’s
But Snake Plissken isn't going to save us.
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Croydon is definitely not the most dangerous part of London. It’s a concrete jungle.
@@Narrative711nah
It wasn't the most dangerous part .I was in new cross. At the time😂
@hawky2k215yeah if your a 12 year old girl
@hawky2k215 Yeah, but nobody goes to bradford unless they are into islams so we leave them to it.
@@p123-o5h If you want to live, don't come to ... Sheffield...
Croydon was a great shopping destination, as a kid I used to get on the 264 bus with my mum and dad from Tooting and go into Croydon often.
As I grew up into my late teens Croydon was a decent night out, many would travel into Croydon from afar to party. Now Croydon in my opinion is a place to avoid, they can build as many souless lego blocks as they want but you can't polish a turd. It's grimy, dangerous and will only get worse. The council are corrupt and useless and any decent people in Croydon have moved away.
The 264! That was my bus too. Yeah, it was a lovely place 20-30 years ago.
There’s still plenty decent hard working ppl in Croydon, but there definitely is a corrupt council, they practically steal our money for themselves and don’t reinvest back into the community
I was there in February 2023. Went to watch a match between crystal palace and Liverpool on a Friday evening. Going back to the Hotel in the Centre ( just opposite that empty shopping center you showed) was quite a scary experience. Some kid cut himself with a flick knife on the bus. The bus floor was full of blood. Some guy took off his shirt and applied it as a tourniquet around the kid’s wrist. I would definitely not have gone had I watched this video first. Didn’t feel safe at all. On the bus afraid to look at anyone just stared outside me and my son and were massively relieved to get back to the hotel safe and sound
Who won the the game?
@@javieralvarez1072 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
you probably stayed at the jury's inn hotel. there's a YMCA across the street. you would have been safer staying on the bus
It was hard growing up in Croydon , got awful after 1999, so glad I escaped to the coast.
I'm staying there now working I'm from Liverpool Yemen it is pretty rough not guna lie 😮
So many good people struggling is heart breaking. Thank you for giving them a voice on youtube.
What makes them good? Most of the people he spoke to were alcoholics, delinquents and people living off benefits. Nothing good about them!
🤣
@Cookerab
No one is "struggling".
@@TonyFisherPuzzles Cool story bro. Guess people living on the streets, trying to make ends meet, find something to eat, etc. are all just fine. GFY
Good video mate. I'm from London north. Where you were, I had passed by there few weeks ago...smh.. absolutely dreadful mate. Bleak, depressing. When I went to visit my mates in Swansea,(townhill, mayhill) it was similar. England unfortunately is falling apart. I guess everywhere has its no- go zone. Be safe mate, cheers 👊🏻
No go zone, but you go there? Stop talking shite
The booming China is the biggest threat to the world.
I was born in the UK and lived in South London and Bristol but have spent my life in Australia travelling back and forth every 3-5 years for the past 40 years. Parts of those areas have always been rough. However, during that time I have seen quite big changes in places that were once familiar to me. Now I don't really have any urge to return.
Me too. Now live in the u.s.a I always considered about retiring back in the u.k but not now.
It saddens me to see what our homeland has become.
You've chosen politics who provide this life to you. You deserve it. Democracy.
My daughter and son-inlaw will not work in Croydon, colleagues have been targeted by muggers etc....and it's dangerous!
is it heck. have lived here many years. you need to behave sensibly like in any gritty town centre, but its perfectly fine for every day living. your daughter and husband must be a bundle of joy being scared to work in a place blimey.
...keep away from it!
My brother lives there, Rolex watch, houses all around the country & he loves his lifestyle in Croydon
It's a big borough, not just a massive shopping centre.. wouldn't move back there even if my life depended on it.. dung heap..
Really????
Good video but I have to critique you on some of your points/musings about Croydon. I think you've read some puff pieces about it.
Contrary from being 'on The Up' Croydon is in steep decline.
-The residential prices are actually insanely high, not affordable. And with more London professionals and office workers able to work from home for some of the week people are moving further down the train line where they can get houses for the same prices they can get a tiny flat in Croydon.
-On the commerical front, Croydon was a retail town for decades, and at one point people came from quite far away for the shopping. As a result of council mismanagement and increased competition elsewhere from places like Westfield in London. Croydon's retail sector has been declining since the early 2000s. The COVID lockdowns essentially finished off most of what was limping on. The remaining big chain stores that are left are dropping out 1 by 1. And the smaller high street stores are either abandoned/derelict or occupied by take-aways and vape shops. There's no real retail here now.
On the office space side of things, there's basically a whole road of empty office buildings 5 minutes from the station.
On top of all of that the council has been bankrupt 3 times in recent years, so we have less and less services, but ridiculously high council taxes. A 2 bedroom flat will run you about £2400 a year in council tax.
In short Croydon is in late stage decline, with no real prospect of it turning around. Most people with the means to are either leaving or looking to leave as soon as they can.
100 per cent facts.
I was born in Mayday in 1976. Educated locally. University was my ticket out of Croydon. Exited HMS U.K. in 2015 for safer, warmer, cheaper, more meritocratic climes.
Up until the mid-1980's Croydon was a fantasic town to live and work in, vibrant and full of energy with the best and most varied retail outlets in the whole country, after Harrods and Selfridges (In London), Allders was the largest department store in the UK, and many people to this day thought it was the best to shop in - Not to mention Croydon's two other iconic department stores, Kennards and Grants.
Prior to 1989 when North End was pedestrianised and closed off to traffic, on a Saturday, around Christmas and during the annual shop sales (Without exaggerating), it was impossible to walk along the high street without brushing every single person you passed, to say Croydon was busy back then would be an understatement.
Surrey Street Market has been trading since 1276, one of the oldest markets in the UK and there was a time during the 1970's / 80's when there was up to a five-year waiting list for a stall, and many generations of families worked there.
Today Croydon is a shadow of its former glory, totally neglected with 80% of the shops either dilapidated or boarded up, depressing, filthy and full of unemployed wondering immigrants. This demise is solely due to Croydon Council and the amount of corruption, incompetence, and their mismanagement - Unfortunately not one Council leader was held to account or prosecuted, but instead getting massive financial payoffs and moving on to other high-powered jobs - All well documented.
There is investment but only hungry opportunist investors constructing high-rise low-quality tower blocks, mainly rent only apartments.
Unfortunately, Croydon is not an isolated case, there are literally 100's of other towns and area’s just like Croydon throughout the United Kingdom.
I have travelled and lived in most of Asia and when one compares the United Kingdom to all these other countries you realise just how backward and third word the United Kingdom has become - Extremely sad but 100% fact.
1000% fact and it is extremely sad, really is!
As a son of Croydon (b.1976, Mayday Hospital) educated locally I confirm this is true.
Allders was a massive draw along with Grants. I did OK in life and emigrated from the U.K. (as did many of my peers) several years ago. The past is a foreign country.
Thank you for your comment.
i'm sure that when you were living in Asia the locals were cursing what their community had come to now that unemployed longhaired white people were mooching around their town and degrading their atmosphere!
Croydon is alright. loads and loads of green spaces. loads and loads of great international food and ingredients. great transport, great culture, easy to lose a tail, easy to meet new people.
So you're saying it's only unemployed immigrants walking around? All the English have full time jobs right?
@EhsanMusic
Hello Ehsan, Please take the trouble to read my comment again, then cut and paste where you found the "Only immigrants."
(Prevalence)
I lived in Mitcham for 41 years and used to go to Croydon every week. It’s definitely not how I remember it from years back.
Mitchum used to be alright
Same as me,used to go to Croydon regularly for the shops and for pie and mash,people were friendly always ready for shits and giggles,never had a drama whilst there,saw a few but never felt uncomfortable or worried
Amazing how it's declined. It was the Saturday shopping destination for Tooting residents😢
I lived in Colliers Wood. Croydon was our go to shopping place.
I lived on the pollards hill estate as a kid back in the 80’s - early 90’s! Went to Alfred Mizen school and my sister went to William Morris! Still remember the library and the shop on the corner by the bus stop! Happy memories!
Wendell, I appreciate your compassionate approach to these videos. I know some people would characterise it as poverty porn, but you give people a chance to speak and you do so without judgement.
At 8:18 he frames out a really nice craft beer bar called Art & Craft on Surrey Street market that would represent what Croydon still stands for. The fact he spent most of his time in West Croydon says a lot. South End, a 5 minute walk away is all restaurants and also where suburbia is. East Croydon Station has always been a major commuter hub for the city as it goes to Victoria Station and London Bridge, there is a lot of money there and Purley has more millionaires than anywhere else in the UK.
The real cause of all shut shops is a long dragged out Westfield deal so no investment was put into the whitgift centre as it was going to be torn down.
This has been a very surface level and very selective image of Croydon.
That market has been there since given its charter by Henry VII.
Yes ... This guy , my gut feeling tells me ,.is genuine.... Some TH-camrs just antagonise the less unfortunate for views. Not Wendall!!
My grandparents moved out of central London to Croydon in the 1940s, it was a prosperous town near the ‘countryside’, many happy memories, I went to school there and worked there for several years and it was always thriving, I remember everyone coming out of shops and offices to watch the Olympic torch procession in 2012!
Rapidly went downhill in last 10 years, I only live a few miles further out but never go there 😢
Would have been good to look at the history as well, the Almshouses, the Minster and the Palace!
Back in the 60`s, when I was a teenager, Croydon was a nice and popular place. Good shops, bowling alley and some decent pubs and clubs around and I did my apprentice training in Croydon Technical College. My in laws came from Roundshaw, a rough estate from when it was built, but most of the people were OK. Then the Home Office building opened in Wellesly Road, and it attracted the cause of the current problems, who were housed in the local area. Now, it`s a right shit hole.
Even in the late 90s Croydon was good. Buzzing night life with loads of clubs and bars. The Whitgift Centre at the weekend was so busy and full of people shopping it took ages just to get up the road. Its interesting you mentioned the Home office. Croydon has a lot of immigration with west croydon in this vid, a hub, I'd say 90% of the people are immigrants. Nice to see people from literally all over the world in one area but 90%? Theres an alarming amount of mental health issues and homelessness too.
@@VikViking121 It its very sad to witness the decline in real life, I sadly still live just up the road an I am called an old codger by now
Yes I use to go to Croydon in the 70s to see Bands at the Greyhound on a Sunday Night great times .Status Quo played there all the time .Spent some time in the pubs in South Croydon ,Worked At Dees of Croydon as well .I also attended Croydon Tech for a while, but I thought in those days they classed it as being in Surrey ???But I wouldn't visit it today times change but not for the better.
I remember the bowling alley in croydon in the 60s .we used to sit in there
Now they've literally closed all the clubs besides 2 and most pubs and closed but still some open. The night life is beyond sht now.
I lived in Croydon for 33 years, when I had enough money to buy a property I decided to move to East Grinstead. I never had any trouble in Croydon, but even in my lifetime it changed drastically. I wouldn't feel safe going down London Road at night at all. I still work near East Croydon station so I'm there once a week or so. Still feels like home. Great video, really interesting to read some of the comments.
Croydon just collapsed under Nick's weight imo.
The town centre in Croydon has gone massively down over the last 10/12 years. The High Street used to be buzzing. The Whitgift shopping centre (where you go to here) was meant to have a complete refurbishment in to a Westfield which has been stalled for years. This has meant the town centre retail hasn’t been invested in at all as there is the potential for this to come along. A previous Labour run council invested very badly in housing projects and commercial property which bankrupted the council. High property prices have pushed some in now more gentrified areas of Brixton and Peckham in to cheaper Croydon. The North is very different to the South. The worst parts of Croydon are in the North, Thornton Heath and Selhurst are particular problem areas for crime etc. They are worse than where you are here. Sanderstead and Selsdon in the South are far more affluent and are much safer. Other tough areas of London are some parts of Brixton, Tottenham and North Peckham
Yeah the area he spent most of the video in has gotten really hurt by the general decline in brick&mortar retail. Even 10 years ago there was a lot of activity in the Whitgift Centre and in that stretch of North End. The rougher elements where there as well but you might not notice them much in a sea of shoppers. Now retail footfall is so much lower and the whole atmosphere is grim.
Still, it's hardly an excursion into a warzone... you're just a few minutes walk from Boxpark, random indie coffee houses, etc. During daytime I wouldn't worry about that patch at all. Despite its current state it's still a commercial area that people go to all the time. There are worse areas in Croydon and in London more generally.
People shopping online has partially caused this. It's not always cheaper as then you have to pay shipping costs. They do that mostly because they get harassed by drug dealers, beggars, hawkers, and chuggers in town and city centres. I try and buy what I can in supermarkets and then suburban shops before I go to the city centre.
All over the UK shopping centres are empty.
@laurastuart3814 Malls were often built at the height of a boom and completed just around the start of a recession.
@kscterry "A previous Labour run council invested very badly in housing projects and commercial property which bankrupted the council." Says it all really doesn't it? Them and the scumbag tories have ruined our once great country.
Got out of Wandsworth 5 years ago, would never live there again.
We are ethnically being driven out of our own country, change has to happen
The prison or the borough?😉
Armed resistance
I agree
So what happened to chav towns like Jaywick? There are no ethnic people there.
Too late for changes…much too late.
Croydon used to be such a wonderful place to live.
I grew up on the borough where there was a great community feeling about the place.
The shops, night time economy, pubs, restaurants and night clubs use to be in abundance where everyone would travel from all over London for shopping or great night out.
It's a shame you only managed to speak with two genuine local Croydonians who told you how great the borough of Croydon used to be.
Surrey street market definitely is not the same, all the old stall holders have long gone! Apart from one or two of the old stall holders remain like the bloke you briefly spoke with.
Croydon is such a huge borough to police, this is why you never saw many police.
I recall from my time growing up there, the police were there in great numbers, unlike today, officers now have to cover three boroughs, Bromley, Sutton and Croydon with lower numbers etc.
I like many others Croydonians have left the borough for pastures new.
I still come back to the borough to watch my beloved Crystal Palace FC, at Selhurst park, soon as the game is over I am out the ground and back in the safety of my car for the journey back to the south coast.
If I get the train to London, it's amazing to see how many people are making the journey Selhurst Park.
Lots of the original locals to Croydon have left for Kent, Surrey, Sussex to escape the place which was home for me and them also.
Croydon is now the biggest dumping ground, which in my opinion has brought the issues, deprivation and violence which you see today.
All I will say.
God bless RIP Croydon.🙏🏼
Where has our country gone heart breaks ..
The country is fucked !
THE ENGLISH ARE SELLING EVERY CITY OUT TO ISLAM BLACKS & INDIANS
Cultural enrichment
Stop projecting your racism
Didn't you vote brexit and the tories? You are part of the problem.
London is 35% indigenous British. The capital city.
London is 35% skewered dead lambs hanging off metal railings. But it's cool because it has Wendy's.
And yet we get called racist
I was born in London in the early 50s, I still live here, I would put the London indigenous population at around 15%.
I travel all over London and never feel threatened or in danger, maybe because I am no longer a teenager, just a Pensioner
What does that even mean? What do you mean by indigenous British? The Regional ethnic diversity UK government statistics doesn't classify any group as "indigenous British". It uses the terms "White British", "White Other", of which collectively, they weigh in at a sum of 54%. This far outweighs any other individual ethnic group, and far outweighs "Black" and "Asian" which together has a sum of 34%. Stats taken from: www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest/
@@albert21able yeah the people talking like it's the South side of Chicago are people who live in county durum and further afield and very rarely visit London. I've felt less safe on bristol than I have in London.
My Mum was a Psychology lecturer back in the 90's when i was growing up as a kid. She had studied at Oxford and knew lots of well-to-do people who were "finacially blessed".
I travelled to London with her one particular weekend and stayed in an incredible multimillion pound residence near Camden which had marble floors and high ceilings. When my Mum and her friend went to sleep i snuck out onto the balcony to smoke a cigarette (i was only 14). As i smoked i looked down on the streets below.
I was absolutely astounded at all the drug dealing, crime, yardies and fights going on in what was supposed to be an afluent area. I ended up sitting there watching the madness unfold for at least an hour before i crept back inside.
I'm no sociology expert but something tells me that London has been full of crime and skulduggery since its inception.
London's always been quite notorious for crime but so has any major city, really.
I can honestly say I wish I moved out of London way before I did. I've been away over 4 years now after 29 years of the craphole that is london.. and even on the rare stint i do go back for a weekend (to see naive family who still live there) I get an overwhelming feeling if dread as the train leaves Newcastle to go down. It's not even just the crime etc.. its just the normal uncriminal people... you smile at someone and they look at you like there's something wrong. Having to analyse everyone instantly.. its draining.. I hate it
That's so true
Snuck, what the F does that mean? Are you English?
@@markmcneill2904 Try looking in a dictionary sometime. I bet there are millions of other words that you are totally oblivious of.
London is just disgusting I hate modern London. Back in the 90s it was ok, but I avoid it like it's a plague rat these days!
and every other city is going the same way.
So much worse when I moved there in the 90s. Even King’s Cross is amazing nowadays. You don’t like shit areas getting nicer? You preferred Peckham and Hackney in the 90s? Surely not.
Virtually all areas in zone 1 ,2 and 3 are better.
80s was just OK but still after work could not wait to get back to Derbyshire
Being from the midlands myself, I could tell exactly where about you are from. Your accent was difficult to place at first. Then I could hear you replacing the “Th” sound of words that begin with “Th”, with a “V” sound and it told me a lot.
I love what you’re doing with your channel and how you confidentially approach people with a plan for your video 👍🏼
Wendell sir, it's because the police have withdrawn from the streets over decades from foot patrols that crime across the country, including Croydon, has gone up. The police are supposed to prevent crime before it happens by a visible presence, not react to it afterwards.
It's not only the foot police that's gone...they are closing all the police stations...
Having lived there, I’d say Tottenham, Bruce Grove and Harringey would give Croydon a run for its money
And Edmonton !
Wonder why
Lol yep my misses lives in Croydon and I lived in West Norwood. I used to go to Bruce Grove a few times a week - seeing someone there - and yes another wonderful diverse place
Do you know muswell hill and crouch end? I grew up there. Lovely place.
Lived in Bruce grove was some spot lol, elephant and castle the road up there to camberwell lived there too mad spot aswel
Great vid. Noticeably fewer interviews and it's interesting people are so much less happy to chat. Keep doing your thing Wendall 👍🏻
I was born in and spent the first 40 years of my life in nearby Sutton but moved to the south coast about 30years ago. In those days everyone used to go to Croydon for the shops, night clubs and 'in' pubs, so I found this video SO depressing. The thought of re-visiting Croydon, after watching this, is BOTTOM of my bucket list.
Very articulate and fair in how you investigate these statistics. Great the way you interview the people who truly know what’s going on- the people who live it in the streets and residents. Great videos my friend! Keep up the great work!!!
I dont think Croyden is London's most dangerous town mate. Try the Wandsworth estates after dark. Try the estates of Harlsden -- Stonebridge. Try Woolwich, try Haringey, which had the highest knife crime incidents between 2022 and 2023 (632), followed by Enfield (599) and Barnet (399 incidents). Gun crime: try Haringey and Southwark.
Try House's of Parliament after dark🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯. Its a joke OK calm down😊
Try Newport,Gwent...not even after dark....
We lived in croydon for 60 years was nice place until 20 years ago I hate going back there but have family in south croydon it has changed for the worse to many yobs on the street to much knife crime
Yeah diversity really has worked hasn’t it 🫣
@@EpicAelflaedShame the migrants always get the blame. To be fair, if the British tax payer chose to invest in them and a decent security service, I think things would be different.
Croydon high street was always alright when I grew up in the 80s and 90s, full of people, loads of good shops, and while it could be a little rough, it wasn't what you'd consider dangerous. But for the last 15 years or so I've been living in Suffolk and love where I live. All the places in this video I recognise well, but it looks so run down and bad. I'm glad I'm not bringing up my kids in Croydon, but its sad.
As a young lad in the 1970's a posh English family moved to my Scottish village from Croydon. At that time, i assumed Croydon was a rather nice town.
The only part of London I've ever lived in was Woolwich way back in 1984/5.
Went back for a visit, in 2012 and the whole place was completely different!
It felt like I was in foreign city.
My view on Croydon, I grew up here from 1982 onwards, then it was a very middle class area, great community spirit it was mainly white then. When the housing prices went up in nearby areas like Brixton, Battersea, Clapham and such. Resulted in an influx of people from rougher areas moving in as they could sell their homes , move to Croydon get a better home with money left over. They brought that more ghetto culture to the area, be it violent crime, and drug culture. This resulted with a lot of people moving out to towards coulsdon, redhill, Guildford and outside of London. The area has been neglected by the government and council as it mainly minorities and poorer English people. Where areas like Brixton and Clapham have gone through regeneration, Croydon ha gone through degeneration. The council has mismanagement public funds , fraudulent council staff, council being bankrupt, councils placing ridiculous charges making it not viable in terms of business. Croydon also has a massive rat infestation problem. Croydon is okay if your don’t present as vulnerable in terms of how you carry yourself. No local resources for the youth, no support for the vulnerable, local healthcare extremely poor, as the chap stated local hospital which use to be called Mayday is referred to as Maydie. I could go on and on, really sad when you think of the potential in the area, nice buildings, good transport link’s. On a governmental level no discipline in school, teachers are unable to effectively correct misbehaving children, like wise parents have their hands tired. This lack of discipline in the homes and schools just extends to the local and greater community, were some youngsters feel they can do what they like with no repercussions. A lot could be nipped in the bud if deal with it effectively at school level and homes
I was born in Luton 1980, lived in the burbs and London for a while. The further you move out the better your life gets.
Until Covid19, they managed to wreck almost every other place during that time. Now the country is a smouldering pile of faeces and not even as bad as it will get.
Well said bro. Very much spot on! I was born in Brixton and grew up there all my life (early 90s). I watched areas and estates around me getting gentrified, my old friends who were in the life of crime and many others who grew up in Brixton and neighbouring areas, were forced to move out from their council homes and homes they had on mortgages and given money to move out of the area, most of my friends moved further down south (South Croydon, Croydon, Mitcham, Thorton Heath) this was around 2006, even though Brixton was once the gun crime, and drug capital of London, over the years we heard and saw crime rates sore in Croydon whilst crime in Brixton started to decrease, .
@@sweetbutshowa Where are the other 7 comments gone? Lol wow free speech is another thing that this country can no longer boast about.
Big Trouble In Little Britain. Great.
Bang on assessment. I went school in Croydon. Everything you said is 100% fact
What about horley, is that OK as currently in the process of buying a house there?
I use to work in West Croydon as i lived in Sutton most of my life ,and always went shopping in Croydon there as well as bars and clubs, my cousin lives off London Road, i walked along there last year to her house 20 minutes each way, thankfully didn't see any thing bad going on.
Some of the people you interviewed sums it all up perfectly. Especially compared to what London was like 50 years ago
eh? camden is EXACTLY THE SAME.
Croydon the most dangerous place in London!?!? LOOOOL Even in the local area, Streatham, Peckham and Lewisham are more dangerous places to go. Croydon is a shopping centre.
Definitely Lewisham and some parts of Peckham. Streatham not so much now. Because Croydon is so big, it gets more attention than the other worse places.
Brixton is the worse, far more gangs than anywhere else. Lewisham is better than West Croydon. South Croydon and East Croydon are not bad places. Its West Croydon and Thornton Health that's more problematic.
@@Tinker8531Brixton isn't that bad now. Gentrification has changed the demographics for good and bad, but for crime, it's nowhere near as rough as it used to be. It's more full of yuppies than criminals nowadays.
Try anywhwere in Newham.
Toooooootenham , North London Jungle !
Thanks for your videos. Good social documentation. It’s important.
Somewhere between Mogadishu mumbai capetown & lagos
welcome to Blairs Britain
Exactly how the govt planned 😮
Lol… Blair bombed Libya .,. To give you modern Britain !!
@@abc33944ghadaffi armed and funded the IRA
@@abc33944wasn't it "call me Dave "?
@@abc33944 Libya totally had it coming. Like a lot of places today. Maybe we did, who knows.
Blairs' Britain?. Last year had record immigration, 1.25 million under a Tory Brexit government that vowed to cut immigration. And these are not white, hard working European immigrants but mostly third world with no assets, few skills and no concept of or desire of UK society.
Born, raised and still living in Croydon. Whilst crime is still a major issue here, I feel as though a lot of it usually happens between parties who are already on bad terms with each other (e.g. gang or school related) and if you just keep to yourself you'll be fine. It really is sad to see the state Croydon is in, though. I have very pleasant memories of being a kid in the 2000s and messing about in the Whitgift Centre with my brother whilst on a shopping trip with our mum. Went back in there recently and I honestly could not believe how hauntingly quiet it is. Most people nowadays will just go to Bromley or Sutton (also going downhill a bit) for all their shopping needs.
You mean criminals keep committing crimes.... Shocking
England is the 3rd world
..but just carry on bending over England
@@cantagiousca5220you don't know what you are talking about do you?
Open your eyes. Awaken from your happy nostalgic images.
Its beyond The Crusades 4.
Thats why we went there x3 times. To avoid this.
1.2 MILLION PER YEAR EVERY YEAR. explosive exponential breeding.
Its over. Keep the memories.
@@007JNR
That Whitgift shopping centre is absolutely incredible. I remember being brought shopping there before Christmas with my parents when I was a kid (so you're talking 25 years ago - I'm 33 now) and it was heaving with colour and Christmas lights and busy people and happy crowds and packed shops and so on. To see it just utterly collapse in that space of time is mental.
Hello Wendell, glad to see you back my friend. Love your videos. We love you here in northern California. Thanks for all your hard work my friend peace and God bless.🙏💯💙🇺🇸
Cheers mate
These places are nothing on Oakland!
@@Westhamsterdam I’m from London and spent some time in Oakland, what an absolute hole. Feel very sorry for the locals with so many implants from all over the US going there. What a true dump.
What have we done to Britain? 🤬🤬🤬
Flooded it with 3rd world.
Yeah it's a wreckage now, but I don't think it's as bad as it will be in another few years.
It's not us it's this Tory government cheap labour they bang on about labour there the the ones who these migrants here to line there pockets and get rich 🤑
@@DailyCorvidmr positive over here 😭🤣
Robert Mawbey. We didn't do it. The evil government did. I hate them.
born in 64. grew up in croydon. so many wonderful memories of family friends the town it was bustling. i moved to usa and have visted uk & croydon many times since. still always a joy. then didnt visit for several years. was back in 2022. i was gutted. people ask me where im from and i get 'the look'. tragic. just tragic. im from a massive family. only one aunt & uncle still liove there. i cry 'what happened to my home'. much of it to do with post war 'development' when they ripped the soul out of the place. croydon town centre and thge shopping center used to bustling & vibrant. thank you fdor this upload. i was alos thyere in 2011. the pall in the air was creepy. two days later the town got ripped to shreds in the riots. the global news footage was all croydon. yeah.
I wonder what could have caused Croydon to have become such a violent dump?!?!
We all know why.
Walking up from Mayday Hospital a couple of years ago thought entering a third world country .
@@philhawley1219oh we sure do pal
Blacks?
There are many social reasons,but the main reason is crap policing, I'm ex met .....
I moved to Croydon from Nottingham when I was 18, and I never personally felt in any danger because I'm very aware and street smart, but I witnessed a lot. Decided enough was enough when not only a kid was stabbed to death across the road from my house, but someone also got shot, so I moved myself and my kids to Kent.
Hope you and your kids feel safer and happier now in Kent.
THESE CRIMES KEEP TAKING PLACE IN ALL PARTS OF LONDON AND NOT JUST CROYDON.
What is the real cause of this? There are places that are poorer than Croydon.
BECAUSE OF LACK OF DISCIPLINE. MOST OF THEM WERE BROUGHT UP WITH NO FATHERS TO ENFORCE THE DISCIPLINE WHICH THEY NEEDED, DURING THEIR CHILDHOOD
Hopefully not the Isle of Sheppey? Much more dangerous than Croydon.
I'm not from the UK but I come from very humble beginnings and videos like this make me nostalgic.
"Fugue for a Darkening Island" by Christopher Priest tells the story of Croydon and the UK, written 50 years ago but spot on with its predictions. Life goes on.
Now there was a writer.
Thank you for that. I've never heard of it until now. I have just ordered a copy!.
Death goes on.
House sold, money in the bank. Backpacking in Asia. Missing England wanting to buy a house in horley.
@@Goodman849stay in Asia tou traitor
Not many places in London are good anymore
I live in SW London and it's OK round here
I think he meant for visitors, I have to agree I totally avoid London now. Since about mid 2018 it's been bad to visit.
@@SOLXXX41yup Kingston bruv
Rubbish 😂Mayfair is beautiful so is loads of places in London. How shallow .
@@paulsmith2823I used to live in Kingston 😂Hounslow is worse
I grew up in Croydon and moved away with my parents at 17, I’m. 61 now. There were places that were rough then but a visit to the Whitgift centre 5 years ago broke my heart to see how run down it was. I was also struck by how friendly and engaging strangers were, something I have brought with me through the years but had forgotten how prevelent it is in Croydon you noticed it too. Good old Surrey street market looked like a shadow of what I remember back in the day you couldn’t move down there.
I used to wander all those streets in the middle of the night without a care for my safety. You wouldn’t catch me out there after dark these days it’s becoming a sad world😢
Born and bred here. Growing up in the 80s and 90s was great, I only remember good things about it friends family Whitgift was a vibrant shopping area along with the new Drummond centre which is now centrale. Had three cinemas, London road was always safe to walk down even at night.They had a massive Victorian department store called allders everyone was for healthy and worked had good incomes as they commuted from the city. Then labour took over the running of the council A bad bunch moved in, the people who grew up there all fled to Sussex, Essex etc not a good thing to abandon your home town but what was left then started to decline rapidly throughout the 2000s and never worked its way back again, so it is what it is now ☹️
I also grew up there in the 80-90s and 100% agree I have nothing but good memories but I moved away in 98" sad to see what it's become
Our first family Television was a Philips Television manufactured in Croydon circa 1973
A Philips G8 by any chance?
@@PrinceJohn84 don't know. All I can tell you there were 6 buttons for different channels : As this was for the Irish market, 2 buttons were RTÉ 1 and rte 2.
I managed to put it out of order a couple of times ( born 1972 ) : very bad idea to turn this thing back in again just after turning it off. It ended its days being used for my Atari ST.
How fascinating,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Back in the day when Britain had production and the stuff they pumped out was super awesome.
These days the only super awesome finds are American fast food chains for junkies.
Yes my dad and brother worked at the Phillips factory
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Hello how do you make such monthly, I am a born again Christian and sometimes I feel so down 🙁of myself because of low finance but I still believe in God.
Thanks to my Cole_ worker who suggested mrs Sandrina Edmondson
She's a licensed broker here in the states 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Great to see you guys talking about her, she really changed the game for me.
You'll surely reach her
I was born in Mayday hospital and grew up in Thornton Heath. Along with W Croydon, probably the roughest parts of the borough. Croydon is one of the largest London boroughs, with some very nice and wealthy areas, but varies greatly. I left in 1991 and don't think I'd go back.
Black Swan demolished now a block of flats I think
Where do you live now?
also | was born mayday hospital early 60s also grew up Thornton heath went to ECclesbourne school then Whitehorse manor then moved to Shirley
moved away 2001 and wont be going back
@@James-jd6in Nor would I, even the British Army would have problems at night in that stinking filthy rough place full of B.....Ba,,rds
I went to do a scene in a rap video in Thornton Heath, and the camera man was attacked when arriving, though i did not see it. Truthfully not an area where I would mess with anyone.
I used to live on the Brighton Road Croydon, never was a problem a few years back; what has changed ? The population has changed !!
Hi mate, i'm following you from Paris, as a french who used to live in London (Willesden Green) for two years, between 2001 and 2003. It seems that London, and England overall, is much more dangerous now. Anyway, i still love your country and english people as well ! Good job, love your vids, mate !
Croydon McDonalds has a walk through airport style metal detector before you go in. Enough to make you lose your appetite
Or the will to live ?
All security is either BLACKS or Asians ..welcome to the UK Rule Brittania 😄😄😁😁😁😁😂
But there's plenty of chef knives behind the counter. 🤔 😳
😂
I had a friend 2004 ish. Crying his eyes out he was on min wage delivering shoes to shoe fare. From Leicester to London we went with him even 3 of us couldn’t do it.. and seeing London me and my brother were crying snot bubbles at the IMMIGRATION it was hell on earth HELL ON EARTH live there no fking way
I'm from Leicester too, it's also a white minority city
A while back I got stranded in Croydon overnight, I had a really nice homeless man, offer me what little change he had so I could get a bus to Brixton, obviously I didn't accept, but every encounter I have had with people from Croydon has been positive. There are some really good souls there!
Give Harlesdon a look. Makes Croydon look peaceful
💯
I know Harlesden very well, I went through there last Friday around 9 pm, no problem.
I went to church in Harlsden and school in Croydon. Only saw shit happen in Stockwell, bits of Brixton (the ungentrified bit), Camberwell and Newham where I worked for 3 years each
Grew up there.
Left when I was 15.
It was an S hole then and it's worse now.
Harlesden homeless rats & mice are now moving to Croydon.
Top video Wendall. I have only been to Croydon once when I traveled from the Black Country down there for work at the council depot. Driving through the local area was enough to back up comments on the video and that was a number of years ago now. Keep up the good work! …. Smithy
I found your channel by chance and I really enjoyed this video. I’ll watch a few more for sure. I subscribe to Danny’s channel (that’s why you video popped up I think). Great to see him in yours too. Take it easy man, nice one!
The empathy you have in this FIRST video i watched of yours made me subscribe. Bless you man ...
"I see many things, but that's not my problem."
That's actually a problem for the society
For London it is for sure
Im a foreigner, went to Camden in 2023 with a friend, the punks were there, the vibe was overall positive, not the cleanest, but I didnt feel in danger. Lots of crappy stuff bring sold on the streets. This was the thing I liked least.
I remember Croydon around 1970. Just your normal regular town. Alas all swept away amidst the mass immigration and social replacement.
Dystopia here we come !
i lived in Croydon and then moved up to Brixton in the early 90s it's massivley changed for the worse since then
You moved to Brixton and you think Croydon has changed for the worse ...
No disrespect but last year me and my girlfriend moved in together. She was living in Brixton near electric avenue.
The day we moved her out I saw 4 people openly smoking crack in the alley, police cordoned off area where someone was stabbed, a drug deal behind our moving van and people trying to steal what was in the moving van.
Before her and her flat mate had been sexually harassed and blokes tried to follow them into their flat on more than one occasion. She had been spat on and called a white wh*re and had to be escorted by a security guard in Pret back home because again, she was being sexually harassed by a number of blokes.
@@Jack-ni4ft I moved out of there years ago in the 90s I'm in Liverpool now best move I ever made
Croydon got worse as Brixton got better
@@mranonymous9689 Agreed
Is there any white people live in Brixton? I remember Brixton in the 70s, the buses were driven by blacks, all the passengers was black upstairs and downstairs, and just every one was black, this is meant to be London not effing Nigeria and Jamaica, I have seen more blacks in London than Africa I am not kidding 😀😀😆😆
Its a global problem. San francisco, LA, Paris, and even australian cities have litter, crime, graffiti, stabbings , thefts etc.
I lived in S London for 25 years and hated every moment. When we retired I told my husband (Born and raised in Brixton), that I was not staying in London anymore. Eventually he saw the sense and we moved 12 years ago. I miss Croydon and Bromley for shopping but that is all.
The state of any town, city or country is a direct reflection of the people that live there...
The people have been changed so the state of the place has changed accordingly.
Croydon is not the worst. Try around Camberwell.
Pretty nice round Camberwell - lots of students have moved down there, got the UAL art campus. Sure it can be a bit rough sometimes as it borders Peckham and Brixton but overall it's a nice area that a lot of young people would be more than happy to live in if we could afford the rent there.
The market he was on around 15:00 is Surrey Street Market. It's been there nearly 1000 years. It's around 800 but some people say it goes even older than 1000 years to the Anglo Saxons.
30 years ago labour flooded Croydon with immigrants and changed it beyond all recognition! I lived in central Croydon for years and we moved to get our children out and into a good area and secondary school.. just after we moved the riots happened.. right down our road! That was confirmation we’d done the right thing .. having said that people in Croydon are generally friendly!
Thirty years ago, the Tories had been in government for fifteen years.
@@lukekelly7371 Croydon Borough Council were controlled by Labour thirty years ago, from 1994 - 2006.
Grew up in London. Lived there for fifty years. Now I've left it because it's a complete sh*t hole. Very sad.
This is something of which you're so proud you're broadcasting it to the world...
At the start of the video I was trying to guess where you were heading. I was so shocked when you said Croydon, my home town. I’ve lived in Australia for the past 6 years and it makes me so sad to see what my home has turned in to.
Why didn't you stay to try and fix the problems in your home town.? You can't moan from afar. You are part of the problem.
Would you stay and fight?
No...
Bye then...
@@Peterbrendanalbertbecause life is for living and exploring new places. Not for being a stick in the mud.
@@kellykelly5291 And that explains why. Thanks.
I can tell you for sure Croydon has hardly changed in the last 6 years. A few extra shops closed down cause of the pandemic like every high street, but lets not pretend it was some fantastic dream place only 6 years ago!!
@@Peterbrendanalbertlike asking why didn’t he become a free mason and run for mayor
I lived in Belize Park and worked in St. John’s wood in 2000 to 2004. Those were both very upscale neighborhoods yet. People frequently had bars on their windows. Further, I had one experience where I was concerned that an older neighbor might be having some problems and we called the police. They told us to call the noise police. There was no concern about property theft. The one thing you saw was a lot of parking in enforcement.
Haha, the buildup to "Croydon" is HILARIOUS. I'm from South London, mate and let me tell you Croydon is no worse now than it was when I grew up in Catford, Bermondsey, Lambeth and the Elephant. I now live in California and can't wrap my head around Croydon being a gang-infested place, especially compared to what we have over here. P.S. The guy in the yellow shirt is a legend as someone else said below.
Thought you were going to say Camden. I would have cried as I love it. Live in Somerset now so haven’t been for a while and miss it so much. Have a good day. X
Go to Camden after dark....it's full of gangs on the main roads.
I've noticed that too. Glad I'm always driving.@bruswain9158
@@backrowbrighton yes I was there last Xmas walking home with a girl eating pizza and all of a sudden it was kicked out of my hands. I looked up and theres a gang of ?Somalis ..they left me alone thankfully. I went back to Camden again almost a year later...much more sober...and noticed these gangs everywhere
As far as rough sections of major cities go, that doesn't look very bad on video. Be interesting to get your perspective in cities here across the pond. Great vid as usual.
Vlogging in the hood? I don't think that's a good idea.
Oakland U.S. some parts of Luisiana
Yeah roughness is very much relative. You have to remember that the murder rate in London is around 12 per million, which is peanuts compared to most major cities in the US.
Croydon is rough by London standards, but there are tons of places more dangerous in the US.
He's only on the town centre that's why it didn't look so bad
Not half as bad as many US cities, its definitely not a ghetto. However, compared to what it was like 20 years ago, the change downwards has been incredible and fast.
Breaks my heart. Went to school in Croydon my whole life in the 90's and 80's. Once the shopping center deal for Allders and the rest fell through and more people looked for cheaper cost-of-living, it crumbled so quickly. So many of my favorite places are gone. Lovely to see Surrey Street market still there. I still go home to visit every year but you have to know where to go and what time to head inside by.
"I see a lot of things, but it's not my problem" That sounds like very good advice from experience.
Ex resident to the local catchment area. Whilst Croydon isn't great, and has regressed in the last 15 years, I've been to far worse players in London (Vauxhall, Elephant & Castle, Dagenham, Tottenham a few that come to mind).
South Croydon is regarded as quite affluent and a big commuter belt. East Croydon is popular with young professionals looking for a 20 min direct train into central London. Down the road you have places like Purley, Carshalton, Banstead, Chipstead where many celebrities and footballers live.
Back in the 90's Croydon was a hub for nightlife and you had clubs like Blue Orchid, Bud World, Joe Bananas, Atlantis (which was where the old Water Palace used to be) Whitgift centre was a vibrant hub, but unfortunately like many shopping centres it has seen more businesses closing than opening.
Croydon gets a lot of bad press, some of it justified but there are far tougher places in London from my experience.
Honestly, as someone who lives in Dagenham, honestly, its just a little dirty and very ugly. It has nothing on Croydon, I got uncomfortable just watching this video.
Ilford however....
I've lived inCroydon for 15 years and raised both of my daughters here - its a great place to live but has suffered from years of tory cuts and managed neglect - it has Luna House [the immigration centre for the whole UK] in town so attracts a transient and always interesting type of people - its also the youngest borough in London [by population] and has some of the capitols neediest children in terms of SEND - it is also a dumping ground for problem families from other boroughs [Lambeth and Southwark specifically as the property prices are considerably less]- essentially a poor borough with some of the countries nicest people in it.
Fact. There are two thousand and seventy three super rich millionaires living in Croydon. It's true that there are rough parts but there are also hugely wealthy areas in Croydon.
Croydon used to be in the county of Surrey.. it became part of Greater London.. maybe if the county boundaries were restored then things could be better… just a thought!
That’s what Ioved about it. Easy to escape to a bit of countryside and get the tram to Abbey Wood then go for a long ass walk
Yes, this is clearly a county boundary issue.
I would to visit Croydon in the early to mid 80s with a fair amount of cash that I had saved up from my Saturday job and never felt in danger. Allders department store was open and the Whitgift centre was busy with no closed shops. It was a nice place to visit for shopping with a lot more choice than the town in West Sussex where I used to live. I went back there a few years ago and I could see that it had gone downhill with Allders and many shops in the Whitgift centre closed. I would never go back again, but I still have very happy memories of Croydon.
Wow, I last visited Camden in 2013... Its gotten rougher over the 10 years for sure...
Oh Wendall, I used to have a Partner who lives is South Norwood and we used to go to Croydon a lot and it saddens me to see what has become of the Whitgift Centre which is obviously what you walked through at the end of the video.
Just 10 years ago it was a Fantastic Mall, what has happened I wonder for it to decline like it has.
I do remember it was supposed to be altered into another Westfield like we have here at Stratford in East London so obviously that must have fallen through.
West Croydon has always been the worst part of Croydon though.
Excellent vlog, Wendall.. 👏 You really showed the gritty stuff and interviewed some fascinating people in Croydon! PS) I noticed the shout-out to Turnip.. your channels really compliment each other and I hope you collab again soon.. 👍
Just last Sunday a West Bromwich 15 yr old kid was stabbed to death by a 13 yr old.Crime is on the rise all over the UK.
Good video wendel, if you like rough places mate you should try Easterhouse in Glasgow. Love your stuff mate 👍
Lol he won’t have the stones to go to a Glasgow estate
Im from Croydon and can vouch for this one lol east end Glasgow looks like they're recovering from a war that never happened
The Reason why the whitegift center has so many closed shops is because a westfeild was supposed to be built on top of the whietgift center and all the shops where bought out. This westfeild was never built and now the whitgift center is left to rot.
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Learn to spell, mate. Gave me a headache trying to decipher your spiel.
@@TomokoMurakami boo hoo. Go do something better with ur life u sado
I used to manage the Riley's club there in the 90s, travelled there often to a shop I like but that was 20 years ago after. It is mass uncontrolled migration, legal and illegal that is dragging everywhere down.
Lived round here for a short while last year. One thing that stood out to me was that they'd have security on the doors of the puregym and locks on the female area within the gym. No music was played in the gym, instead the guys would come in playing their portable speakers from their backpack. Never felt safe walking home late after a workout with all the nutters around.
Keep up the good work and stay filming those neighbourhoods and people.
Just discovered the channel mate watched a few videos and loving the content bro keep it up 🎉🎉