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TMRW & Byte Café were delighted to be featured in East Croydon Cool’s, 50 Reasons why Croydon is Cool list a few months back.In case you didn’t know, East Croydon Cool is the self-professed “curated guide to all things Cool in The Cronx”. Hey, given that we’re listed twice, we’d highly recommend you take their word for it.
The buzz surrounding London’s largest (by population) and most southern borough is getting louder by the day.As part of an eye-watering £5.25 billion regeneration programme, Croydon has seen (and continues to see) huge changes. Below, in no particular order, we’ve highlighted 50 businesses, events and organisations that are helping transform the neighbourhood into the new place to be…
1) RISE Gallery (because they created the Arts Quarter and turned Croydon into an open air modern art gallery)
2) Boxpark (because they bring a huge variety of cuisines under one roof AND run sell out events, including those infamous World Cup screenings that got media attention from around the world)
3) TMRW and Nexus (because they’re creating co-working spaces and communities for entrepreneurial talent to shine)
4) Ludoquist Café (because they celebrate geek chic by running South London’s biggest and best board games café)
5) The Ends Festival (because this massive music festival is bringing music heavyweights Nas, Damien Marley and Wizkid to The Cronx. Yep, really)
6) Lost Format Society (because they introduced rooftop cinema to Croydon)
7) Crepes and Cones (because this dessert bar, owned by Croydon grime stars Krept and Konan, welcomes an impressive level of celebrity clientele.)
8) Matthews Yard (because this community arts space provides a welcoming home for a diverse range of creative projects and events)
9) Croydonites theatre festival (because it brings the best of experimental theatre from around the UK to Croydon’s doorstep)
10) Croydon Literary Festival (because it entices the literati to town with zero pretence).
11) WALK Croydon (because they lead walking tours that help people explore Croydon’s story)
12) Butterfly Effect Festival (because this 2-day music festival celebrates the best of garage, house and afro beats with previous acts including DJ Luck and MC Neat, Shola Ama, Steve Lawler and Darius Syrossian).
13) The Joker (because Croydon’s most Instagrammable pub also serves up an impressive drinks list and has brought ‘Kombucha Martini’ into Croydon vocab).
14) Mr Fox Croydon (because this late night cocktail pub featuring 14 foot Shuffle boards is also bringing Saturday party bottomless brunches into town)
15) SeeOur7 (because this Croydon based music collective sweat talent and are definitely ones to watch)
16) Funhouse (because an adult ball pit bar never gets old; nor do the ball related puns to accompany social media pics)
17) Black Mirror Bandersnatch (because this interactive film introduced Croydon’s brutalist architecture to an international Netflix audience).
18) Art and Craft (because in addition to an extensive selection of craft beer, they also gave the people of Croydon their first Prosecco tap)
19) MYPT and F45 (because they’re keeping Croydoners buff with their group personal training sessions)
20) Croydon Vs The World, Ivy Rose and CDN (because they’ve created Croydon fashion lines that residents wear with pride)
21) Fairfield Halls (because this iconic building is undergoing a £30 million makeover that will become a state of the art performance venue when it re-opens in Sept 2019)
22) Stormzy, Nadia Rose, Loyle Carner, Krept and Konan, Hardy Caprio, Smokeboys and Raye) (because home-grown music talent is inspiring a new generation)
23) David Lean Cinema (because independent and world cinema just isn’t the same in a multiplex)
24) Croydon Food Festival (because each summer it brings together 12,000 people for an afternoon of alfresco dining in the Restaurant Quarter)
25) The South Wing (because this beautiful location house encourages creatives to Croydon)
26) Love Atomica (because they provide a treasure trove of vintage and retro goodies)
27) Saffron Tower (because it adds a vertical rainbow to Croydon’s skyline)
28) More Yoga (because these classes are bringing zen into Croydoners lives)
29) Limitless VR (because they provide a virtual world to escape to)
30) Turf Projects and ASC Studios (because they continually champion and support local artists)
31) The Cronx Brewery and Signal Brewery (because they’ve given Croydon it’s own local craft beer)
32) Croywall and Oxygen Freejumping (because they’re keeping locals fit without a treadmill in sight)
33) Well Versed Ink (because this spoken word poetry group draws in a serious crowd)
34) East Croydon Train Station (because it gets residents to Victoria in 18 mins and London Bridge in 14 mins and The Tram because it gets residents to Wimbledon in 30 mins. Most of the time.
35) Ikea (because it ensures residents can get scandi-chic on a budget….and meatballs all year round)
36) Art Club Croydon (because this welcoming community art group provides a creative home whatever your artistic ability)
37) The Croydon Comedy Festival (because it ensures people are laughing WITH not AT Croydon)
38) New Builds like Innova and Leon House (because they have created stylish and affordable apartments that are helping first time buyers get on the property ladder)
39) Croydon Airport Tours (because they provide a dose of girl power teaching Croydoners about Amy Johnson, the record-breaking pilot operating from the London airport).
40) Crushed Bean, Coffee Shotter, Byte Café, Mr Tinto, Smooth Bean and Triple Two (because they’re keeping residents fully caffeinated all day long)
41) Croydon FM (because they stream urban entertainment to the community 24/7)
42) London Mozart Players (because the UK’s longest established chamber orchestra is helping secure some incredible local collaborations)
43) The BRIT school (because they continually churn out globally recognised talent such as Adele, Ella Eyre, FKA Twigs, Jessie J, Leona Lewis and Kate Nash)
44) The Barber Club (because they provide Croydon’s menfolk with the finest of barbering experiences)
45) ZooCo (because they created Theatre on the High Street that plays lightly with things that matter deeply)
46) One Landsdowne (because it’s set to be the second tallest building in the UK, incorporating a rooftop bar, restaurant and public viewing gallery offering panoramic views across the capital and Surrey)
47) 101 George Street (because this site is being transformed into the world’s tallest modular buildings)
48) Pirate Studios (because they provide 24/7 self-service music studios for DJs, musicians and producers)
49) Westfield (because this ‘on again, off again’ £1.4 billion shopping centre has kept everyone talking
50) East Croydon Cool (because what is life if you can’t champion your own project on your own website?! ;).We can’t wait to see what the next year has in store and look forward to adding to this list in due course. Got any other recommendations we should check out? Comment on our Instagram post here.(Photo courtesy of The Croydon Photographer)
