Surrey St.

A Memory of Croydon.

I have only just discovered this website and felt compelled to respond.
I was born in Heathfield Gardens, South Croydon in 1948 and my maiden name was Murphy. We moved to Wyche Grove near the Purley Arms, South Croydon when I was about 5 years old and we lived there until 1963 when we moved to the Isle of Wight. Something of a culture shock!
I remember trips up to Surrey Street market, noise of the stall holders and the old cabbage leaves and squashed bananas etc. near the stalls. I also remember the back entrance to Grants from the market and always thought it was something of a haven to get up into the decent surroundings of that nice store.
I went to Purley Oaks Primary School and then John Newnham, getting two buses to school and thinking nothing of it. I can remember getting quite excited when the new Routemaster bus came to Croydon and it served my routes to school in Addington.
We left Croydon just as all the new development was starting and the big office blocks were being built but came back regularly to visit our family. I hated that because it seemed that all the character of Croydon was being demolished. Would the town planners have allowed the destruction of Wilsons Coffee House opposite the Alms Houses today? I remember with fondness being taken, as a treat, to the mock Tudor building with its little nooks and crannies and dark wood settles where you could sit quietly and enjoy a toasted teacake or one of Wilson's gorgeous cakes to the smell of freshly roasted coffee and then move along to Kennards where we were taken down the arcade to see the animals and enjoy a ride on the ponies. I still have a photo taken of me with Father Christmas in his grotto at Kennards around 1953.
Although it is a decent shopping centre, it did seem a crime to get rid of the Whitgift School with its beautiful grounds where they held a very nice 'fair' with lots of activities I presume on an annual basis. My uncle took me there and left me to my own devices whilst he sampled the delights of the beer tent! Funny what you remember.
Are there any interior photos of the Davis Theatre remaining? It should never have been pulled down and replaced with such boring architecture. My mother worked for the Davis family in their offices in London during the war and when I was small, worked in the Davis Theatre and we went to see films and treated to lovely ice creams on the Mezzanine Floor. I can recall some of the numerous cinemas and theatres that Croydon had to offer including the Classic near the Swan & Sugarloaf, the Civic Hall down Crown Hill and was it the Odeon or Hippodrome along North End? I know my dad had a drink with a young Max Bygraves there as Max was just starting out in show business.
Sadly, Croydon is a much different place from the town I remember with affection all those years ago. I recently visited and felt a complete stranger.