Surrey Street

A Memory of Croydon.

Tom Grossmith, my grandmother's uncle, had a business in Surrey Street in the late 1800s making gaiters and knickerbockers. When I was 15 I would cycle to Croydon from Wallington to try to find his shop. There was a butcher's shop at the Crown Hill end of Surrey Street and my mother would give me 15 shillings to get a leg of lamb. I soon found out that a leg of mutton only cost 12/6d so I would make half a crown for my trouble.As my pocket money was only 6d per week, this was a considerable perk. I have since discovered that my great grandfather also had a business in Surrey Street and it was he who made the cornucopia which stretched across Katherine Street for the visit of Queen Victoria to Croydon.