I seen it as l was passing through from Suffolk. A little piece of Hoxton comes Croydon. To be fair Croydon looks very run down today , not Terry and June land anymore . It needs a face lift and it's only place you can get some decent tucker. The riots badly hurt with lots of offices moving out such as Nestle. The Boxpark is innovative and with more funky projects may lift the area. It did lack any Shoreditch hipsters . An Observant Sid
I am old enough to have passed through thd mellow stage and have emerged into the Victor Meldrew miserable bastard phase of manhood
Not sure if that's an intentional pun or not... Croydon's looked run-down long before the riots, for example it was the best part of fifteen years ago when St George's Walk got decimated because Allders planned to move there...and then Allders had their first dalliance with administration and the plan was scrapped, so Allders remained where it was (until the second administration killed it off) while St George's Walk remained barren. It didn't help that, after some businesses moved there a few years later, they all got shunted out to film a few scenes for that ****e film Made in Dagenham. It's also worth pointing that there's been numerous bright ideas for regeneration, and all have failed. Grant's was supposed to redevelop the area when it opened in 2002, but the majority of the units in the place have never been filled other than the Warner Village/Vue upstairs, the Wetherspoons and the ever-changing theme bar by the entrance and the Virgin gym out back - all of which were there when the place opened. Same idea with Centrale when that opened the best part of ten years ago. Another issue is that, even though the Whitgift Centre is in Croydon, the stores are charged Bluewater-level rent - meaning that a lot of stores have long since thought "**** it" and left, because not only is the foot traffic in the Whitgift Centre is a fraction of Bluewater's, but Bluewater's foot traffic on a Saturday afternoon doesn't usually wind up with a gang-related beatdown that starts by H&M and ends outside Superdrug. The Boxpark's another regeneration project doomed to fail, partly because the majority of the units do not appeal to your average Croydonite. For example, when I was working in central Croydon I usually nipped down the road to Subway to grab lunch, and I'm not exaggerating to say that eight out of ten people in the queue before me ordered the same thing: ham & cheese, on Italian, the most unimaginative, unadventurous option on the menu. Yet they thought that Thai street food, Vietnamese etc would appeal - and in the evening it's a waste of time as they have drum & bass or dubstep blaring out so loud you can hear it in Thornton Heath, which is going to put anyone off going to either of the units that actually do have people inside, namely MeatLiquor (but only for the chips) and the bar. It's also worth noting how dense the layout is: by one of the exits to the station are three coffee shops in close proximity, yet rather than have a standard price there's one that charges £3 for a cup of coffee, while the one right next to it charges £2.50 for a coffee and a bun. The fact there's at least four coffee shops within such a small area is also guaranteeing failure, as that's unsustainable - especially since there's also a Costa and a Nero nearby, and they don't often stink of fermenting cheap Chinese food.
The squad rotation looks far worse than exactly 12 months ago. Not a good sign IMHO for the PL run-in.
Thanks for the update . Sounds like many endless wasted opportunities. I think there was a slight renaissance about 2000 . The new museum/arts centre library, the Evening Standard hailing it as the next big thing ,Alders still in all its glory far better shops such as Borders bookshop . It's sad to see such a demise of an area , l pop through once a year and understand what you mean about the box park . Really hasn't got right clientèle to make it frive but that's the problem generally . It seems to lost middle income earners using the centre.
Nestle moved out of Pittsburgh, too, a decade or more ago. I miss it like no other business that ever moved, because it smelled perpetually like fresh baked cookies for about a quarter mile around. It's been replaced by a development called Bakery Square, which features the usual crap chains, the usual crap apartments and the usual crap people. It does not smell good. The funny thing about the advertising for the apartments was that it began by showing a group of people of different races. The people in the pictures soon became about as ethnically diverse as the Ku Klux Klan. It seems people in Pittsburgh don't want to live in diverse neighborhoods. The bottom line is that with health care costs going up 5X faster than the rate of inflation, the money has to go somewhere. PIttsburgh has more hospitals and HMOs than anywhere else. Therefore, there has been a ****load of insipid development in a number of Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
Cannot believe we're risking Kane after he picked up that knock on Thursday. Intrigued to see how Winks influences play from that position. Glad that Walker and Dier are getting a rest but the message repeatedly being sent to both our squad members and indeed players who are potentially interested in joining us is sadly quite simple: Don't bother coming. One foot wrong and you're out the door. I used to think that Harry had major trust issues with some of his players but this is just getting ridiculous.
Croydon died when Beano's closed. The largest second hand record shop in Europe. Also, right next to The Dog & Bull a very nice Young's pub that used to have White Rabbit on the juke box. I passed out completely pissed in there one night, sliding off a stool onto the floor. Leo, the barman, asked my friends if I was alright? They said yes. So, he said "Let him sleep it off then" and they left me there. Happy days.
I bought from the grumpy long haired bloke in Beano's Vince Taylor "Brand new cadillac " which came to my intention by the Clash 's cover . Also saw Adam Ant in his early punk days at the Star in West Croydon.
A team needs a strongest 11 and this is pretty much it. Squad players need to prove they can be relied on when they come in and we have seen us struggled when rotating. My point is , it is down to the squad players, so IMO the message isn't don't bother but prove yourself
I had a bit of a 'thing' for the spiky blonde haired woman despite her being around 30 years older than me. She'd be in her 70's or 80's now
You're right. But when the 'prove yourself' bar has apparently been set so high, it's just semantics. Lamela, Dembele, Walker, Rose...these guys are living proof that sometimes patience is a virtue and you have to indulge mistakes and poor performances in order to bring the best out in a player, especially one as young as GKN or Vince. The fact that we've ditched them so soon after signing them shows either that Poch is terrible at scouting players, or Poch is terribly unforgiving. Either way, it isn't great.
