Bollards Again!

I don't know what it is about Dingwall Road and bollards, but the two don't seem to go together.

Yet again another bollard has been uprooted from its foundations, and is currently laying in the gutter. You will recall from earlier posts, that a similar situation occurred during 2004.

Now, for good measure, a lamppost has been decapitated and a traffic cone placed upon it.

Would it be too much to ask for Croydon Council to sort this out?

Dingwall Road is already a disgrace to Croydon, and shameful eyesore, let us not allow it to become any worse.

Allders Update

A break up of the Allders group looks imminent, after the administrator today called in retail property agents Dalgleish to review its property portfolio.

The situation for the pension fund does not look good, if it is wound up the deficit of £16M will spiral to £60M.

Full details on the Evening Standard.

Minerva End Takeover Talks

Minerva have announced that it has ended takeover talks for Allders (the whole business), saying the offers undervalued the company.

The full article can be seen here Reuters.

Allders Collapse

More on the collapse of Allders can be read here: Allders collapse.

Allders Demise

The Evening Standard reports that Allders, once Croydon's flagship store, is due to go into administration in the next 24 hours.

That is bad news for the staff and pensioners as, aside from the jobs that may be lost, there is a rumour in the City of a £17M black hole in the pension fund.

The Standard reports that the company that owns the Allders chain, Minerva, only acquired Allders to get its hands on the flagship Croydon site.

What does this mean for the centre of Croydon I wonder?

An Office With a View

The hapless occupants of the Home Office, now have an even more attractive view out of their office windows.

The ugly boarding that lamely attempted to hide the wasteland and associated trash heap on the derelict site, next door to the Home Office, has blown down.

This eyesore is now open again, for all the world to see.

This wasteland is an eyesore, and a disgrace to Croydon.

Precisely when do the owners intend to do something about it?

Another Nail in The Coffin

As we greet the new year in Croydonia, it seems that the gloomy Christmas (courtesy of our "beloved" Council not putting up any Christmas decorations) was just a foretaste of gloom that we will have to endure in 2005.

Tramlink, Croydon's loss making tram ride, has decided to put its fares up from £1 for a single journey to £1.20 as from today.

This stonking 20% increase handsomely beats the fare increase on the trains, buses and tube systems; which, on average, are raising their prices between 4%-8%.

Needless to say this 20% rise is massively in excess of the rate of inflation, which is currently around 2%.

This rise represents, in addition to the decaying buildings and squalid areas of Croydon, another nail in the coffin of Croydon's image and infrastructure.

Happy New Year!