When I first set eyes on Croydonopolis by Will Noble, I thought ‘what a great cover’*. Yes yes, I forever have my graphic design hat on… But the cover definitely does do this fresh perspective on Croydon total justice, as Will has captured the spirit of our beloved hometown from the start, in his historical journey through Croydon. The book is packed with intriguing and witty facts and stories, and many that even the most passionate enthusiast of the Cronx (er, me) might not know.

I caught up with Will to find out more about Croydonopolis, and why it should be on everyone’s Christmas list.

Croydonist: Firstly Croydon native or convert and what area do you call home?

Will: I’ve lived here for two and a half years now, although I’d visited a few times before that. I’m pretty central, which is perfect for using Surrey Street Market, having a pint in the Green Dragon, seeing a film at the David Lean Cinema, enjoying a roast at Little Bay. Although everyone (quite rightly) talks about the transport links, it’s good to make the most of what Croydon itself has to offer.

Croydonist: For our readers who might not know, what’s your literary backstory?

Will: My day job is writing and editing for the website Londonist, which I’ve done for over 10 years now. It’s an incredibly fulfilling job, which gives you an excuse to go to interesting places, meet interesting people and write about interesting things… so long as they’re in London! You can also find me from time to time on CNN Travel, where I write about pressing matters such as fry ups, airline food and Wetherspoons.

Croydonist: Which part of the book did you find most intriguing to research?

Will: The airport. The idea of Charlie Chaplin flying into Croydon, or record-breaking aviatrix Amy Johnson struggling to get to sleep at the Aerodrome Hotel on the eve of flying solo to Australia is so romantic. The bravery of those early pilots (and passengers!), given how many crashes there were in the 1920s and 30s, is astounding. There’s an anecdote of one passenger looking out the window mid-flight from Croydon to Paris and seeing an engineer fixing something on the wing! If you had the money, Croydon was the gateway to the world. And even if you couldn’t afford the air fare to Paris or Delhi or Brisbane, the airport was the place to be. There’s a quote from the Aerodrome Hotel back in the day, which basically confirms that people came on holiday to Croydon just to see the airport for a bit of plane/celeb spotting! There’s so much material about this episode in Croydon’s history, it makes your head swim. I crammed a lot into my book (there are three substantial airport chapters), but there’s always more to tell. Next year I’m going to do a talk about the airport alone.

Croydonist: Only last week, Croydon came in at number 5 in Rightmove’s survey of the top ten unhappiest places to live in the UK. Why do you think Croydon always gets a bad rap?

Will: The introduction to Croydonopolis is this litany of insults against Croydon, which span back to the time of Henry VIII, who felt physically sick whenever he came here. I also feature a local newspaper’s description of the ‘Disreputable Triangle’ around Surrey Street, written in Victorian times — they call it a “human moral piggery that, for low depravity, either Newcastle or Manchester might match, but certainly could not surpass”. People have dissed Croydon throughout time. But on the whole, Croydon was this bucolic, and then rather glamorous, place up until the Second World War. Then came the bombing, the mass demolition (so many beautiful buildings lost), and the transformation of the town into what I call a ‘metropoffice’. As the big businesses surged in, Croydonians themselves became an afterthought. One journalist described a “Big, rich Croydon with a cold heart”. And then as the economy tanked, then places like Canary Wharf came along, businesses began trickling out of Croydon, and the dream began to crumble. Croydon looked at itself in the mirror and hardly recognised itself. I think that’s when it started to become the butt of jokes. In many ways, fate hasn’t been kind to Croydon over the past quarter decade, either. But we’ve got to remain positive about its future!

Croydonist: At what point did you fall in love with Croydon? 

Will: The first time I visited Croydon, I went to the Museum of Croydon, and saw a small display about the old airport and thought “well that’s interesting”. The second time, I’d arranged to go to the airport itself, where the then- chair of the Croydon Airport Society, Ian Walker, showed me around, and we spent hours talking about the various international routes, record breakers, accidents — it was genuinely one of the most fascinating places I’d been to. So yes, I can put an exact date on when I fell in love with Croydon: 10 January 2016. Weirdly, that’s the same day that David Bowie — who infamously called Croydon “the most derogatory thing I can say about somebody or something” — passed away.

Croydonist: If you could go back in time to just one part of Croydon’s history, which would it be? For me, I’d like to visit the Purley Way lido, before it was Rockingham’s.

Will: The lido would have been wonderful actually. I love to swim, and it’s so sad the only thing that’s left of that pool is the diving board. There’s stuff in the book about how it was flanked with palm trees and colour-changing fountains. Doing the backstroke while watching Handley Page HP42s swoop overhead would’ve been something. It’s also a crime that Croydon got rid of pools like the Scarbrook Road Baths; if they were still around, I’d have been going for a dip multiple times a week. Sticking to the theme of water, I’d have loved to have spent a day at the Beulah Spa, up near Crystal Palace. It was a kind of early Center Parcs, where people came from far and wide to take the spring waters, do archery — basically chill and rejuvenate. There were orchestras playing, people waltzing on the lawns, a camera obscura from which you could sometimes make out Windsor Castle(!), fireworks. It was paradise on Earth. And it was in Croydon. Then the Crystal Palace came along and everyone flocked there instead. Mind you, I’d’ve loved to have visited the Crystal Palace too…

Croydonist: Three reasons why Croydonopolis would make a great Christmas gift?

Will:

1. As well as spending a year and a half poring over history books, newspapers and clippings in the Croydon Archives, I spoke to a lot of people who’ve lived and worked in Croydon (bishops, drag queens, riot victims, town planners). The book is laced with the voices of the people who have seen Croydon change. So it’s full of memories — and opinions.
2. Lots of people, from Inside Croydon to to Spectator, have said flattering things about Croydonopolis. The podcast No Such Thing As A Fish recently featured a bunch of facts from it too [you can listen to the episode here]. The presenter Andrew Hunter Murray said “If you only buy one book about Croydon this year…”. Slightly tongue in cheek I imagine, but I’ll take it!
3. It has a cool cover, which will make quite the impression when opened as a present on Christmas Day, wink wink.

Croydonist: Favourite thing about Croydon?

Will: It is the cheesiest answer, but also true. The people! As I mentioned, I got to speak to a lot of folks while researching Croydonopolis, and the goodwill and positive vibes far outweigh any negativity about Croydon. These are the people who are making a difference here, day in, day out. That’s why Croydon has good reason to be optimistic.

Croydonopolis is available in various places online, and also in Croydon Waterstones (where they have signed copies, or did last time I checked). If you have a copy that you want signed – and can meet in central Croydon, drop an email to will@londonist.com

Get yourselves down to Waterstones folks, before they run out.

Thanks to Will for chatting with me. Follow Croydonopolis on Instagram to keep up to date with Will’s Croydon journeys.

*Cover by Mark Swan at kid-ethic.

Images courtesy of Will Noble – Henry VIII is public domain, and Whitgift Centre (1976) is John Shepherd via Creative Commons.

Posted by Julia