‘Croydon is beautiful, it’s just impoverished’: Locals hit back as area named in ‘worst postcodes’ in England

Croydon residents have jumped in to defend their borough after it was featured in the list of the worst postcodes to live in England.

The popular review website ILiveHere ranked the top 50 worst places to live in England, and shockingly Croydon came in 11th place.

LondonWorld spoke to residents in West Croydon, to see what people really thought of their area.

“The atmosphere, the diversity - Croydon is beautiful, it’s just impoverished,” said Jarin Johnson, a charity fundraiser.

“Once you get rid of money and once you strip the people of facilities that they desperately need, you’re going to have issues.”

However Jarin believes that Croydon has a lot to offer everybody, unlike many other places in the UK.

Olivia Randell, who works in finance, loves how tight knit the community is in Croydon.

“I like Croydon because it’s such a community although there are so many bad things that do go on sometimes we do come together to work together to improve the community,” she told LondonWorld.

“I do hope that with so many new things coming to Croydon that hopefully the negativity will pass and hopefully it will be an upcoming area.”

Resident Paul Murphy said he is proud of Croydon’s rich multicultural community.

“It’s a multicultural area,” he said.

“My dad came to this country in 1952 from Ireland, so basically the next generations of people from different countries have come here from all over.”

Croydon has produced a number of the UK’s top celebrities over the years including rapper Stormzy, model Kate Moss, actor Michael Caine and writer and comedian David Walliams.

Stormzy remains deeply connected to his hometown, so much so that after England beat Germany at the Euros last year, the Vossi Bop singer partied at a fan’s house party.

He also threw a free Christmas party for Croydon residents only, with performances from author and performance poet Sophia Thakur.

Are you a Croydon resident? If you’d like to add your views email us at [email protected]