Time travelling through Croydon in videos
Planes, trains and unhinged architects
Welcome back to Londonist: Croydon Edit! Piloted by Londonist editor and Croydonian Will Noble, it's about all things in the borough of Croydon. And a reminder that paid subscribers get extras perks including the monthly Cronxicles roundup, informing you about what’s new in Croydon, and what’s happening in the month ahead. The next Cronxicles lands on Sunday 1 September and has a great giveaway.
This week I’ve been digging into the video archives, so we can do a bit of era hopping through Croydon together. Sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin.
The first Sainsbury’s (1882)
Croydon and Sainsbury’s go way back; the town had the first suburban branch of the store, opening in 1882. It was fitted out with ornate tiles, picked personally by John Sainsbury. This video has some wonderful stills of that early shop, as well as when the store took after the Americans, and went all fluorescent lighting/self-service in 1950.
Croydon to Godstone walking race (1920)
Watching this century-and-a-bit-old video of Croydonians-walk-running to Godstone (and back), you have to tell yourself this is not a long lost Monty Python sketch. If you wondered what the race looked like eight years later, the answer is bloody wet. Oh, and is now a good time to remind you that this October there’s genuinely a Run to Windsor Peep Show marathon, which starts out from Croydon?
World's Finest Airport (1928)
One of the biggest moments for Croydon—the opening of its purpose built neoclassical airport in 1928 by Maud Hoare (wife of the Secretary of State for Air)—is captured in this British Pathe video, with marvellous shots of the spanking new air traffic control tower, planes on the apron (including an Imperial Airways Argosy) and a sweeping vista of the airport from the air. Click on this, and I dare you not to fall down a Croydon Airport video rabbit hole.