Croydon residents say crime is ‘horrific’ as kids see fights and bottlings on high street! B
Young people don’t go out in town after 6pm as it’s ‘so dangerous’
Croydon resident Colin, 56, says more youth programmes are needed to tackle violence on the high street
Residents in Croydon are scared to go out at night, and have seen fights on the high street while having to shield their children from the violence. The London borough of Croydon has one of the worst crime rates in the city, according to the Metropolitan Police.
In January and April 2024, the borough had the highest number of arrests for carrying weapons across London and violent attacks are commonplace, residents have told MyLondon. Sydney, 32, who has recently moved back to Croydon after growing up in South London, said she had seen fights on the high street while out with her two young children.
“We’ve been walking in the high street and there’s been fights. I’ve had to take the kids into a shop,” she told MyLondon. “It’s not great when you’re with the kids and they’re having to see what’s going on.”
‘We’ve had teenagers bottling people in the playground in front of kids’
The mum also said she refuses to take her children to the park anymore. “It’s horrific after 5 o’clock. We’ve had teenagers bottling people in the playground in front of kids.”
A group of young women echoed this, saying they wouldn’t go out in town after 6pm. “There’s so many crimes at night,” one of them said. It’s especially bad on the high street, they told MyLondon, emphasising how dangerous it was in the area.
Sydney also spoke about the impact on local businesses, referring to the shops near West Croydon station. “ I’ve seen a man try to bottle the shopkeeper in that corner shop down the end at about five o’clock in the afternoon,” she said, gesturing down the high street.
She’s seen the little store inside the station robbed at 8am by people using a “homemade wooden sharpened tool” to steal all of the Kit-Kats. “It’s quite upsetting to see,” she said.
‘You have to have your wits about you’
Sydney grew up in South Norwood but her family moved away when she was a teenager. “My dad intentionally moved out to Kent to get me away from this area,” she said. But it hasn’t changed much.
“My dad was like, it’s not going to be any different to what it was 20 years ago. You just have to have your wits about you.”
Another woman, who didn’t want to give her name, said more jobs are needed to counter the amount of crime in Croydon, and mentioned Croydon College as a place for people to learn technical skills. “But if they don’t want to do it, they just want to walk and drop their pants and go about the place,” she said.
Colin, 56, agreed with this, saying more youth programmes were needed in Croydon to keep young people occupied. “There was a time I recall when I could step on your toe and you’d say, ‘oh sorry’,” he said. “Now out comes a knife.”
Sydney said she has noticed an increased police presence in the months she’s been back in the town. However, it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference to the crime she’s seeing on the high street, she said.
“They should have more policing,” another woman said. “Even though, nowadays, people don’t trust the police, but still, you have to give trust to get trust.”
But it’s not just happening in Croydon, several people emphasised. Sydney said: “I grew up in Bromley and that’s got a good reputation, and you still see it’s everywhere. You can’t say it’s only happening in Croydon, it’s part of life. You just have to be quite aware of it.”
