"Inspiration for living"

This is IYLO, which the Croydon Advertiser recently dubbed "Croydon's biggest white elephant". It was supposed to be a smart apartment block near West Croydon station on a roundabout on the road leading into Croydon town centre from the north. The construction company went bust a couple of years ago and nothing has been done to it since, apart from some vandalism. This photo is of its good side, if I can call it that. It looks more like a modern apartment block than a post-apocalyptic concrete shell filled with rubble and pallets of abandoned building materials.

This building has become an obvious symbol of a town centre in decline. I first moved to Croydon in 1997 when I was nine but I had dealings with it before that. So many things have changed in that time but the skyline remains pretty similar at least for the time being. I used to look out of my window at night and see the lights of the Nestlé building and the council building illuminating the sky. It was a massive waste of electricity but it was what the council championed around the year 2000. I saw houses demolished, modern blocks of flats built. I saw retailers come and go. The Drummond Centre become Centrale. The trams being put in. Offices and apartments springing up from nowhere (mainly apartments though). For everything that was lost, it seemed like something else was gained to make up for it.

More recently though, it seems like the town has been losing things faster than its been gaining new ones. It always had a poor image but now the image the world thinks of for Croydon is one of a burning building. A historic family business being destroyed by people who don't even understand why they're doing it. There have been other less violent but equally destructive losses suffered by the town in recent years. This morning I got the 468 bus to Croydon. Wellesley Road, the wide automobile thoroughfare is like Main Street in a ghost town of empty offices and shops. The pedestrians are the tumbleweed blown along by the gusts created by so many tall buildings. Most of the offices lie empty and unwanted. There is Delta Point which was used in the most recent Batman film but it's been empty for years and its name sign is hanging forlornly, missing the E but there's nobody to care. Electricity House has been empty since before I can remember. Allders closed last year and Nestle moved away. The only new developments I noticed are a Tesco Express and a charity shop. Plus the council are building themselves a new HQ. They don't seem to be having any trouble getting that job finished!

There's a shop window on George Street not far from East Croydon station, near the Sainsbury's local which was once s Blockbuster Video and opposite where Starbucks recently closed down. This place used to be a recruitment agency and the window still has pieces of A4 printed paper stuck in it proudly displaying "Live jobs 10th March 2008". I think that sums up the falling fortunes of the town. I'm sure there are places in worse decline but I know this town well and I wish I'd appreciated what it had before it was gone. They're closing the HMV soon, the last of the places I used to buy CDs. I feel like I'm getting old.