Looking to bring the wife and kids to London for a night next week. The hotel choices are either Edgeware Road or Croydon.

Will I die driving to Croydon from the West early in the morning? M4 -> M25 -> A23?

You have to be mad to even consider driving to Croydon from the West.
It’s like Reading,but with trams and ten times bigger.

Preferable to driving to Edgeware Road though?

Regardless of the driving inflicting Croydon on your spouse is grounds for divorce in anyone’s book!

hatter – Member

Regardless of the driving inflicting Croydon on your spouse is grounds for divorce in anyone’s book!

Being in the unfortunate situation of working here I agree with this^^^

I would worry less about the traffic and more the fact that it is a shithole

I lived in Croydon for a few years so feel qualified to comment.
Don’t go there. Go anywhere else but there. Anywhere.

molgrips – Member
Preferable to driving to Edgeware Road though?

POSTED 57 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Oh God ,Yes! Getting into LOndon from anywhere on the Edgware RD is just a bus ride away. Croydon is in it’s own dreary Gulag the size on Manchester.
And you won’t get top class Lebanese nosh in Croydon!

If you’re just staying there for one night just for the hotel then it should be ok.

Personally I would inject a bit more £££ and stay somewhere nice but not everyone wants to.

Pain the backside driving but not hell.

Ok I wasn’t planning a romantic day out in Croydon.. just that there happens to be a hotel and a train station there. They are going out in London.

I’m talking about driving TO the hotel so we can park and get trains in. Can’t afford anywhere that’s actually nice. Using hotel points, so it’s either Hampton inn Croydon or Metropole Hilton on EW. Which sounds flash but is pretty tatty in places and rather soulless. And sodding expensve for meals/room service etc.

Croydon 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😯

If you are coming from the west, then Croydon is a pig to get to – coming from the M4, you’re looking at over an hour (if there is no traffic) to get around the M25 and in on the A23. In rush hour, it’ll be more like 2 hours.

I used to commute from Croydon to Leatherhead, It was 40 minutes minimum, and up to 3 hours.

If you are doing just the one night, stay in Reading and get the fast train in to Paddington. The time you lose on the train will be far less than you’d have taken getting to Croydon.

If you want to come closer in, look at somewhere further west or south-west in town – Twickenham, Chiswick, etc… nicer, less stabby, and much quicker for the drive in.

Dave (ex Croydon resident)

So a trip to Croydon is how you’re planning on making up for not getting your wife an anniversary present? 😯

No it’s a trip to LONDON.

Where she gets to watch the kids all day. It’ll be perfect.

So you’re threatening to bring the kids to Croydon as well? Surely that’s child abuse!

At this rate she’s going to get full custody and the house if you’re not careful!

On a more serious note Croydon does seem to inhabit it’s own traffic microclimate, getting to, from, in, out or through it is always a nightmare and the traffic is always bad. Every time I have (under duress) to go there I leave more and more travel time and every time I’m unpleasantly surprised.

The wise words about staying further out and getting the fast train in are wise indeed, that would be my suggestion.

Croydon… not even once.

No it’s a trip to LONDON.

Where she gets to watch the kids all day. It’ll be perfect.

Maybe. But don’t go anywhere near Croydon, even if it’s just for sleeping. Go somewhere nice. What’s the budget, maybe someone could suggest something?

Croydon is just one big shit pit. Avoid.

Worked in Croydon for 2 years driving a 128 mile round trip from near Guildford and i hated every minute of it. Croydon makes Swindon look like a cultural mecca, it is just soul less and it is not that easy to get into central London really if you don’t know the place.

google Reeves corner, scumsville

What’s the budget, maybe someone could suggest something?

It has to be a Hilton group hotel and it also has to be in my company hotel directory, and cost less than £50+35,000 points 🙂

Croydon is not London, Croydon is Croydon and let that be the end of the argument.

I’m sitting here giggling to myself on this, if I offered a trip out to Croydon to MrsBouy am’ damn sure I’d be going on my own and probably be on my own..

BOL 😆

scud:
…it is not that easy to get into central London really if you don’t know the place.

Call it a shit hole all you like, but you really can’t say it is hard to get into London. Don’t mess with it’s single redeeming feature!

15 minute direct train to Victoria, or 13 minute direct train to London Bridge.

Does it really get much easier than that? That is quicker than most places on the tube!

(can’t believe you’ve got me defending croydon!)

Yes, 17 mins on the train so indeed closer to many places than the other one on EW. In fact, if it’s 13 mins to London Bridge, near where I work, then that’s actually a lot easier than EW.

I know Croydon isn’t London, but point is that the day out can still be in London even if the hotel isn’t.

True, but in order to get to that train poor old Mr Grips is going to have to get to that station and the get back out again afterwards.

Both of which are guaranteed weapons-grade ball-aches, due to Croydon’s terrible traffic vortex.

I don’t overly mind heavy traffic if I’m going somewhere interesting or if a town has a creaking, outdated road network because putting an new one in would have meant flattening whole streets of grade 1 listed loveliness.

I can’t fathom how a grey concrete hole entirely designed around the car still manages to be so terrible to drive through, even Milton Keynes managed to get that right, it may be dull a ditchwater but at least you can get out!

If you’re going for a family day out in Croydon, I can reccomend Ikea for dinner, they do a smashing plate of meatballs.

But seriously. that whole entire area is a massive balls up as far as traffic is concerned. The M23 was basically supposed to go all the way into London, and they never finished it. So its now a big mistake no-ones bothered correcting.

Read all about it.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M23_motorway

Both Croydon east and west look walkable from the hotel.

molgrips – Member

Both Croydon east and west look walkable from the hotel.

You’ve not been here have you.. I work opposite East Croydon Station, just near the college, 3 stabbings during working hours in the last year…..

It is the only place that would of been greatly improved in the riots a few years back.

I remember the day after the main riots, we were all sent home from work due to Police telling us “a group of hooded youths are coming towards our office from the train station”, turned out the next day they were french foreign exchange students!

There’s a holiday inn not far from Sutton station probably better than Croydon.

I would go to Edgeware Rd over Croydon. M4->M40->A40->Edgeware.

Croydon is indeed a shit hole, all areas around the train stations are awful ghetto esq places likely to get you man loved. Driving into Croydon Is hell personified, the 5 ways junction – seen of many a death and the people that do drive in and around Croydon are nobbers to. The wonderful underpasses, overpasses, trams that try to kill you….. mmm lovely. DONT DO IT.

Croydon born, Croydon bred, Croydon resident. Sniffs, wipes tear from eye and backs slowly away from the thread…

Don’t go all the way to the A23, get off at the Godstone junction and go up the A22/Caterham Bypass/Sanderstead/Selsdon then in to Croydon that way.

Purley in the mornings is probably the worst bit of it all.

Can you not just stick them on the train somewhere further out on a line to Croydon

Don’t go all the way to the A23, get off at the Godstone junction and go up the A22/Caterham Bypass/Sanderstead/Selsdon then in to Croydon that way.

He is coming from the west.

Don’t go all the way to the A23, get off at the Godstone junction and go up the A22/Caterham Bypass/Sanderstead/Selsdon then in to Croydon that way.

Part of that is closed due to flooding anyway. I’m in Riddlesdown, Croydon is a place I pass on the train or bike.

If you’re looking at the Hilton on the Purley Way, the closest station is Waddon about 15 mins walk and one stop further down the line than West Croydon. A whole lot better than Central Croydon, you will have to croos the ‘5 Ways’ junction mentioned further up ^^ to get to the station.

I was looking at the Hampton Inn on Dingwall Rd neatly between the two stations.

No wonder it’s so cheap….

Edgeware Rd it is then. Not exactly palatial but maybe a little less likely to get stabbed.

Croydon isn’t perfect but I can’t say it deserves the vitriolic responses on this thread 🙄

Agree. Croydon resident here. Live in Park Hill 10mins from East Croydon station. Stay at the Jury’s Inn or Croydon Park hotel and you’ll be fine. Every town has it’s rough bits. South Croydon actually has some nice bars bars and and restaurants.
Central and west Croydon are holes but the rest is OK. 15 mins into London. Hour to coast and countryside is a 15 minute ride.

It’s always been a bit of a target, people love hating Croydon, I used live near Surrey St about 12 years ago, had a great time, great bars, clubs, record shopping in Big Apple and Beanos, there’s even great riding to be had on the vast network of bridleways and the downs… honestly.