Croydon

Croydon is a populous, busy district in South London, in the county of Surrey. It was the arrival of the railways in the 19th century led to the vast increase in Croydon's population and the very rapid expansion of the town. Although it was the development of Brighton as a fashionable resort in the 1780’s that put Croydon on the map; the town became a significant stopping-point for stage coaches. The first pioneering transport link came in 1803 with the opening of the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway from Wandsworth and the  second was the Croydon Canal, which branched off the Grand Surrey Canal at Deptford; later, the steam-powered London and Croydon Railway opened between London Bridge and West Croydon in 1839.

A busy town with all the amenities that residents and visitors could want from a town of this size, with lots of great shopping centres, a host of eateries offering food from across the world, cultural and historic attractions as well as lovely parks and open spaces. Croydon looks more like a city today and has become the second-largest place to shop in the south east, after central London.