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Great Pubs and Cool Bars in Croydon.

Croydon is a bit of a 'used to have' sort of a place. It used to have an airport, it used to have a canal, it used to have ... character, but that was mostly bulldozed away in the late 1950s and 60s when the centre was commercialised with a massive development of office blocks and the Whitgift shopping centre.

There's not much of Croydon's history left - not in the centre anyway - although the widespread London Borough of Croydon is in total home to four scheduled ancient monuments, six Grade 1 listed buildings, 10 designated conservation areas and over 150 buildings listed as having special architectural or historical interest. These include Croydon Palace and Addington Palace (part of the huge estate belonging to the Archbishops of Canterbury) Shirley Windmill, St Mary's Addington - where five archbishops are buried. Still doesn't quite put it in the same league as Oxford though.

Inhabited since pre-historic times, and originally named Crogdene by the Saxons, some 365 inhabitants were recorded in the Domesday Book....now it's more like 365,000. Once a prosperous market town producing charcoal, tanned leather and a bit of beer, today Croydon is one of the UK's largest commercial centres with more than 20,000 businesses trading in the London Borough. (Croydon lost its county borough status in 1965 - another blow after its failed petition to the Queen to be given City status in 1954.)

Croydon claims fame to the first horse drawn tram service in the 1870s, replaced by electric trams in 1901 which were scrapped in 1951 in favour of buses. Trams reappeared in Croydon with the opening of the Tramlink in May 2000 - a godsend for the 22m annual commuters previously battling with the endless traffic jams into the centre and one way systems that plague the southern side.

A less solubrious claim to fame is giving its name to the slang: a Croydon Facelift - the term for the oh so tight ponytail hairstyle favoured by council estate females (and Croydon has a good few of those). But now Croydon Facelift also has another meaning - and that's the anticipated £2bn plus investment planned for the town over the next decade. Major schemes include the development of the Croydon Gateway site next to East Croydon station, a 12.36 acre focal point which is hoped will attract further investment and help to regenerate the whole area. The aim, apparently, is to turn Croydon into a British version of Barcelona - hmmm, we'll see.

Although Croydon may not be the place to go for a romantic weekend break, its commercial importance (and one of the largest retail spaces outside central London), and excellent rail network means it sees a huge number of visitors, either on business or using it as a base for exploring London and the South East.

As a consquence, Croydon does offer a better than average range of restaurants, pubs, bars and clubs - the last decade has, in particular - seen a massive growth in the number of trendy bars and nightspots along the High Street. Long gone are the days when you could have a pony ride at the rear of the impressive Grant's department store - now this landmark of Croydon is home to a huge Vue cinema complex and bars/clubs including Tiger Tiger and Lloyds.

Dig around in Croydon and you'll still find traditional old drinking venues like the Dog & Bull - a good old spit and sawdust pub set in the midst of the Surrey Street daily fruit and vegetable market which is thought to have been home to a pub since the 13th century.

For more ideas on nightlife and entertainment in Croydon, try Croydon Pubs and Bars

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