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What's happened to Croydon?
I guess some areas are just too far gone, even f… It used to be bad and still, looks so run down and mid in places, still has some high crime areas and the Westfield still hasn't been built, shocking.
I guess some areas are just too far gone, even for the inevitable march of gentrification.
tbh i think the problem is Croydon's just too spread out. like you got some genuinely nice bits near the Park Hill and Addiscombe areas that are fine, but then you walk ten minutes and you're in a dodgy alleyway. the council keeps selling off bits of land for tiny developments that don't connect to anything, so it stays patchy. the old Whitgift centre is basically a ghost town now, which doesn't help the vibe
you're not wrong but i think people sleep on the bit of regeneration that has happened. boxpark is alright for a night out, the tram links are decent, and there's some good food spots like the london burger boys on high street. still rough around the edges for sure but it's not all dead
Honestly I think Croydon's just stuck in this weird loop where developers keep promising big things but nothing ever quite lands. The Westfield thing was the final nail in terms of trust, really.
What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking
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