Photo: mark.hogan on Flick
Hosted within the landmark Croydon Clocktower building, which also houses a cinema, community centre and public library, the Museum of Croydon is a fascinating collection charting the events that shaped the borough from 1800 until now.
The museum is based on a trail which can be entered either from the modern day end, or the olden-day end. Colourful, imaginatively lit and stuffed full of touch screens, interactive exhibits and sound effects, the trail is a feast for your children to run around and explore and investigate. Containing everything from an iconic 60s bubble car to a replica air-pressure powered railway – operated by hand – the trail has such myriad artefacts that it is difficult to list with any air of summary the kind of interesting experience the museum offers.
It only takes around half an hour to complete the trail having spent enough time looking at the most interesting things, but if the kids can stand it, it is worth mum and dad poring over the displays for longer than that: there is a lot to see both in the way of nostalgic reminders of ones own childhood, but also more historical and fascinating artefacts from in and around the Croydon area as the borough was developing. The artefacts themselves tell an interesting story which is not altogether apparent in modern-day Croydon.
Opening Times: Monday to Saturday, 10.30am – 5pm
Please note that the Clocktower is closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Address: Museum of Croydon, Level 1, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon CR9 1ET
NEAREST RESTAURANTS:
DIRECTIONS FROM ELL STATION TO THE MUSEUM
The Croydon Clocktower and David Lean cinema have now closed. All staff have been sacked.
Desertum faciunt et negotium appellant.
Croydon is a desert of the mind. Abandon all hope…