Purley, London

Map of Purley Postal District

The Purley postal district encompasses Purley high street and extends through Woodcote to the West, includes the Peaks Hill area to the North, and borders Purley Oaks in South Croydon. To the East it includes Riddlesdown and to the South it borders Kenley and Coulsdon.[13] The current electoral ward of Purley and Woodcote is largely co-extensive with the postal district,[14] but Riddlesdown is now in the neighbouring Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown ward.[15]

Woodcote Village Green

Woodcote is contained within Purley. Developed in the early 20th century, it is centred on Woodcote Village Green and is the location of Woodcote Model Village.[16] Purley's Webb Estate lies on Woodcote road, close to Upper Woodcote Village.[17]

The Bourne river runs through Purley. The river is culverted but can flood in Purley valley. A local history society take their name from this river.[18]

Peaks Hill

Purley is home to a number of schools;[19] including four Catholic schools. Two of which are in Peaks Hill neighbourhood of Purley, and these are The John Fisher School an all boys state school (formerly an independent and then a voluntary aided state school),[20] and Laleham Lea School a co-educational prep-school.[citation needed]

Purley has one of the UK's longest-established language schools, Purley Language College, founded in 1928.[21]

The current schools in Purley are:[19]

Current Purley Schools

Name	Type	Mix	Status	Enrollment
Beaumont Primary School	Primary	Mixed	LEA	128
Christ Church Cofe Primary School	Primary	Mixed	C of E	214
Cumnor House School for Girls	Primary	Girls	Independent	118
Laleham Lea School	Primary	Mixed	Catholic Independent	147
Margaret Roper Catholic Primary School	Primary	Mixed	Catholic	219
Oakwood School	Primary/Prep	Mixed	Catholic Independent	219
Reedham Park School Limited	Primary	Mixed	Independent	113
Riddlesdown Collegiate	Secondary	Mixed	LEA	1517
St David's School	Primary/Prep	Mixed	Independent	167
St Nicholas School	Primary	Mixed	LEA/Special	103
The John Fisher School	Secondary	Boys	Catholic	1004
Thomas More Catholic School	Secondary	Mixed	Catholic	717
Tudor Lodge School	Mixed	Mixed	Independent	8
Wattenden Primary School	Primary	Mixed	LEA	139
West Dene School	Primary	Mixed	Independent	107

Shops in Purley

Purley used to have many different kinds of shops such as greengrocers, butchers, toy shops, tobacconists, a restaurant and a cinema. There was an earlier Sainsbury's store that closed in the 1980s, when a new Sainsbury's was opened at Purley Fountain.[22] The new Sainsbury's closed in 2001.[23] A Tesco superstore was opened in 1991, and there has been a shift in the town's retail offering towards charity shops, restaurants and non retail businesses.[24]

Purley retail and commerce interests are represented by the Purley Business improvement district. This Business Improvement District (BID) is in the second 5-year term having successfully been voted in favour in 2015 and 2020.[25]

The island opposite Purley Baptist Church has been refurbished and the Church, under the banner of 58:12[26] (a company and charity set up by the Church) are planning to redevelop it. Other partners in the development of a strategy for the regeneration of central Purley include the Purely Business improvement district, the Purley & Woodcote Residents' Association and Purley Rotary who actively participate in the Neighbourhood Partnership forums hosted by Croydon Council.[citation needed]

In the 2011 census, Purley had a population of 14607 with a demography of: White or White British (68.2%), Asian or Asian British (15.5%), Black or Black British (8.2%), Mixed/multiple ethnic groups (5.8%), and Other ethnic group (1.7%).[27] White British is the largest single ethnicity (60.7%).[28]

Riddlesdown

Purley lies within the Croydon South parliamentary constituency, where voters have consistently returned Conservative Party MPs to the local seat since 1974. Purley has been staunchly conservative and its amalgamation into the London borough of Croydon in 1965 helped consolidate the middle class domination of that borough.[29] The Purley electoral ward returned Conservative party councillors in Croydon London Borough Council elections from 1965 up until the reorganisation of 2018. In 2018, Purley was split into two wards; Purley and Woodcote, and Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown.[30]

Entrance to Purley Beeches

• On television the town became known in the sitcom, Terry and June where Terry and June Medford (Terry Scott and June Whitfield), had moved after the characters' previous series, Happy Ever After. The sitcom was set on the cusp of Purley and Wallington (on Church Road in a house within sight of St Mark's Church) and the opening credits featured them searching for each other around the (now unrecognisable) Whitgift Centre – a shopping precinct in Croydon.[31]
• One of the houses used in Footballer's Wives is 7 Rose Walk, Purley, owned by former Crystal Palace FC Chairman Ron Noades.[32]
• The CBBC children's sitcom Little Howard's Big Question is based in Purley, and also features continuous references to Croydon.[33]
• Mr Angry, a character on Steve Wright's Radio 1 afternoon show in the 1980s, is from Purley.[34]

• Michael Arthur, Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University, Provost of University College London from September 2013, was born in Purley.[35]
• Jay Aston, singer with Bucks Fizz, was born in Purley.[36]
• Ronald Binge and his wife Vera lived at 18, Smitham Bottom Lane in the 1950s. He composed the well-known Elizabethan Serenade there.[37]
• Derren Brown, magician and mentalist, was born and grew up in Purley.[38]
• Kit Connor, actor, was raised in Purley.[39]
• Peter Cushing OBE, actor, was born in nearby Kenley, and went to school in Purley.[40]
• Brian Fahey, composer of "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal" (the signature tune to BBC Radio's Pick of the Pops).[41]
• Andy Frampton, former professional footballer, grew up in Purley.[42]
• Shelagh Fraser, actress, was born in Purley[43]
• Laura Hamilton, TV presenter and Dancing on Ice Contestant, lives in Purley.[44]
• Nigel Harman, actor, was born in Purley.[45]
• Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's former press secretary, lived in Purley.[46]
• Sir David P. Lane, oncologist best known for identifying P53, went to John Fisher school in Purley.[47]
• Martin Lee, singer with Brotherhood of Man, was born in Purley.[48]
• Archibald Low, pioneer of radio guidance systems, was born in Purley.[49]
• Ray Mears, TV survivalist, went to school in Purley.[50]
• Ron Noades, former chairman of Wimbledon FC, Crystal Palace FC and Brentford FC and owner of the Altonwood Golf Group, lived in Rose Walk, Purley, from 1993 until 2013.[51]
• Innes Hope Pearse, doctor and co-founder of the Peckham Experiment, grew up in Purley.[52]
• Francis Rossi, lead singer of Status Quo, lives in the Webb Estate in Purley.[51]
• John Horne Tooke, an English politician and philologist, lived in Purley at the end of the 18th century where he began writing Epea Pteroenta, Or, The Diversions of Purley.[53]
• Wilfried Zaha, footballer, Crystal Palace FC, lives in the Webb Estate.[32]

Purley railway station

Purley Cross gyratory connects routes leading south-east to East Grinstead and Eastbourne (the A22), west to Epsom and Kingston (the A2022), south to Redhill and Brighton (the A23), and north to Croydon and Central London (the A23 and A235). The A23 north from Purley forms the Purley Way, which leads to Croydon's trading and industrial hinterland and also to the former Croydon Airport, the predecessor of the present London Heathrow Airport and London Gatwick Airport.[54]

The town is on the main London-to-Brighton railway line and is served by Purley and Purley Oaks stations on that line, and Reedham station on the Tattenham Corner Line.[54]

• The John Fisher School
• St. David's School
• Commonweal Lodge
• Purley Language College
• Purley Business Association

• Purley Business Improvement District
• Purley Business Association
• Purley Business Expo
• Purley Festival
• Local Gov. Site Promenade de Verdun
• History of Purley Village
• PWRA, Purley & Woodcote Residents' Association
• The Bourne Society, representing heritage interests in the debate over Purley regeneration