The Past and Present of Croydon's London Road

Prestige Hair & Beauty at 22 London Road is a small independent salon offering hairstyling, eyebrow threading, and manicures, among other services. Unsurprisingly, given the name, it's under the same management as Prestige Barber across the road at number 23.

Not the first building on this site

Unlike most of the other addresses I’ve covered so far in this series,[1] the current building at 22 London Road is not the original one constructed on this site. It was built around 1899 as one of a pair of shops which replaced a single older building and are a good few decades younger than their neighbours on both sides.[2]

1840s–1860s: The original building

Here I have to insert a correction; I stated in earlier articles in this series that I believed this older building to be the site of William Meredith’s corn and coal store, listed in the 1850 Croydon and Reigate street directory. However, on further consideration I’ve decided that the evidence isn’t clear enough to state this with confidence, and in fact I’m now more inclined toward the theory that Meredith’s was at number 60–62, further up at the junction with Oakfield Road.[3]

Nevertheless, there was a building on this site by 1844 — it’s shown on the Tithe Award map of that year and identified in the accompanying particulars as “house, buildings, yard and garden”, owned and occupied by the Croydon Railway Company. On the 1868 Town Plans, this older building is coloured in grey, which appears to have signified outbuildings and such, so the building may have gone out of residential use by that point.

Wilkins’ 1872–3 street directory lists an upholsterer named J E Hastings between Mrs Kingsland’s registry office at number 18 and Newton the ironmonger at 1 Oakfield Terrace (later renumbered to 28),[4] but there’s not enough evidence to decide whether he was at number 20 or number 22 (numbers 24–26 hadn’t yet been built at this point).

1870s–1890s: Greengrocers and fishmongers

Hence the earliest commercial occupant I’m sure of is J Dossett, a greengrocer and fishmonger who first appears in Ward’s 1874 directory sandwiched between two ironmongers: Thomas G Newton to the left and Samuel Piggott to the right.[5] Mr Dossett also had premises on Surrey Street, and advertised “fruit, vegetables, and fish fresh every day”. Around 1878 he handed his business over to a William Dossett — perhaps his son or other relative. However, within a couple of years William Dossett pared back his business to the Surrey Street premises alone, with the London Road premises passing to Henry G Dean, fruiterer and greengrocer.[6]

c.1899: Demolition and replacement with two new shops

Henry Dean remained on London Road for two decades, but departed around 1899, at which point the building was demolished and replaced by two new shops.[7] One motivation for this rebuilding could have been increased height; the current building has three storeys, unlike its older neighbours to the south at numbers 18 and 20, which have only two.[8] Another motivation could have been to fill in a gap between the original building and Oakfield Terrace, which was built around 1872. On the 1896 Town Plans (shown below), this gap comes out at just 3.25 metres wide, which would be pretty narrow for a shopfront,[9] so the landowner may have simply felt it made sense to get rid of the older building and start again.

The question of property boundaries

The question remains of why there was a gap there in the first place — why wasn’t Oakfield Terrace built flush up against the older building? I think the reason is to do with ownership of land. At the time of the 1844 Tithe Award, Richard Sterry owned the land on which Oakfield Terrace was later built, while the land south of it belonged to the Croydon Railway Company.[10] It’s possible that these two pieces of land still had different owners in 1872,[11] and so Oakfield Terrace would have been built up to the boundary between them. Another reason could have been that Henry Dean found it useful to have rear access to his property, and he or his landlord was unwilling to give this up.

1900s: The Emporium

The new building was in place by 1900, though remained unoccupied for a couple of years. First to move in was John Idiens and his intriguingly-named The Emporium. The word “emporium” conjures up images of an abundance of luxury goods, though sadly I've not found any evidence of what was actually sold here. Mr Idiens was replaced by Henry Charles Hyland around 1904, though the name of the shop stayed the same. Henry Charles Hyland departed around 1908, ushering in a new period of vacancy only briefly interrupted by Michael & Co, butchers, around 1911.[12]

1910s–1930s: A multitude of different businesses

By 1913, C F Betson’s rubber and waterproof stores had opened, joined a couple of years later by the Pioneer Teeth Institute. The latter business proved to be the more long-lasting of the two, remaining in place while C F Betson was replaced in sequence by Heaton Caffin, optologist; A M Joliffe, confectioner; Betty, milliner and costumier; and Ingersoll Watch Co Ltd.[13]

I’m not entirely sure how these businesses shared the space. The non-Pioneer businesses are listed first in street directories, suggesting that the Pioneer Teeth Institute may have been on the first floor, or perhaps in the back room on the ground floor (which today is used as overspill for the clientele of Prestige Hair and Beauty when all stations in the front room are occupied; it’s a reasonably-sized space).

By 1934, Ward’s directories list four occupants of 22 and 22a: Ingersoll Watch Co, Pioneer Teeth Institute, Dunlaw & Co photographers, and W A Woolgar (who has no business listed, and was likely a private resident). Since the building only has three floors, this does suggest that at least one floor housed two businesses. By 1937, Pioneer and Dunlaw & Co had been replaced by Stuart’s Advertising Service and Tracey Thorpe FBOA, optician; and by 1939 Stuart’s had moved on and been replaced by Rawire Ltd, radio supplies.[14]

1940s–1950s: Rodneys glass and china shop

By the mid-1940s, the premises were home to Jack Rodney’s glass and china shop — and also to Jack Rodney himself, along with his wife Abigail and sons Harry and Alfred. The front part of the ground floor was occupied by the shop, with the back part a private family area; bedrooms and bathroom were on the first floor; and the second floor was used to store shop stock.[15]

The shop was protected by a German Shepherd dog named Rex. Jack’s granddaughter Gail recalls her grandfather describing how Rex, although a large dog, could patrol the aisles of the shop and “ever so gently walk between the many rows of china & glassware without disturbing a single thing”. Another of her family stories relates how on the single occasion when a break-in occurred (at night, towards the end of the Second World War), Rex kept the intruder at bay, terrifying the man to the point where he wet himself![15a]

Alfred Rodney emigrated to Sydney, Australia, at the end of 1947, and six months later he was joined by the rest of the family, including Harry’s wife Maree. Jack sold his business on emigrating, but the new owner kept the name, and Rodneys Glass & China Shop remained on London Road until around 1959.[15b]

1970s–1990s: A series of restaurants

I have found no traces of what happened at 22 London Road in the 1960s, but by July 1971 the premises were occupied by the first of several restaurants: Palamino Steak House, which also operated as a bed & breakfast. The proprietors were C P Christoforou and Mrs M Metochis.[16]

Palamino was followed by Cow & Corn (c.1974–1976), Giuseppe’s (or possibly Guiseppe’s) Italian Restaurant (c.1977–1983), Pino’s Place (c.1983–1984), Papa’s Ristorante Italiano (c.1986–1990), and Campana (c.1993–1994).[17] Cow & Corn may have been related to Giuseppe’s, as the August 1974 Goad plan lists the property as “Cow ‘N’ Corn (Guiseppe) rest”.

In June 1977, planning permission was granted for conversion of the basement into an additional restaurant space.[18] This was still in use by the time the restaurant became Papa’s — a photograph taken by Brian Gittings around 1990 shows the wording “Papa’s Dine & Dance Downstairs” on the canopy.

2000s: Planet Nails

By May 2002 the use of the building had changed from food to beauty: Planet Nails manicurist is listed on the Goad plan of that month. I haven’t been able to find out exactly how long it lasted, but it was probably gone by 2004 or so, and the premises then remained vacant for several years[19].

c.2010–present: Prestige Hair & Beauty

Prestige Hair & Beauty opened some time around 2010, under the same management as Prestige Barber across the street[20]. It remains there today, offering hairstyling, eyebrow threading, and manicures.