//
Photo: Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Summer residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for over 500 years.
Croydon Palace, in the Old Town neighbourhood of Croydon, now part of south London, was the summer residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for over 500 years. Regular visitors included Henry III and Queen Elizabeth I. Now known as Old Palace, the surviving buildings were occupied from 1889 to 2025 by Old Palace School, an independent girls' school. The Palace has been a Grade I listed building since 1951.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Entertainment Venue. Includes a large 11-screen Vue Cinema, The Milan Bar (a Wetherspoons chain pub), Reflex 80s Bar and Disco, Nando's and Tiger Tiger restaurant and nightclub.
Form a fine Tudor courtyard. The almshouses now provide sheltered flats for elderly locals.
A museum highlighting Croydon in the past and present includes the Riesco Gallery. Also exhibitions on the gifted black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) who lived most of his life in Croydon. His works include The Song of Hiawatha, a great favourite (before World War II) at the Royal Albert Hall conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. The impressive Town Hall is adjacent.
Theatre / Arts centre.
Performing Arts and Technology school owned by the BRIT Trust (known for the BRIT Awards).
Palace play soccer in the Premier League, the top tier. Their stadium is Selhurst Park, capacity 26,309 (all seated), where it has been based since 1924. The women's team were promoted in 2026 and play in WSL, their top tie, usually at Sutton United's VBS Stadium.