Sutton was a very pleasant place until they installed a "motorway" on either side of the High Street.

It's going back some years but as a kid I used to frequent the Granada cinema, the swimming pool on Throwley Road and play in Manor Park (which they carved up to create one of the "motorways".

It now looks and feels just like another Gotham City with a bizarre traffic flow that has destroyed the heart and character of the town.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt!

Possibly the most dull town in south London, if not the whole of London. Does not seem to have anything going for it.

Most people don't even know it exists. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing though.

I'm tough. I'm ambitious. I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, I'm OK with that.

I know the area you mean. Roads wide enough for a dual carriage way like West Wickham's driving test area but not a single car parked on the road. They're all parked in the drives. Croydon has the same parts off the A232 and lots east of the railway lines all the way up to Addington Road, Selsdon Park Rd and the top of Gravel Hill are decent places to raise a family and opportunities to NOT potential in school.

No retail business with an ABC1 target market will pitch up in Sutton or Croydon until Croydon's billion something development. They'll go to or already be in Kingston or Blue Water.

COYP

Had to got M&S in Croydon in the Autumn and had a look in their coffee shop. Didn't fancy it so went to costa on the high street. Virtually all East Europeans working and eating in there. Bit difficult not to notice. Didn't bother me but obviously it bothers others or there'd be English/British people in there.

I think if you go to the coffee shop outside the old Allders inside the Whitgift it's probably where English speakers go. Self segregation. Will be interesting to see what happens after the development and it's all mixed up. Or maybe they'll do what Bluewater have done and have the very few lower priced stores on the ground floor.

Lakeside is Essex so it's a mass of incoherent TOWIE non-English speakersalready although it's a good place to shop with low end to high end.

COYP

Worked for 3 years in the NatWest branch of Slutton...some good times.

Glad someone mentioned the Wizard man and his cat. He got done for carrying a knife but think he got acquited on the grounds it was for ceremonial purposes. Had some other real weirdos and guttertrash walk in during my time there and I used to get free KFC as the bloke who ran it was blatantly on the fiddle lol.

Nights out were decent in Revs after getting smashed in the Spoons down the road.

Pride of South London
Upper Holmesdale Block P

This made me smile being a Banstead resident myself!! Please don't forget about Bansteads premier nightspot Cafe Italia.. Cafe by day, bar/club by Friday and Saturday night. Shuts at 1.30am then you are stranded in the High Street without a cab office or open kebab shop in sight!!

However some advice to you singletons out there Cafe Italia is quite possibly the easiest place to pull in the world. Full of wealthy middle class Cougars desperately seeking cock on a Friday night.. It's worth a visit believe me!!

Don't waste your time with jealousy. Sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind, the race is long. But in the end it's only with yourself!!