Although the budget supermarket chain has committed to building shops and homes on the two Croydon sites, many residents remain unconvinced the plans will ever become a reality.
Lidl purchased both sites for development well over a decade ago, with plans to add to their ever-growing number of stores in the borough.
However, since these purchases, the plots at Hamsey Green and on Brighton Road, in South Croydon, have become overgrown and plagued by fly-tipping
Now after years of silence and negligible progress, residents have been given hope for action after the German chain kickstarted local engagement for the Hamsey Green site.
The latest plans for the site, which sits on the far edge of Croydon’s border with neighbouring Warlingham, follow previous unsuccessful proposals.
The site of the former Good Companions pub was bought for £2m and demolished 12 years ago.
The site has been surrounded by hoardings ever since. Now, Lidl has revealed its latest plans to build a new store on site, with 13 additional townhouses and apartments above it.
This will be accompanied by 55 customer parking spaces, resident spaces, EV charging points and cycle storage.
After years of what some residents have called ‘radio silence’, Lidl has now sent out engagement leaflets and is encouraging residents to give their thoughts on the plans.
Geoff Goatley, who lives on Tithepit Shaw Lane opposite the site, is one of those residents.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) how the plans would change the typically ‘quiet’ neighbourhood.
He said: “The last time we heard from them was five years ago. It has always been objected to because of the schools, can you imagine all the extra cars and lorries.
“At school time, it is absolute murder, if you come after 2.30pm you can’t get parked anywhere.
“It’s catch-22, though, because if they don’t build something like this, you’re going to have a housing estate there.”
These views were shared by fellow Tithepit Shaw resident Sandy Austin, who feels the arrival of the superstore could pose a danger to children entering Hamsey Green Primary School opposite the site.
This has long been a bone of contention for objectors to the plans in the past, as the current entrance to the Lidl site will be accessed from an entrance directly opposite the school.
Numbers 247 and 249 Tithepit Shaw Lane were purchased by Lidl as the location for its entrance, but Mrs Austin feels this would only add a further strain onto what she sees as the already narrow roads.
She told the LDRS: “I just don’t know how this road is going to cope with it. They are going to have to put double yellow lines everywhere, so I don’t know how parking will work.
“Parents won’t be able to park there, so they will just sit in the Lidl car park. I’m not against Lidl, but it’s going to bring the value of my house down.”
Residents also complained that the site had become a ‘tip’ in the years since Lidl’s purchase.
The hoardings were torn down in places and accessible to passers-by, making it a hotspot for fly tipping and graffiti.
One resident, who lives over the border in Warlingham, told the LDRS: “It’s an eyesore, there used to be a lovely big pub there that everyone could enjoy. What good is that now.”
Despite this, the hoardings have since been fixed, and Lidl soon plans to clear the site and its overgrown shrubbery, according to the Sanderstead Residents Association.
Residents were also invited to an open meeting in Warlingham on Wednesday night (February 26) to discuss the plans with Lidl officials.
In a statement, Max Clapton, Regional Head of Property at Lidl GB, said: “We’re delighted to share our plans for a new Lidl store in Hamsey Green.
“Our teams have worked hard to bring forward proposals, and if approved, this development will bring high-quality, affordable products to the area, create local jobs, and provide much-needed new housing – all while bringing a long-vacant site back into productive use.
“We encourage as much feedback as possible from the local community as we prepare to submit our plans to Croydon Council.”
While Hamsey Green residents do have some hope of progress on what will happen to the vacant site, the same cannot be said for those waiting for the completion of the South Croydon store.
While Lidl remains committed to the site, residents are now growing resentful of their lack of progress and communication.
Lidl was granted approval in 2015 to build a store and dozens of homes on the site of a car showroom and multi-storey car park next to the Honda garage.
Originally, the plan was for 42 homes, but in 2016, it was revised to 39 flats, 24 two-bedroom, 10 one-bedroom, and 5 three-bedroom, plus a 119-space car park.
The plan also included direct access to South Croydon Recreation Ground. Croydon Council approved both proposals and in 2017, work began to demolish the buildings and clear the site.
Construction was also due to start later that year, but now in 2025 the site remains piled high with rubbish, weeds and dirt.
Back in 2019, a Lidl spokesman told MyLondon the “proposals for the site are currently under review” and added they are “working through some minor changes” to the plans.
However, little progress appears to have been made on this, as a Lidl spokesperson told the LDRS that it is ‘currently reviewing and updating plans for South Croydon’ when approached for comment last week.
This inaction, coupled with the current state of the site, has drawn the ire of local residents and business people.
Dave Bell, whose family home sits in the shadow of the site’s graffiti-ridden hoardings, told the LDRS: “We have heard nothing at all for three years, there’s no sign of them turning it round.
“The place has attracted all sorts of bad news, it’s a bit like what Hackney Wick used to be before it got nice.”
Like the Hamsey Green site, the South Croydon plot has attracted fly tipping and fly posting.
The situation has worsened as a result of previous incidents of criminal behaviour reported on the adjoining Honda lot.
Richard Marsh, who runs the Folklands Estate Agents, feels the site has become an ‘eyesore’ and a blight on the area.
Mr Marsh, who set up his business over eight years ago, believes Lidl have not acted fairly towards residents by allowing the site to be left in that state.
He told the LDRS: “I opened a business here eight and a half years ago with a thought of Lidl being a positive for people here. I have been in touch with Lidl on and off in the years since, mostly to complain about the state of their site.
“I think as a business, they are disgraceful for leaving something like that for so many years and then expecting people to go to their shop and buy their stuff. They seem content, leaving it looking like a pile of rubbish. Its quite unfair on the local people.”
The Folklands Estate Agency faces the site on Brighton Road. From his desk, Mr Marsh has witnessed Lidl’s progress first hand.
He told the LDRS: “What delayed them at the beginning was that there was an antenna at the back with a hundred year lease.
“They couldn’t knock the car park down until the company that had the lease on the antenna agreed. There was some momentum seven years ago, and then it all stopped.
“The site gets worse every time there’s wind, the panels come off and get left for ages until they attend to it.”
Despite this, Mr Marsh believes the area is crying out for a Lidl superstore.
When asked why the area needs another supermarket, he told the LDRS: “Purley Cross is one of the busiest junctions within a five-mile radius. There is a phenomenal amount of traffic that goes through there.
“That really is the only place that people go to. Given the cost of living crisis I would be amazed if they opened it and they didn’t struggle for an audience.”
