Saif Bonar, 32, created Matthews Yard, a workspace and cafe for businesspeople, said he wants to bring some positivity back to the area and encourage Croydon residents to use the town centre.

But the 32-year-old said Croydon is still suffering from a hangover from the riots with many visitors still having negative preconceptions about the borough.

Mr Bonar, 32, said: "It was a chilling moment when I realised what was going on and something just clicked inside me to set up this business.

Mr Bonar said that within days of the riots lots of people had ideas on how to make the town better but it will take a lot of work to shrug off the negative image.

"If we wanted to attract people from central London or get someone from a magazine to come and review us they would have massive preconceptions about what Croydon is.

"But I want to show people what Croydon is about. There are still negative connotations going around but that is because a lot of people who criticize it haven’t come to Croydon.

"The town does have issues but with a few tweaks we can have more good news to talk about rather than looking back at the bad stuff."

To become a member at Matthews Yard visit their website www.matthewsyard.com