Purley Pool Croydon development – everything we know

The former Purley Leisure Centre site at 50 High Street has been closed since March 2020.

The wider site includes the old leisure centre, the former Sainsbury’s supermarket, which shut in 2001, and the neighbouring multi-storey car park.

Under the proposals, the existing buildings would be demolished and replaced with a new leisure centre, retirement housing, a care home, public space and new pedestrian links through Purley town centre.

The scheme is being led by developer Polaska Assets Limited, which holds the long lease on the site.

Purley Pool originally closed during the Covid pandemic in March 2020, but unlike Croydon’s other leisure centres, it never reopened.

Croydon Council later said structural surveys showed the building required millions of pounds of repairs, with estimates put at more than £3 million.

Campaigners disputed that assessment and argued the facility could have been restored and reopened.

The closure became a major political issue in south Croydon, with executive mayor Jason Perry making reopening the pool a key campaign promise before winning the 2022 mayoral election.

Over time, the focus shifted away from reopening the existing building and towards a complete redevelopment of the site.

Under the current plans, the new leisure centre would include a 25-metre six-lane swimming pool, a learner pool, gym, fitness studios, café, soft play area and accessible facilities.

The wider scheme would also include 180 later-living flats and a 40-bed care home.

The housing element is intended to fund construction of the new leisure centre, with the council expected to take ownership and management of the facility once completed.

Planning documents suggested the leisure centre could later be leased to Croydon Council for around £830,000, although the exact details of the arrangement have not been fully explained publicly.

Supporters of the project have repeatedly argued the scheme would deliver a new pool at no upfront cost to taxpayers.

The original plans included no affordable housing, triggering strong criticism from the Greater London Authority (GLA), which described the proposals as “wholly unacceptable”.

Following negotiations, revised plans increased affordable housing provision to 10 per cent, still significantly below London Plan targets but enough for the project to continue.

The proposals originally included buildings reaching up to 12 storeys, though later versions were revised after objections from residents.

The development would also dramatically reduce public parking in the town centre.

The current multi-storey car park provides more than 400 spaces, but under the redevelopment only around 74 public spaces would remain.

Residents’ associations warned this could damage local businesses and worsen parking pressures around Purley station.

Several residents’ groups also raised concerns over the scale of the buildings, the low level of affordable housing and the lack of transparency surrounding the developer.

Croydon Council’s planning committee approved the application in February 2025.

The plans were later referred to the GLA, which confirmed in December 2025 that it would not intervene, effectively clearing the scheme to proceed.

Despite this, no demolition or construction work had started as of May this year.

The original timeline envisaged demolition beginning in 2024 and the new leisure centre opening by 2026, but those milestones have now slipped significantly.

For now, the former Purley Pool site remains fenced off and unused more than six years after it first closed, despite repeated promises that redevelopment is moving forward.