The restored bandstand - May 2024

Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3PR

Croydon Road Recreation Ground is situated in the London Borough of Bromley adjacent to Beckenham Hospital (The Beacon).

The park is one of the most popular facilities in the borough for outdoor events ranging from May Queen pageants and charity fetes to firework displays and funfairs. The recreation ground boasts scenic views with a bandstand, landscaped gardens, football pitches with changing accomodation, a childrens' paddling pool and enclosed play area, a cafe, tennis courts, and basketball/netball facilities. There is also a thriving bowls club with immaculate greens.

Entrances to the recreation ground can be found on Croydon Road and Village Way, Beckenham.

On-street parking is available in Croydon Road and Village Way and a multi-storey car park is available above Sainsbury's store close to the High Street.

The official opening/closing times can be found on our Facilities page

View a map of our location

You can join The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground by following this link
You will receive newsletters
about our events and updates about our fundraising efforts to restore the bandstand and paddling pool
and, if you want to do something practical, we are always looking for volunteers to help us with our events!
Our Annual General Meeting is held in the autumn and, as a member, you will be able to vote at this meeting.

AGM Minutes 3rd December 2024
FoCRRG Accounts Sep. 2023 - Sep.2024

Paddling Pool status - TEMPORARILY CLOSED

We regret to inform you that the difficult decision has been made to temporarily close the paddling pool at Croydon Road Recreation Ground.
This follows health and safety concerns, which were picked up during a recent site inspection.
Idverde are currently seeking specialist advice on the required repairs and will reviewing the next steps with the Council.
In the meantime, the pool will remain empty to prevent use.

We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of the closure.

For any enquiries please contact idverde who maintain the park:-
email:
enquiriesbromley@idverde.co.uk phone: 01689 862815



(click above to enlarge)

The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground are pleased to announce a series of Sunday afternoon community performances at the bandstand this summer.

All events are free

Sunday 22nd June at 2pm
Caz & Steve duo is a London based PRO acoustic duo! They play stripped down, soulful, acoustic versions of all the party classics, like Dancing Queen, Toxic, Teenage Dirtbag, Bad Romance, When Doves Cry, Summer of 69, Thriller, Dancing in the Moonlight and more!
www.facebook.com/cazandsteve

Sunday 13th July at 3pm
The London Concert Chorus is an amateur group of singers who meet once a week to rehearse and enjoy a wide range of choral music from Pop, Musicals and Classical Repertoire which they often perform at locally organised events in Bromley and the South East.
londonconcertchorus.wildapricot.org

Sunday 20th July at 2pm
The Sonnet Wind Orchestra will treat you to a two-hour concert of music of all styles from Irving Berlin, via Puccini, to the Beatles.
www.facebook.com/sonnetwindorchestra

Sunday 10th August at 3pm
Do No Harm band was formed back in 2016 in a shed in SE London. After a few line up permutations and one global pandemic, they emerged as a tight five piece covers band, playing regular gigs at pubs and private functions. Whether it's rock, pop, blues or ska, the rule for what they cover is simple: it has to be a song that gets the crowd singing and dancing!
www.facebook.com/donoharmbanduk


Bromley Park User Satisfaction Survey

Residents and park visitors can now share their feedback about the borough’s parks and open spaces by completing the council’s annual park user satisfaction survey, with feedback encouraged before the survey closes on Friday 12 September 2025.

The survey gives residents and park visitors an opportunity to share views about what matters about their local parks, woodlands and open spaces. You can also separately let us know about any specific problems in Bromley’s streets or parks by reporting these via the website.

www.bromley.gov.uk/parks-open-spaces/park-user-satisfaction-survey


New park signage!

Following the approval of our bid application to obtain funding from the London Borough of Bromley Platinum Jubilee Parks Fund, our proposal to install some new park signage in the park was accepted. The money has now allowed us to design and install new park signage at four of the park's major entrances.

Improved access to the park will be of benefit to all, and two of the signboards now include space for advertising special events etc.

Applications were welcomed from Friends groups and had to include the backing of at least 100 local residents who are on the electoral roll within the London Borough of Bromley. Many thanks to everyone who helped!


(click image to enlarge)

(click images above to enlarge)
PLEASE DO NOT STICK UNAUTHORISED NOTICES ON THE BOARDS
OR WINDOWS AS IT DAMAGES THE SURFACES!

Please contact us if you wish to post a small notice in the window.


A concert marking the successful restoration of the much-loved Grade II listed bandstand took place on Friday 17th May 2024

For All Bandstand Restoration News please visit the Project page


Future Plans

Toilet refurbishment has been brought up by ourselves, the cafe and the Ward Councillors as a priority for the park (see the article below).

Another longer term improvement for the park will be refurbishment of the paddling pool, for which we have already started fundraising. LBB are also planning to refurbish the smaller gazebo/shelter in the park this year, should the external funding prove forthcoming.


The state of the park's toilets

 

The Friends are increasingly concerned about the state of the park’s toilets, following several recent complaints. idverde ground staff are contracted by Bromley Council to clean and re-stock the toilets every morning when the toilets are unlocked; the Service level Agreement is once a day.

The toilets have deteriorated recently and have experienced vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The state of the toilets has led to the ward Councillor escalating the situation with the Portfolio Holder for parks at Bromley Council.
idverde's Grounds Maintenance Manager has now ordered a deep clean from their sub-contractor to help address the situation.

Due to these problems, the idverde team has committed to monitoring the toilets at various times during the day and cleaning and restocking them as necessary. Time sheets have now been placed in the toilet for the operative to sign on each visit and a supervisor will visit periodically to assess the condition and request a clean, if necessary. The team will inform management immediately if there are any signs of anti-social behaviour and record any damage to the toilet block so that this can be reported to Bromley Council, for repairs to be initiated.

We would encourage all Friends to report issues with the toilets direct to the council. The more we report it the more pressure we put on Bromley Council to address the issues . Please report all issues with the toilets (and any other matters in the park) here:
https://fix.bromley.gov.uk/around?js=1&zoom=3&lat=51.40378&lon=-0.03297

Longer term we are campaigning for a full refurbishment of the toilet block to coincide with the bandstand renovation and we would welcome support from all Friends to pressure Bromley Council to provide funding to support this.

If any Friends are interested in volunteering to help with repainting and refreshing the toilets in a community day partnership with IdVerde and Bromley Council please email John Backway, Membership Secretary at jmbackway@yahoo.co.uk. All materials will be provided and no toilet cleaning would be expected !


The Gate Lodge and adjacent Gateway awarded Grade II Listing by Historic England

 

David Bowie's festival bandstand gets Grade II listing (August 2019)




A BOOK ABOUT THE PARK


This book is available to purchase either on CD in PDF format from Pat's website
or in hardcopy format at ?8 per copy by e-mailing
pickpatspage@googlemail.com

Please click on the cover above to visit Pat Manning's website for CD purchase details.

THE TREES AND SHRUBS OF CROYDON ROAD RECREATION GROUND

Mrs Pat Manning a respected local author and a member of the Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground has produced a booklet about the flowering trees and shrubs within its boundaries. The book was compiled for the Friends of the Recreation Ground in celebration of its 120 years existence in 2011. It is not generally available as hard copy but can be ordered on CD for use on a computer. It includes a taste of history, a month by month record of the most notable trees and shrubs through the year, all in full colour, three walks to identify the trees and shrubs with plans of the shrubberies and a Latin/common name index.

CONTACT US

You can e-mail us at friends@becrec.net

and our mailing address is:
FoCRRG c/o 19 Clock House Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JS


Reporting problems in the park:
email:
enquiriesbromley@idverde.co.uk
or report problems online at
Bromley Fix My Street

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