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Boxpark, Croydon

Today the leisure and hospitality industry go hand in hand with retail.  With shopping one of our nation’s favourite pastimes, we will always need some sort of refreshment to accompany it.  Whether it’s a quick coffee and cake, fast food or a long lunch, UK consumers are now spending a quarter of their annual wage on eating out.

This obsession with eating has created a huge shift in retail that probably also owes a great deal of thanks to the internet.  With the basic shopping completed at home, retail has become a leisurely experience.  Enjoying a meal with friends is something that can’t be delivered next day via Amazon Prime or the likes.  The ‘experience economy’ is on the rise and food retailers are cashing in on this.  The more creative and unusual the cuisine the greater the success!

A few miles south of London lies Croydon, the new location for the second Boxpark.  The first opened in Shoreditch in 2011 and was so successful that it has remained well beyond its three year lease and its creators sought a second suitable site.  Croydon is hyper connected to all areas of the South East and beyond, you can be in the heart of London in just 14 minutes, or on the coast in less than 40 minutes. 

This new Boxpark is phenomenal; the structure is twice the size of Shoreditch constructed from 96 stripped and refitted shipping containers that form a courtyard.  This has been covered to provide a year round music and entertainment venue.  BDP worked with Boxpark to develop the container structure and then Brinkworth developed the other elements of the public sections.  A black steel framework and timber scaffolding boards form a range of seating areas, platforms and planters that create an open and sociable space to mingle around the retail units.

The concept, as well as being sustainable, is also affordable and flexible.  It fuses big names from across the capital with independents and local food retailers.  In an entirely street fashion the design was based around the spaces between buildings, with many with long refectory style tables allowing diners to soak up the ambiance. The structure is impressive from every angle and each elevation offers a different route into the atrium.  Food sellers line the outside as well as inside, so you can grab a drink and a cake whilst passing, or enter into the square to sit and enjoy your food. 

Unlike Shoreditch which mixes traditional retail with dining, the Croydon venture focuses solely on food and encompasses everything from fine dining to street food, plus a smattering of bars.  When we visited the gourmet concessions were just opening up, the sun was filtering through the glazed roof above and it was easy to get a sense of the buzzing atmosphere to come during the busy lunch and evening trading periods. 

Vibrant and fashionable, this new designated eatery will definitely help promote this South London suburb to the masses.

 
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