Purley Way

Purley Way is a section of the A23 trunk road in the London Borough of Croydon, in the areas of Purley, Waddon and Broad Green, and has given its name to the out-of-town shopping area alongside it with a catchment area covering most of South London.

It was designed as a bypass for Croydon and was opened in April 1925 and was formed from improvements to pre-existing local roads, from north to south: Waddon Marsh Lane, Waddon Court Road and Coldharbour Lane (Thornton Road, the northern section of the bypass, was not renamed). In 1932, Purley Way became the first road in the United Kingdom to be lit with sodium lights.

The opening of Purley Way attracted industry to the area and it became the main industrial area of Croydon. Industry attracted to the area included Redwing Aircraft Ltd, Trojan Ltd (car manufacturers) and Tizer Ltd. There were also several metal companies including Standard Steel Co, Croydon Foundry Ltd, Metal Propellers Ltd and Southern Foundries Ltd.

Croydon 'B' Power Station, with architecture designed by Robert Atkinson, was built in the late 1940s and opened in 1950. It shut down in 1984, was demolished in 1991 and an IKEA store was opened on its site. Its immediate surroundings were developed as the Valley Park Retail and Leisure Complex. The large chimneys of the power station were retained as a local landmark, which can be seen from Central Croydon's Centrale Shopping Centre.

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