St George's House (also known as the Nestlé Tower or Nestlé Block) is a office tower located in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, United Kingdom. It was occupied by the Swiss multinational food and consumer goods company

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

as the headquarters of Nestlé UK & Ireland until September 2012.

Location

The tower is located on Park Lane above the

Croydon Underpass Croydon Underpass is an underpass located in Croydon, London. The road is part of the A212 which stretches from Catford to Forestdale. The underpass was constructed beneath the junction of George Street and Wellesley Road/Park Lane in the ear ...

and close to the Croydon Council offices in

Bernard Weatherill House Bernard Weatherill House is a municipal facility in Croydon, London. The building, which is located just south of Croydon Town Hall, provides accommodation for many of the offices of Croydon London Borough Council. History The building was commi ...

, Croydon College, and the theatre and performance space of the

Fairfield Halls Fairfield Halls is an arts, entertainment and conference centre in Croydon, London, England, which opened in 1962 and contains a theatre and gallery, and a large concert hall regularly used for BBC television, radio and orchestral recordings. Fa ...

and Ashcroft Theatre.

History

The tower was designed by architects Ronald Ward and Partners, who also designed

Millbank Tower Millbank Tower is a high skyscraper in the City of Westminster at Millbank, by the River Thames in London. The tower was constructed in 1963, and has been home to many high-profile political organisations, including the Labour and Conservative p ...

, and it was completed in 1964. The eastern entrance to

St George's Walk St George's Walk is a partially covered shopping parade in the centre of Croydon, London that houses many independent stores. It was completed in 1964 by Ronald Ward and Partners, the designers of St George's House, at one end of the walk, and M ...

shopping arcade is located at the base of the tower and the ground floor also housed the Greyhound, which, as well as fulfilling the functions of a town centre public house, became well known as a music venue. Later known as the Blue Orchid nightclub, the venue closed in 2004. Nestle_Tower

In January 2012, Nestlé announced that it intended to move the headquarters of Nestlé UK & Ireland to

City Place Gatwick City Place Gatwick is an office complex located on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The complex includes four buildings: The Beehive, an approximately former terminal building at Gatwick Airport located on ...

, with all 840 employees based at St George's House moved to Gatwick by the end of 2012. The Croydon council agreed in February 2013 to switch the use of the building from offices to housing. Architect firm EPR Architects was hired to redesign the building. However, in September 2015, no work was done to advance on the housing project, leading London property developer Minerva to buy the tower for £10 million to incorporate in a wider neighbourhood housing project. In November 2018, work began to convert the tower into three high-rise apartment blocks as well as to demolish part of St George's Walk, to create a new public square (Queen's Square) adjacent to the

old Town Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

Transport links

St George's House has various transport links nearby.

George Street tram stop George Street tram stop is a tram stop in Croydon, south London, served by Tramlink. It is one of the busiest stops on the line as it is the most centrally located stop for the main shopping areas. It is almost directly outside the former Alld ...

is the closest Tramlink station to the offices. From here there are services to

Wimbledon station Wimbledon is a National Rail, London Underground, and Tramlink station located on Wimbledon Bridge, Wimbledon in London, and is the only station in London that provides an interchange between the London Underground and Tramlink. The station serv ...

with connections to the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

, or to Beckenham Junction station and Elmers End station with train connections to Sutton and slow trains to

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

as well as London Overground services. There are also tram services from East Croydon to New Addington,

Elmers End Elmers End is an area of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, Greater London and formerly part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south of Beckenham, west of Eden Park, north of Monks Orchard and east of An ...

and Beckenham. There is also a bus station at West Croydon with buses on the northbound corridor and the rest of the borough. East Croydon station, the main railway station in the borough, is also close by. The station provides mainline services from

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying m ...

. These train operating companies provide services to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and the

South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by L ...

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

and fast services to Victoria and

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

References

External links

Guardian article
on Millbank Tower and St George's House architects Ronald Ward and Partners.

Approval of planning permission by Croydon Council.

Redevelopment proposal by Legal & General. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nestle Tower Croydon 2020 Skyscrapers in the London Borough of Croydon Nestlé Skyscraper office buildings in London

Location

History

Transport links

See also

References

External links