The Colonnades Leisure Park (also known as Croydon Colonnades) is an out-of-town leisure park located in the

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 ...

retail and industrial district of the

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...

, South London. It opened in the late 1990s on the former site of the Croydon Water Palace, an

indoor water park An indoor water park is a type of water park that is located inside a building. An indoor water park has the ability to stay open year-round, as it is not affected by weather conditions. History Some of the first indoor water parks are at Duinre ...

complex that operated from 1990 to 1996. It lies alongside the Purley Way Playing Fields, and opposite the former Croydon Airport site. The site is currently owned and operated by Croydon Council who finally completed the purchase in August 2019 at a cost of more than £50m.

Tenants

The Colonnades competes with the nearby Valley Park Retail Area, a main commercial area on Purley Way, but is less busy due to the lack of a notable

anchor tenant In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. W ...

- Valley Park has IKEA, while the Purley Way Centre has

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

. Although The Colonnades centres itself as more of an entertainment complex than shopping area. The retail park is the southernmost of the three on the A23 Purley Way, and is close to Purley town centre.

Former tenants

Most of the original outlets in the park were entertainment oriented, including City Limits, an indoor entertainment centre with a restaurant, sports bar, arcade and bowling facilities. The City Limits complex closed following the termination of their lease by owner

Punch Taverns Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constit ...

. Other original tenants included Gipsy Moth (a family pub), the food court which used to house Subway, BBQ Xpress, China Wok and Karahi Cuisine. The Gipsy Moth site was demolished in 2018 to make way for a new multi-outlet retail unit, and in early 2019

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and

Nando's Nando's (; ) is a South African multinational fast casual chain that specialises in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their logo (also seen as a sort of ...

were confirmed as tenants of two of the units.

Present-day tenants

In 2010 it was announced that the retail park would include the first drive-through

Costa Coffee Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. I ...

outlet.Caffeine boost for shopping complex
/ref> This opened in 2015. On 2 October 2019 the complex said plans to open a new KFC restaurant, occupied in the 3 restaurants in the second unit. This opened in late October 2019. Current tenants of the site include

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert a ...

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

, a Kidspace indoor adventure playground, Oxygen free jumping, and a Nuffield Health & Fitness Centre. T.G.I. Friday's has a restaurant located across the road from the retail area, as well as a

Hilton Hotel Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

References

External links

Nandos The ColonnadesPizza Hut The Colonnades
* ttp://www.kidspaceadventures.com/croydon Kidspace Adventures Croydonbr>Nuffield Health & Fitness Croydon
{{coord, 51.356, -0.115, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Leisure in the London Borough of Croydon Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Croydon Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Croydon Retail parks in the United Kingdom