Site of iconic furniture store could be set for redevelopment after 10 years
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
After laying empty for 10 years, a developer has shown interest in a patch of land where Croydon’s iconic House of Reeves furniture shop once stood.
The shop, in Reeves Corner, was burnt to the ground and became one of the most recognisable images of the 2011 London riots.
Estate agents Stiles Harold Wilson (SHW) said it has sold the 400 square metre site for £2 million, but the deal is “subject to completion”.
And the SHW brochure says the site is allocated for redevelopment, with flats on the upper floors and retail at the bottom.
House of Reeves was opened more than 150 years ago and has been in the Reeves family for five generations since 1867.
The current shop runs from another building, also in Reeves Corner, and has been run by brothers Graham and Trevor Reeves since 1995.
Trevor said a developer is now talking to Croydon council about what development could go ahead on the site for sale.
The land is jointly owned by the Reeves family and the Whitgift Foundation.
“It has been on the market for a long time, we are please someone is interested, we can’t do it on our own we really need somebody to make it work for us,” said Trevor.
He said that discussions have been going on since before the pandemic but have been held up by delays in Croydon council’s planning department.
Back in 2019 Skillcrown floated the idea of redeveloping the current House of Reeves store – discussions about this are still ongoing but no planning application has been submitted.
Trevor said: “We are trading 110 per cent as best we can, we are still here 150 years later and 10 years on [from the riots] in spite of the pandemic.”
The businessman added that the company has no plans to leave Croydon.
The Whitgift Foundation declined to comment.
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