St Mary's Catholic Church, West Croydon

It's a simple-looking Church from the outside with weathered stonework but is actually very nice looking on the inside, and also very peaceful. But down point is that it's in a rotten part of Croydon (full of mad and deranged people) which may put some people off from going there especially if you have to use the train station or West Croydon bus station...as the council have let west croydon go downhill.

St Mary’s church is a beautiful Roman Catholic Church, centrally located in West Croydon area, serving over two thousand regular parishioners every week! I don’t think there’s any church around here which gets jam packed (it attracts a thousand parishioners, many will stand patiently as pews gets occupied during weekend masses during Sunday masses!). Built over 150 years, the church is very well maintained and looked after. Its interiors are quite appealing with plenty of natural lighting (church boasts ample electric lighting too, huge halogen lights arranged on the ceiling), pews arranged in four columns with ample seating, carpeted with maroon and red coloured carpets which are always inviting. You can see a gorgeously arranged altar and a tabernacle on a high place, always lit well and arranged with beautiful flowers. The ceilings are quite high with octagonal columns and ancient window panes. It celebrates 6 masses on a Sunday, all these masses are served by excellent and varied choirs ranging from Children’s, young adults, Ugandan, Philippino, Malayalam and English and Latin too. Recently they’ve introduced Male Voice Choir on a last Sunday of each month. The clergy, music ministry are very warm in welcoming everyone. I’m a regular here, so my review might be biased, however I do ask you to visit once and find out for yourself!

I visited the function hall in the basement for a birthday party. The place was big with plenty of space for many tables and a dancefloor. There was also a kitchenette area where drinks could be served. Toilets were clean. The only issue I had was getting in and out of the car park. I had to sit in a queue for 20 minutes just to wait while cars were navigating their way out.