The old pumping station

A surprise sight in an uninspiring area of Croydon. I visited the town today to help an aunt with her tax return.  Unfortunately her favourite cafe in the square  surrounding this tower is closed on Mondays and we went off to the library in search of wifi.   The tower was erected in 1866,  pumping 2.5 million gallons of water a day making Croydon one of the first areas in the country to provide fresh water to the local inhabitants.  I am amazed it's survived given the state of the rest of the town.