There has been an upsurge in enquiries for jobs in Croydon following the July 7 bomb attacks, it has emerged.

Recruitment companies in the borough were inundated with calls in the weeks after the London bombings from people looking for permanent and temporary work.

The bulk of the enquiries were from people with jobs in central London who travelled to work.

Catherine Johnstone Recruitment (CJR), in Park Street, Croydon, saw a 75 per cent increase in the number of people looking for work in Croydon directly after the terrorist attacks.

Sandy Roach, business manager for CJR, believes the London bombings acted as a catalyst for people to look for employment outside central London.

She said: "People may already have been thinking about working closer to home and what happened on July 7 may have acted as a catalyst.

"It must have been a dreadful and emotional time for the people involved and it obviously made people rethink and ask themselves do I really want to do this every day?'"

She said the demand for jobs in the borough came from people living in Croydon and neighbouring boroughs Bromley and Redhill.

"The response started on that day, almost straight away. People were pulled away from their normal activities that day and I suppose they had time to actively think about their jobs.

"Croydon is seen by many as a city, so people who don't want to travel into London tend to opt for Croydon as an alternative."

"I was initially surprised by the number of people looking for work in Croydon, we didn't expect it to happen but once it did we understood and realised the reasons behind the increase."

The number of enquiries has slowed down over the past month and Ms Roach believes that in the long-term people are coming to terms with what happened.