Businesses in London Road are hoping a planned regeneration scheme for the area around West Croydon railway station will quash an imaginary divide that seperates them from the rest of the town centre.

Cameron Day, manager of Evans Cycles in London Road, said making the area more like North End would encourage more people to venture there.

He said: "I think it would be great if they made improvements.

"It's almost as if someone has drawn a line at the top of the road and that's where people stop because that's the end of the high street."

In August the council earmarked £250,000 to smarten up the area outside West Croydon railway station, to improve public safety and to improve the link between North End and West Croydon.

Extra CCTV cameras, brighter street lighting, bicycle stands, safer pedestrian crossings and new paving at the approach to North End are a few of the measures being taken by the council.

The work is seen as an interim step before a major regeneration of the whole area. Council officers are also expected to review traffic management and signage in the area.

Businesses in London Road said they have been affected by a lack of custom and crime in the past. In April, the Croydon Guardian reported how staff at the Scope charity shop were being threatened and verbally abused by a group of drunks who entered the shop to steal clothes, take drugs in changing rooms and hurl abuse at customers.

However, the announcement by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, that Croydon is included in plans to create a new London orbital rail line that will link it with the East London Line - which is already being extended to West Croydon - has been welcomed as a positive move for both residents and businesses.

Councillor Chris Wright, cabinet member for planning, environment and urban development, said although parts of West Croydon were run down the area had potential.

He said: "We all recognise that in the long run West Croydon offers significant regeneration and development potential - something the council is very keen to encourage and will flow from the arrival of the East London Line extension.

"In the short term, however, the improvements will not only address the fear of crime but also make it easier for pedestrians to get from West Croydon into North End."