The riots acted as a catalyst to bring the community closer together according to the manager of the Green Dragon Pub.

Esther Sutton, 39, the manager of the pub, said although the riots were damaging, a lot of positives have come out over the past year.

The Green Dragon Pub created a window of hope and love after the riots, where people wrote post it notes on how they love the town.

Miss Sutton said: "I think one of the positives to come out of it all was that it drew the community together and generally in the immediate aftermath people just wanted to help.

"People were coming into the pub asking how they could help, there was the clean up campaign and other community groups that came together to help out.

"In terms of the past year, the London Road area and Croydon’s Old Town have a lot more community groups and associations to help the area.

She said: "The town is much more cohesive compared to this time last year in my opinion.

"People who live here and work here who are from Croydon are very passionate about the town and want to see it improve.

"I think it is always going to be a challenge to change the image but when people come here I think they are surprised at what they see.

"We need to carry on pushing the positive message of Croydon out there and that is what we do best."