A library in Croydon previously dubbed “incredibly ugly” will not be demolished, it has been confirmed.

It comes as a brand new building the service was due to move into has gone ‘under offer’ for £60,000 a year.

This means the South Norwood Library will stay in its current brutalist home in Lawrence Road after years of uncertainty and public campaigns to save it, including a petition of more than 1,800 signatures.

More details of investment into the existing building, which is open two days a week, are expected to become clearer in November.

The service was supposed to move to the new location in Station Road which was has stood empty since it was completed two years ago.

It sits on the ground floor of Pump House, a block of flats built by the council’s failed development company Brick by Brick.

It was put up for rent back in June as a “prime retail unit” at £60,000 a year.

When the new building was completed it was not up to scratch and couldn’t be used as a library, despite being built as one.

In August 2021, Croydon Council promised to spend £800,000 bringing the space up to the required standard. 

Now, Mayor of Croydon Jason Perry says that money will be spent on improving South Norwood’s existing brutalist library.

Mr Perry said: “Listening to the views of the local community, and having considered the viability of moving South Norwood Library to the Pump House, we are pleased to begin preparations to keep their library in its current brutalist home.

“A full paper on next steps will be presented at November’s public cabinet meeting, with all funding previously set aside for a move instead invested in improvements to the much-loved existing building.

"We remain committed to working with the local community to provide a modern local library of which they can be proud, while preserving a unique piece of local heritage.”

Built in 1968, the library is loved by fans of brutalism.

Earlier this month, architecture fans flocked to the library as part of Open House London where unseen archive photographs of the building.

Croydon Council previously had plans to close the library in South Norwood altogether.

It ditched this plan as it would not save enough money, opting instead to keep all the borough’s libraries open but with reduced hours.

South Norwood Library is open on Tuesdays and Sundays from 10am-6pm.