It has now been more than three years since work started on turning Croydon’s iconic Nestle Tower into flats- part of a £500  million project including a new public square.

It was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2021 but all construction work paused sometime in 2020.

Scaffolding still surrounds the building with businesses in the dark about what is happening.

The first phase of the project involves turning the 25-storey Nestle Tower, into a series of tower blocks of up to 28-storeys, providing 288 new homes.

Known as Queen’s Square, the project is being delivered by R&F Properties and includes plans to redevelop St George’s Walk into a public square outside Croydon Town Hall.

However,  a link to more information about Queen’s Square listed on the R&F website now does not work.

The first half of the covered shopping area, opposite the town hall, was demolished in 2019. There are still a handful of businesses trading on the other side of the walk.

One business owner, who asked not to be named, said work on the development had still not started up.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service businesses had been told work would start on the other side of St George’s Walk, where buildings were demolished, first.

In November 2021, a spokesperson for R&F said the company was reviewing the timeline for the project. This timeline is yet to be released.

R&F was contacted for an update but did not reply