A FILM showing the best of Thornton Heath has premiered ahead of the launch of a new community app.

The short film features some of what we love best about our hometown; the diversity, community, eclectic food and how while we live in an urban environment we are never far away from nature our green spaces.

It is accompanied to a poem written and spoken by Croydon’s poet laureate Shaniqua Benjamin, who is herself a Thornton Heath resident 

Featured in the footage are local businesses showing off the delights of Caribbean and Mediterranean cuisine.

The We are Thornton Heath app offers local businesses the opportunity to showcase and promote their businesses for FREE. 

If you run a business all you need to do to get on the platform is simply sign up by visiting: www.wearethorntonheath.app

The point of the app is to generate economic growth for Thornton Heath and help local communities take greater ownership over the kind of information that’s essential for healthy town centres.

The app also provides vital data to better understand customer footfall and assist local businesses in tailoring their offering to customer need resulting in improved sales. 

A select number of local businesses will be offered state of the art sensor devices to help measure customer traffic.

The app has been developed by tech company Loqiva based in Crystal Palace and is part of the wider South London Partnership’s InnOvaTe Project.

Working in partnership with Croydon Council, local businesses and organisations Loqiva has already developed two apps as part of a pilot scheme for High Streets In South Norwood and Purley. 

Residents will be able to download the free app which provides a wide range of features including local news and offers. Community groups will also be invited to join too.

If you are a business and want more information about signing up to the app contact: Local Community Manager Ian Anantharajah
Iananantharajah@loqiva.com

Poem by Shaniqua Benjamin

What goes into making CR7 burst with flavour?

A place where you’ll eat and eat ‘til your belly fully

get your hair did, touch up and trim

be splashed with colour from murals or pretty pastels

happily adorning walls

take in a pond that is no longer a pond but home to shrubbery and proud planters.

Dashes of green from Trumble Gardens and the Rec

settings for squealing children and friends on walks,

heaps of magenta and tangerine giving life to Ambassador House

where urban and nature make friends,

streaks of Blue and Orange

brightening taste buds with Mediterranean delights,

comfort of lightened turquoise from Mula Cake’s community Hub

an avenue to find your creative voice.

Art in every slice

culture in every drop

Thornton Heath is where many get their start,

fed by the library

poured into by schools

learning to swim at a leisure centre on the same road as a yearly festival.

A sprinkle of almost everything lined up on same streets

chances to taste what is beyond the seas – 

spice from Café Chai

seasoning from Yah-So

freshness refreshing at Rich 4 Life Juices

Friday night tradition continuing at Melfort Fish Bar.

All crossing tracks at that bustling centre point where you catch trains

linking face after passing face

all the diversity icing on the cake.