Here Jez Gibson explains Why he Loves Thornton Heath.

“It wasn’t a happy chain of events that brought me to Thornton Heath, in fact, I’d been openly disdainful of the area until I moved in. 

“But after getting divorced, myself and my ex-wife found ourselves living in our new homes at either end of the high street so we can co-parent our kids and move on with our lives. And what a great area in which to do it. 

“My neighbours have made me more welcome than I’ve ever been made to feel in 20 years of living in London. 

“The 44th Scouts are already like a second family to my children, The Telegraph is best pub in London in which to watch a Liverpool game.

“My son takes great pride in watering our community-installed planter, a lady I’d never met made great efforts to return my sunglasses when they were nicked from my car.

“The scary-looking lads across the street gave me sound advice on how to sort out my car’s flaky paintwork.

“A  bloke with a Harley motorbike down the road has offered to let my son have a sit on it because he watches it out of the window every morning and my daughter has friends in our street who she goes out to play with – like we all did in the 80’s. 

“Forton’eef gets a bad press, and CR7 still carries some stigma. 

“But scratch the surface and you’ll find a warm generous community. There’s no place like home, I love it.”