Books were dumped outside the former Broad Green Library in Croydon, causing outrage among locals. Council contractors allegedly left piles of texts following a clean-up. Mayor Jason Perry deemed the situation unacceptable and vowed to address the contractors. He emphasized the importance of treating books with respect and noted the library's conversion into an Asian Resource Centre due to cost-cutting measures. Residents began collecting and returning the displaced books. The library faced low visit numbers, and the council's library closures have drawn criticism.
"It's just absolutely terrible what has happened to this building and yesterday we saw even worse things of books being thrown out on the pavement. The way that these books were being treated was just unacceptable and we will be dealing with our contractors accordingly."
"For me, books are precious and they shouldn't be treated in that way."
"The new community centre will keep the books and have expanded opening hours compared to when it was a library, operating for two days a week."
"Data shows that Broad Green was the fourth least visited of Croydon's libraries, with just over 17,000 visits in 2023-24."
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