Croydon Council will continue to provide essential services to residents and businesses over the Christmas period. There will be some changes, and these are outlined below. For the latest updates visit the Council website. 

Waste services 

From Thursday 25 December – Friday 9 January, waste collection dates will be delayed either by one, two or three days. Find out when your waste will be collected over the festive period. You can find your regular collection date here. 

Real Christmas trees (not plastic) will be collected and recycled from Monday 5 January – Friday 16 January. 

You will need to: 

  • put your tree out by Monday 5 January – it will be collected as soon as possible by Friday 16 January 
  • remove all decorations, lights, pots, and stands 
  • place your tree at the edge of your property, clearly visible from the road, without blocking pavements or access routes 

Household Reuse and Recycling Centres will be closed from midday on Wednesday 24 December – Saturday 27 December, and on 1 January 2026. If you need a bulky waste collection from your home, you can book one here. 

Festive recycling newsletters have been delivered and can be downloaded from our website. 

Residents may have more food waste at this time of year, but it can be recycled. To save festive scraps going to waste, order a food kitchen caddy. Please keep reporting fly-tipping and other waste issues on the Love Clean Streets app. 

Contact Centre 

The Council contact centre will close from 4pm on Tuesday, 23 December and reopen on Monday 29 December at 9am. It will also close on 31 December at 4pm and reopen on Friday 2 January at 9am. For emergencies when the contact centre is closed, please contact the out of hours team.    

Find out about the best ways to contact us here.   

Emergency housing services

Croydon’s emergency housing repairs service will continue as usual. Tenants and leaseholders can report an emergency repair on 020 8726 6101 where calls will be answered by our 24-hour service team. Please visit here for more information. 

Family Justice Service (FJS) 

The Family Justice Service is open on Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm but will be closed on 24 December and the bank holidays. If you need help during this time, call the 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or 999 in an emergency. See the Council website for details, email fjs@croydon.gov.uk or call 020 8688 0100.  

Leisure centres 

Croydon’s leisure centres will operate reduced opening hours between 22 December and 2 January. Please also note that all of Croydon’s major leisure facilities will be closed on Monday 22 December 2025 (for staff training). Croydon Arena and Ashburton Halls will be fully closed from 22 December 2025 – 2 January 2026.   

All leisure facilities will be closed on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day, all facilities will be closed except Waddon Leisure Centre, which will operate reduced hours.

From 27 – 31 December all centres apart from Croydon Arena and Ashburton Hall will be open with reduced hours.

On New Year’s Day, all facilities will be closed except Thornton Heath Leisure Centre, which will operate reduced hours. 

For more information please see Better Leisure. 

Libraries 

All Croydon’s libraries will be closed from 24 – 26 December and on 1 January. Some will also close on other days during the festive period. Please check here for opening times for each library.   

Residents can still access the digital library 24/7 with thousands of free eBooks, digital magazines, comics and audiobooks. Find our more or join online at the libraries webpage. 

Croydon Museum and Archives 

Croydon Archives’ Research Room will be closed from 1pm, Friday 19 December 2025 – Thursday 8 January reopening on Friday 9 January. 

The Museum of Croydon will close from 24 December – 2 January, reopening on  Saturday 3 January. Find out more. 

Parking enforcement during holiday periods 

Parking charges and restrictions apply to all on and off-street parking areas during the year with the following exceptions. Restrictions do not apply on: Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. 

Moving traffic restrictions apply throughout the year, inclusive of bank holidays.