Vreagh wrote:A ex canal side pub still exist at Portland Rd South Norwood. Its called The Jolly Sailor which is a strange name for a land locked pub until the canal is remembered.
This plaque marks the site of the first public building in South Norwood. It was built in 1809–10 and opened in 1810 as a public house, the first landlord of which was John Gaywood. There was little else in South Norwood at the time except brickworks and farmland. The current workshops extending along the high level path behind the Jolly Sailor were originally the site of the Royal Sailor riding school and livery stables, where the South Norwood Volunteer fire brigade stabled its horses
Down on the pavement in the High Street. There is a map This has not weathered well but at the top it says this is an “1836 map depicting the road layout buildings and canal. This has not weathered well but at the top it says this is an “1836 map depicting the road layout buildings and canal.” This highlights how things were around here around the time of the closure of the Croydon Canal which had opened in 1809. So it was before the canal was filled in and much of the alignment used for the London and Croydon Railway which opened in 1839