Purley, London

Purley is where Croydon goes once it has done well for itself and would prefer you stopped mentioning Croydon. Most people know it only as the gyratory they crawled round on the way to Brighton, while up the hill the drives get longer, the hedges get taller and the smartest corner has put up its own gates. Derren Brown grew up here, which may explain how the place keeps convincing people it is in Surrey. Down in the valley a river runs under the town in a pipe and every so often floods it, to remind everyone it got there first.