by 1931. During the second half of the twentieth century, many of the large Victorian villas were demolished and office blocks were built on their sites. Later many of the office blocks were themselves converted into residential apartments. In 1970 Norbury Fire Station was built to replace nearby Streatham Fire Station. Modern Norbury Today, Norbury is a built-up residential area housing a diverse and multi-cultural community. It has a variety of local commerce, with most of Norbury High Street consisting of newsagents and various independent businesses, as well as several pubs. It is also very well connected to other areas, such as Crystal Palace, Croydon, Streatham and Central London. Norbury Station is in fare zone 3. Some locals consider the area to be in decline, with increased fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour, and a campaign has been started to reverse these changes. Demography In the 2011 census, Norbury was White or White British (37.4%), Asian or Asian British (28%), Black or Black British (24.8%), Mixed/multiple ethnic groups (6.5%), and Other ethnic group (2.2%). The largest single ethnicity is White British (24.1%). Of those living in Norbury, the most common place of birth is England (55%), followed by India (5%), Pakistan (4%), Jamaica (4%) and Kenya (2%). The main first language spoken is English (76.5%), followed by Polish (4%), Urdu (3.3%) and Gujarati (2.8%). The largest religious groupings are Christians (52 per cent), then Muslims (17.8 per cent), those of no religion (12.6 per cent), Hindus (7.6 per cent), no response (7.6 per cent), Sikhs (0.9 per cent), other (0.8 per cent), Buddhists (0.5 per cent) and Jews (0.1 per cent). Politics Norbury is part of the Croydon North constituency and the current MP is the Labour politician Steve Reed. The constituency replaced the Croydon North East constituency in 1997 and has returned Labour Party MPs since it was re-instated. Norbury includes two of the twenty-eight wards which make up Croydon London Borough Council. These two wards, both created in 2018, are Norbury and Pollards Hill and Norbury Park. Norbury and Pollards Hill Norbury Park Nearest places Brixton Streatham Streatham Common West Norwood Crystal Palace / Upper Norwood Mitcham Pollards Hill Thornton Heath Croydon Notable people and residents Kingsley Amis (1922–1995), novelist Correlli Barnett (1927–2022), military historian Derek Bentley (1933–53), a burglar who was controversially hanged for the death of a police officer in 1952 (subject of the film Let Him Have