It could be several weeks before businesses are let back into the Croydon Village Outlet. 

But shop managers say they are still completely in the dark about where they stand after Croydon Council changed the locks in the early hours of Tuesday Jul 16. 

And now businesses are being asked if they would like to relocate into the Whitgift Centre. 

Workers were left shocked when they turned up to work to find the locks being changed. 

Business owners can’t even enter the former Allders department store to access their stock of get money from their safes. 

It is all to do with plans to redevelop the Whitgift Centre and surrounding area to make way for a £1.4 billion Westfield shopping centre. 

Sidney Okudzeto has run Flute and Harris a suit shop in the outlet for the past four years. 

He came in to work at about 2pm on Tuesday to see if he could try and get some of his stock. With wedding season in full swing he has a number of items he needs to get to customers. 

But after an afternoon of filling out forms to see if he could go back to his concession he was not allowed back in. 

And he says he was told it could be several days or even several weeks before the centre is reopened. 

The 48-year-old from North London said: “They have used brash tactics to acquire this site.

“This isn’t how you build business and community, they have caused humongous disruption when we are already in a very tough retail environment.”

Mr Okudzeto employs six members of staff and says the experience has been stressful for them too. 

“It has been very difficult I’ve just had to tell them that our solicitor is going to support us. 

“I have one member of staff with five children and other one left two months ago because of the uncertainty. 

“Nobody knows what the hell is going on.”

The father of three said that back in February all concessions were told that Croydon Council would be taking possession of the centre but nothing happened. 

This time the possession happened with no prior warning meaning no sales and uncertainty for his employees. 

Daniel Grossett runs Playnation Games, retro gaming shop, which is in the first floor of the outlet along with Heart of Gaming arcade. The two businesses are partners. 

The 37-year-old said: “In February they said it was going to happen but they didn’t go through with it. 

“But this time we have had no information, we’ve been fobbed off with excuses. 

“This is the problem with the council. These are local people’s livelihoods it will mean employees won’t be able to pay their rent and support their families.”

The two businesses on the floor employ about 10 members of staff. 

And the sudden closure means they have had to turn away three colleges who had bookings as well as regular customers and their own staff. 

Mr Grosset, who has lived in Croydon his whole life, added: “I just want to be able to say to my customers and staff when we will be back. 

“I have no information and they don’t seem to care. 

“We had plans to leave Croydon, the town isn’t exactly thriving, then we were contacted by a member of the council saying they wanted us to stay, we said we will stick around. So to be treated like this now, it just boggles the mind. 

“I can’t believe they just went in there and did that with no care for the human element. 

“This has been an indictment of how much Croydon Council cares about its businesses. We have been given all these promises but when we get dropped like this it makes me think, why do we waste our time with Croydon?”

Who owns Croydon Village Outlet now? 

The outlet was owned by Optima Media International.

But in 2014 as part of plans to assemble the land needed to redevelop the area for Westfield Croydon Council’s cabinet agreed a compulsory purchase order of the Whitgift Centre and surrounding land.

The Village Outlet has now been transferred to The Croydon Partnership, the joint venture between Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Hammerson in charge of the redevelopment.

Croydon partnership issued a statement saying: “Croydon Council has taken formal possession of the former Allders building as part of the CPO process and the building has now been transferred to The Croydon Partnership to manage.

“Health and safety assessments are being undertaken to assess the condition of the building. 

"Unfortunately, the building will need to remain closed while these surveys are carried out.

“In the interim, we are talking to the Croydon Village Outlet concessions that currently operate within the building to see whether they may wish to relocate into space within the Whitgift Centre and will work with them to achieve this.”