Almost every house in Coulsdon went up between 1890 and 1970
Head up Reddown Road or Marlpit Lane and it is bay window after bay window, plenty of them glazed twice already. Those bays are the bulk of our work as glaziers in Coulsdon, where a misted opening needs a new unit and not a new window. JM Glass & Glazing come four and a half miles up the Brighton Road from our Croydon workshop, 24 Waddon Close, CR0 4JT.
That one fact explains most of our work in CR5. The late-Victorian and Edwardian villas came first, along the Brighton Road and the lower end of Chipstead Valley Road. Then the 1920s and 1930s estates climbed both sides of the valley: Reddown Road, Marlpit Lane, Woodcote Grove Road and the roads running up towards the Downs. Old Coulsdon is older at its heart, with an 18th-century farmhouse and a 17th-century barn at Bradmore Green, but interwar and post-war housing grew all round it.
The interwar semis are where most of the calls come from. Curved and square timber bays, leaded top-lights above the main sash, and bays already on their second or third set of glass. Some still have the original single glazing and a putty line that has given up. Many more were double glazed in the 1980s and 1990s, and that first generation of sealed units is failing now: misting between the panes, a tide mark along the bottom edge, and no amount of cleaning shifts it.
Misted double glazing in Coulsdon is usually fixable without buying a new window. We measure the failed unit, have the glass made to size and swap it into the frame you already have. On a bay we measure every opening separately, because along one run they are rarely identical, and a unit cut to the neighbour's size will not sit square. If the frame itself has gone soft or the hinges have dropped, that's a window repair rather than glass, and we'll tell you which one you've got before you commit.
Leaded top-lights are worth keeping where they can be kept. A cracked quarry or a bowed panel can often be sorted in place. Where a light has to come out, we can have new glass made to match what's around it, so the front of the house still reads the same as the two either side. That matters on a road like Woodcote Grove Road, where the bays run in a line and one odd window shows from the pavement.
A lot of these semis have had a rear extension put on, and a glass roof or lantern is usually part of it. Edge Building Products picked one of our roof light jobs as their Installation of the Month for July 2025: 44 shaped double-glazed units set into Edge 50mm capped aluminium glazing bars. That's a supplier feature, not an accreditation, but it is the kind of glass these houses ask for.
The newest layer of Coulsdon behaves differently. Cane Hill finished in 2021 with 677 homes on the old hospital site, and just over 500 flats at Lion Green Road were completed in November 2022. That work is balcony glass balustrades, communal entrance screens, big fixed panes in living rooms, and sealed units that have failed early in a block the developer left years ago. We'll do a single flat, and we'll price a whole block if a managing agent wants one figure. Across a week in CR5 the job sheet looks much like this:
- Broken panes: a ball through a rear window on the Chipstead Valley estates, a door pane gone in Old Coulsdon, a stone off the mower.
- Misted units, by far the biggest single job in Coulsdon, and the reason most people find this page.
- Bay window glass, square and curved timber bays on the 1930s roads, measured one opening at a time.
- Glass cut to size: shelves, cabinet fronts, table tops, greenhouse panes and picture glass, to your measurements or ours.
- Board-ups. When a window has gone in overnight and the house needs making safe before anything else happens.
The Farthing Way bypass opened in December 2006 and pulled the through traffic off the Brighton Road. Coulsdon town centre has traded better for it ever since. Brighton Road, Chipstead Valley Road, Lion Green Road, Station Approach Road, Edward Road and Victoria Road now carry a run of independent cafes, restaurants and small shops, and that is exactly where shop front glass work comes from. Old Coulsdon has its own parade, and there are smaller ones at Stoats Nest and Lacy Green.
Shop glass is a different job to house glass. A front pane usually needs to be toughened or laminated safety glass because of where it sits, a door panel takes a hammering and goes eventually, and anything full-height needs manifestation so people don't walk into it. If a front goes in overnight we board it, so the shop can open in the morning, then come back with the glass once it has been made. There's trade and light-industrial work off The Marlpit estate on the old chalk quarry too, doors, screens and panes in shutter frames.
Conservation areas in and around Coulsdon
Bradmore Green in Old Coulsdon has been a conservation area since 1968. Inside it sit the 18th-century farmhouse, the 17th-century barn and St John the Evangelist, which is Grade I listed and 13th century. Chipstead has two conservation areas of its own, at Elmore Road and High Road, and there's another on the former Netherne hospital site. Between them they cover a fair slice of the CR5 map.
What that means in practice is worth a phone call before you order anything. Conservation area status doesn't automatically stop you changing a window, but it can limit what's allowed, and a listed building needs consent in its own right. Croydon Council's planning team are the people to ask, and for Chipstead and Hooley you're over the boundary into Surrey, so it's Reigate and Banstead. We're not planners. What we can do is make the glass to match once you know where you stand, including slim units and obscure patterns for older frames.
Getting to Coulsdon from our yard
We're at Waddon in Croydon, CR0 4JT, and it's about four and a half miles to Coulsdon. It's one road nearly the whole way: south on the Purley Way, through Purley Cross, then up the Brighton Road past Purley and into the valley. Fifteen or twenty minutes when the A23 is behaving. We're through CR5 most weeks anyway, which is why Coulsdon jobs tend to get slotted in quickly, and why an emergency call-out here is a short run rather than a trek.
Jason Marchant runs the firm and is on the tools. The rating is 5.0 on Google. The job photos show real work rather than a catalogue, so have a look before you ring. If you'd rather talk it through first, call 020 8680 8334, or send a picture of the window to 07956 138 582 on WhatsApp, a photo and a rough measurement usually saves a visit. If something isn't right afterwards, we come back.
Glazing services we provide in Coulsdon
Most of what we're asked for in Coulsdon comes down to a handful of jobs. These are the ones CR5 rings about.
Areas near Coulsdon
We also cover Croydon, Purley, Kenley, Riddlesdown, Banstead, Caterham. See every area on our areas covered page.
Frequently Asked Questions
We're based at Waddon in Croydon, about four and a half miles away. The run is south on the Purley Way, through Purley Cross and up the Brighton Road, fifteen or twenty minutes when the A23 is clear. For a broken window we aim to make the property safe the same day where we can, then come back with the glass once it's made.
Usually, yes. If the frame is sound, the failed sealed unit comes out and a new one made to size goes back into it. On a bay we measure each opening separately, since the units along one run are rarely the same size. It's the most common job we do in Coulsdon, on the interwar semis around Reddown Road, Marlpit Lane and the Chipstead Valley.
Possibly, and it's worth checking before you order. Bradmore Green in Old Coulsdon has been a conservation area since 1968 and contains listed buildings, including the Grade I church. Conservation area status doesn't automatically prevent a window change, but it can limit what's allowed, and listed buildings need consent. Croydon Council's planning team will tell you where you stand. We'll make the glass to suit.
Yes. CR5 runs well past the town centre and we work across all of it: Old Coulsdon, Cane Hill, Netherne-on-the-Hill, Woodmansterne, Little Woodcote, and over the boundary into Chipstead and Hooley. That's only a few more minutes up the valley from the town centre, so as far as we're concerned it's the same trip.
Yes. We cut and supply glass to size for Coulsdon customers: shelves, cabinet fronts, table tops, greenhouse and shed panes, picture glass, and toughened where the position calls for it. Give us the measurements and the thickness, or we'll come and measure. Polished edges and drilled holes are fine. Collect from Croydon, or we can drop it out to CR5.
Yes, we take emergency call-outs for shop fronts in Coulsdon town centre and the parades at Old Coulsdon, Stoats Nest and Lacy Green. Boarding comes first, so the unit is secure and can open in the morning. The replacement pane follows once it's made, a large toughened or laminated shop front has to be ordered rather than cut from stock.
Yes. Toughened is what we use where the position demands safety glass: balcony balustrades and communal entrance screens at Cane Hill and the Lion Green Road blocks, low-level panes, and door glass. It can't be cut or drilled once it has been toughened, so we measure the opening on site, order the panel to that exact size, then come back and fit it. If you aren't sure whether an opening needs it, send a photo and the sizes and we'll tell you.
In most cases what has actually failed on those Reddown Road and Marlpit Lane bays is the sealed unit, not the window. If the frame is sound we take out the misted glass and fit a new unit into it, measuring each opening separately. That is quicker and cheaper than a new window, and the front of the house still matches its neighbours. If the frame itself has rotted or dropped, we'll say so. We are glaziers, not a replacement-window company, and we don't supply frames.