Croydon Council and cabaret has also seemed like an unlikely partnership. Until now.
Not many people would consider the council’s website to be exciting but council worker Alison Plant has sprinkled some stardust on it.
The 42-year-old, who helps redesign public spaces, swapped the planning board for the stage as she looked to put a different twist on promoting her employer’s website.
Never before has renewing overdue library books, paying your council tax and reporting a flood in your bedroom been so melodic.
So the far the video, which was filmed at Matthews Yard, has received more than 700 hits and the South Croydon resident hopes it can go viral this Christmas.
The mother of two came up with the idea after seeing a similar tactic used by another council promoting their highways team by the means of a Frank Sinatra song.
After speaking to her bosses Mrs Plant, who performs cabaret, was given the go ahead to come up with the song.
She said: “I had to run it by the council. As a council officer you are bound by quite strict rules as you can’t be seen to do a spoof that has not been approved.
“I just ran it past them, they asked me to change a few words and then I was ready to go.
“The singing and writing the lyrics was great fun, it was brilliant. I love recording and I can record songs quite quickly so that was fine.”
Mrs Plant added: “The real hard work was filming the video as I had no budget and was basically doing it by myself along with the cameraman.
“There is no wardrobe, styling, director, producer, choreographer, there was no help for me so that was tough.
“I want to get my voice out there though as it is something I would like to get in to.”
Cabaret is also known for its more raunchy nature, but the popular council worker said she made sure no skin was on show for the video.
She said: “Dressing up for video was interesting as that is another issue altogether as for cabaret some people dress up in a raunchy way.
“But I stuck to the corporate dress code to stick to the guidelines. I didn’t show too much flesh.
“The reaction has been amazing really. I have been surprised by it. I went to a party on Saturday and everyone was saying how much they loved it.
“It is nice to hear people say complimentary things about it.”
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