Prince Charles and his wife Camila visited Croydon this afternoon to meet residents and businesses affected by riots last week.

Clarence House said the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall had been keen to visit areas affected by rioting.

The royal couple were greeted with cheers by onlookers as they met families left homeless by the devastation.

Murali Dharan Subramanya was among those who met the couple.

The 21-year-old and his family were made homeless when rioters threw petrol bombs at their flat above Londis on London Road.

He said: "I told the Duchess how we lost everything.

"She was really kind, she said the council and the Government are doing what they can to support us."

Their visit comes as it was announced Croydon and Tottenham will get £20m from the government for repairs.

Parvez Iqbal, 45, is the owner of Ambala, an Indian food shop on London Road.

He has been unable to open the shop after it was targeted by rioters, who damaged hundreds of pounds-worth of stock.

He said: "They were both very sympathetic and said they appreciated what we are trying to do.

"Prince Charles told me there is something in the pipeline, hopefully we might benefit in some way."

After meeting residents the couple travelled further up London Road to the Croydon Voluntary Action Centre, where they met young people involved in volunteering in the community as part of Youth United.

The organisation, which is a consortium of adventure, military and emergency youth groups, was established by the Prince in 2009.

Tara Walton volunteers for All Inclusive, an organisation that offers financial training to young people, based in the centre.

The 24-year-old said: "It is good they have come and are actually paying attention to Croydon for once, but it shouldn't have taken the riots to do that."

Click here for a picture gallery of the Prince Charles and Camilla visit