About 40 residents and business owners attended a community conversation about the riots on Wednesday.

The event was organised by Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA) in partnership with the Guardian and London School of Economic (LSE).

The LSE presented the findings of their Read the Riots study which was published last December and included interviews with about 270 people who had participated in the riots.

The audience then discussed with panellists their own experiences of the riots and the challenges they believed lie ahead.

The panel included Croydon North MP Malcolm Wicks, Carl Neilson owner of Rockbottom, Councillor Vidhi Mohan, Karen Chillman manager of CVA and Yemisi Adegoke a Croydon resident and researcher for the Reading the Riots study.

The meeting was chaired by Richard Serunjogi of the Spirit of London Awards.

He said: "We had a pretty good audience and importantly I think everyone wanted to work together to make Croydon a better place which is something that really stood out.

"One woman who owned a laundrette that had been destroyed even said she understood and empathised with the young people involved. She said if you had no hope, hadn't done well at school, had no job, felt let down by society and the opportunity arose for you to loot shops and take what you wanted for one day only you would go for it.

"The unique thing about Croydon is there is a wide range of people living here, but when the going gets tough everyone is prepared to work together."

The riot review panel into the causes of the Croydon riots in August is due to present its findings at noon today.