The premises were previously occupied by a gold buyer, payday loan, pawnbrokers, and cheque cashers called Croydon Gold Buyer photo; this opened in late 2011 but closed again some time between March 2013 and mid-2014. (The last time we noted it as being definitely open was in March 2013, and the final tweet on their Twitter account was posted in early July 2013. As of April 2014 we hadn't seen it open for a while, despite walking past quite frequently, and as of July 2014 the shutter had been covered in graffiti and Cash And Carry Beds next door were regularly propping display mattresses up in front of it.)

See also:

• Photos of Croydon Gold Buyer flyer from May 2012: 1, 2
• Photo of Croydon Gold Buyer flyer from March 2013: front and back

On the evening of 11 September 2014 there were people inside sorting out displays of what looked like scarves and jewellery. A few days later Jewellery World opened selling scarves, jewellery, bags and makeup photo. There was also a taxi sign above the frontage, but this appeared to just be an advert, rather than a sign that one could book a cab here.

Some time between August 2015 and February 2016, the scarves and things were all replaced by mobile phone accessories, and a new person was in charge, though the name on the sign didn't change photo. During this incarnation, it also sold popcorn.

In late March or early April 2016 this changed again to a fruit and veg shop photo, though again the name on the sign didn't change. The fruit and veg shop had closed down again by June 2016.

It remained vacant until a baguette shop called Open Faced Hot Baguette photo opened on 30 September 2016. For the first few weeks of its life this only sold zapiekanki, or "Polish pizzas" — toasted baguette halves with toppings such as mushrooms, Polish sausage, peppers, and cheese. As of early November 2016 it switched to selling boxed meals based on Polish sausage, pork steaks, salad, and potatoes, though it still offered Polish sausage in baguettes, and it also had bigos (hunter's stew). As of January 2017 the zapiekanki were back again alongside the hot food.

There was no internal customer-accessible space (it's a really tiny unit, essentially just a corridor down the side of Eva Hairdressers next door), but they did have a couple of seats at a small table just outside.

Open Faced Hot Baguette closed down again some time between April and August 2018.

See also:

• Photo of the shop as of February 2017
• Photo of the menu as of September 2016
• Photos of the Open Faced Hot Baguette menu as of November 2016: 1, 2, 3
• Photo of the menu as of January 2017
• Photo of the zapiekanki menu as of March 2017
• Photo of (some of) the "meals" menu as of March 2017
• Photo of the tuna and pickled gherkin zapiekanka with garlic yogurt sauce in October 2016
• Photo of the pork steak meal in November 2016
• Photo of the small Polish sausage baguette in October 2016