Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to step outside and breathe in some fresh Croydon air each morning.

Thankfully, help is finally at hand after an online shop began selling the stuff in jars - at a mere £19.99 a pop.

The "limited edition" blend of the borough's gases are being advertised as containing "vague hints of a leafy suburb".

The website adds: "You'll find soft notes of a criminal aroma with blends fried chicken and notes of hostility to provide an authentic Croydon atmosphere."

The jars - which are also available containing "air" from Shoreditch and Brixton - prompted much talk online.

Some highlighted the site as a symptom of the worst excesses of gentrification, while others speculated that it might be an early April Fools Day joke.

In reality, it is neither: the jars are in fact an elaborate job pitch.

Carl Casis, of South Croydon, launched the web shop two days ago in the hope of landing a role at Shopify - the online retail platform he used to create the site.

The 29-year-old came up with the idea after spotting an advert for a sales job with the company in Canada, where he will move next week.

He told the Croydon Guardian: "I did it it as a tongue-in-cheek joke and thought maybe I could get some attention with it and get their attention to get me that job. 

"It all sort of snowballed out of control. It is getting out of hand."

Thousands of people have clicked onto the site, although none have yet been tempted to part with £20 - plus a tenner on postage and packing - for their very own jar of air.

But while Mr Casis conceived the site as a light-hearted job application, he has promised to fulfill any orders.

He said: "A few hundred have put stuff in their cart, come to the check out and got to literally the last page where the payment happens - and then bottled it.

"If people want to buy it, I have people in those locations to produce it - to capture it in various jars and include a little certificate to say when, where and how they captured it. They are all going to be very different jars."

He added the jars were intended to poke fun at gentrification in London

"I did want to highlight that," he said.

"I was in Brixton with my friend the other day and we went to Starbucks and ordered soya, peppermint lattes and we just laughed because we were in Brixton ordering peppermint, soya-milk lattes.

"It is completely gentrified now. And Croydon is next, with Boxpark." 

Anyone who finds themselves weighed down with excess money - or just fancies sending Mr Casis out onto the streets with a jam jar - can visit his website and relieve themselves of £29.99 for a jar of London's finest oxygen and nitrogen.

For fans of east London air, there are even morning and afternoon editions of Shoreditch's gases on sale.