Living in Southfields: area guide to homes, schools and transport

This year the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which runs Wimbledon, is unveiling a new roof over No 1 court with state-of-the-art LED lighting and comfortable new cushioned seats.

The making of the new roof even gets its own exhibition in the Wimbledon Museum but it pales into insignificance compared with the club’s ambitious expansion plan to bring its grounds up to the standard of Flushing Meadows, home of the US Open, and Roland-Garros, home of the French Open.

In December, the members of the adjacent Wimbledon Park Golf Club finally decided to sell their 121-year old course to the All England Club for £65 million.

The golf club members, who include Piers Morgan, Ant McPartlin, Dec Donnelly and former Cabinet secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell, own the club and will receive £85,000 each for the 73-acre course.

The last putt on the 18th hole will be on December 31, 2021, with a shortened course available for another year.

Compared with Wimbledon Village where the shops and restaurants vie for the most imaginative Wimbledon-themed window displays, Southfields takes a low-key approach to tennis’s big event, with the only evidence a few lamp post banners in Wimbledon’s signature purple and green.

Estate agent Alexandra Masson of John D Wood says that during Wimbledon fortnight, life goes on as normal in Southfields. This is a place with a strong sense of community where the young mothers keep in touch over numerous WhatsApp groups.

In the Southfields Grid, the ladder of streets that runs south off Replingham Road, residents are competing for the best front garden, an event run by Southfields Grid Residents Association. In the streets north of the station, Southfields Triangle Residents Association recently held its tenth annual street party.

Southfields is also the kind of place where the milk’s still delivered in glass pint bottles. Local Southfields and Wimbledon milkman Ian Beardwell, who has never missed a round in 28 years, recently earned the accolade of Milkman of the Year from Milk & More, the organisation reviving the fortunes of the neighbourhood milkman.

Southfields is six miles south-west of central London with Wandsworth and Putney to the north; Earlsfield to the east; Wimbledon to the south and Roehampton to the west.

The property scene

Southfields has three-, four- and five-bedroom Victorian and Edwardian terrace houses in both the Grid and the Triangle.

Some of these houses were converted into flats before the council stepped in to stop the practice in the Eighties. There are also some purpose-built Edwardian flats in terraces that look like houses but have two front doors rather than one.

There are semi-detached Twenties and Thirties houses in a variety of styles — Arts and Crafts, mock Tudor and Queen Anne revival — in the Sutherland Grove conservation area between the station and West Hill. A four-bedroom semi in Sutherland Grove is currently for sale for £1.2 million.

Two unusual conversions are popular, of the former Whitelands College off Sutherland Grove and the 1904 Frame Foods baby food factory in Standen Road.

The Whitelands College buildings, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960), architect of Battersea Power Station and designer of the red telephone box, were converted into flats by Berkeley Homes with the grounds containing some additional new-build flats.

The Art Deco Frame Foods building is decorated with green ceramic tiles and bears the legend “nourish and flourish”. One of Southfields’ most distinctive buildings, it was also converted into flats.

The most expensive house currently for sale in Southfields is a five-bedroom detached Thirties house with some interesting mock Tudor detailing and a 140ft garden in Victoria Drive between Wimbledon Common and Southfields Underground station, on the market for £2.65 million.

Alexandra Masson of John D Wood says people wanting to buy a house in the Grid or the Triangle now expect to pay between £1 million and £1.3 million.

She advises families with young children to choose carefully. The two most popular state primary schools are Sheringdale and Wimbledon Park.

The catchment area for Sheringdale is small but families are more likely to get their children in if they live in the Triangle rather than the Grid.

Most houses in Southfields have already had side return and loft extensions, so this is not a place to look for homes to do up and add value. An exception is a four-bedroom house in Gartmoor Gardens, for sale priced £850,000.

New-build homes

Cambium is a development of 55 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats and 55 three-, four- and five-bedroom houses from developer LendLease on the St John Bosco school site in Victoria Drive.

It is built around an ancient oak tree believed to have been planted by the landscape architect, Capability Brown (1716-1783). All homes are ready to move into.

There are two two-bedroom flats remaining, starting at £675,000; three-bedroom houses start at £1.15 million; four-bedroom houses at £1,325,000 and five-bedroom houses at £1,505,000. Call 020 3817 7000.

First-time buyer homes

There’s nothing available in Southfields but housing association L&Q has one remaining two-bedroom shared-ownership flat at Wandsworth Exchange in Garratt Lane in nearby Wandsworth town centre.

The price is £161,187 for a 25 per cent share of a flat with a market value of £644,750. Call 0333 0033 670.

Homes to rent

Rental manager Hollie Stanley at John D Wood says Southfields is popular with sharers and families.

She says some landlords won’t rent their houses to sharers, reasoning that families will look after the property, while others argue that sharers make better tenants as they are out at work all day.

This is not a place with a large influx of buy-to-let landlords. Most of Stanley’s landlords are either letting because they are working abroad, or own just one or two rental homes.

Staying power

Families often end up in Southfields because they can’t afford nearby Wimbledon or Putney but then often stay.

Postcode

Southfields falls into both the SW18 Wandsworth and the SW19 Wimbledon postcodes.

Best roads

Anywhere in the Southfields Grid and Triangle. In the Sutherland Grove conservation area, Combemartin Road has detached Twenties and Thirties houses.

Up and coming

Southfields has large areas of social housing north-west of the Underground station. Right to Buy flats are the best value in Southfields. For example, there is a two-bedroom seventh-floor flat in Beaumont Road on sale for £300,000.

Transport

Southfields and Wimbledon Park Tube stations are both on the Wimbledon branch of the District line.

Nearby Earlsfield has 15-minute trains to Waterloo. All stations are in Zone 3 and an annual travelcard costs £1,648.

There are no commuter buses but the No 87 Night Bus runs from Aldwych to Kingston via Merton Road.

Council

Most of Southfields is in Tory-controlled Wandsworth, where Band D council tax for 2019/20 is £793.99. South of Revelstoke Road it comes under Labour-controlled Merton and Band D council tax is £1,548.33.

Shops and restaurants

Southfields has a small town centre on the roads around Southfields Underground station.

There is an M&S Food Hall and a Tesco Express, a butcher and Chanteroy, a French delicatessen. DeRosier is a coffee shop and chocolatier with another branch in Revelstoke Road; there is a branch of pizza chain Franco Manca and Chalk is good for gifts.

There are two large pubs, The Earl Spencer and The Gardeners, almost next door to each other in Merton Road. Salt & Pepper is a café and caterer with an imaginative menu at the Merton Road end of Replingham Road.

There is a farmers’ market every Saturday in the playground at St Michael’s school.

Open space

Coronation Gardens is a small Edwardian town centre park between Merton Road, Pirbright Road and Standen Road.

Wimbledon Park, the local park, has one of the largest lakes in London with a watersports and outdoor centre offering sailing, kayaking, archery, climbing and orienteering.

The wild acres of Wimbledon Common are popular with local dog walkers.

Leisure and the arts

Southfields Theatre Group, the local amateur dramatics company, puts on several productions a year and has a calendar of regular social events, cabarets and fundraisers.

Aspire Southfields in Merton Road is the local private leisure centre with a swimming pool.

The nearest council-owned swimming pools are at Putney Leisure Centre in Dryburgh Road and Wimbledon Leisure Centre and Spa in Latimer Road.

Primary

The two most popular state primary schools in Southfields are Sheringdale in Standen Road and Wimbledon Park in Havana Road, both judged “outstanding” by the Government’s education watchdog Ofsted.

The other “outstanding” primary schools are: St Michael’s CofE in Granville Road; Albemarle in Princes Way; Ronald Ross in Beaumont Road; and Our Lady Queen of Heaven RC in Victoria Drive.

Comprehensive

The two state Southfields comprehensive schools – Southfields Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Merton Road and St Cecilia’s CofE (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Sutherland Grove are both judged to be “good”.

The nearby “outstanding” comprehensives are Ashcroft Technology (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in West Hill; and Ricards Lodge (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Lake Road.

Burntwood (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Burntwood Lane and Ark Putney (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Pullman Gardens in Putney are both “good”.

Private

There are no private schools in Southfields itself but there are plenty nearby.

The private primary and preparatory schools are: Prospect House (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Putney Hill; The Roche School (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Frogmore in Wandsworth; Wandsworth Preparatory (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Allfarthing Lane; Merlin School (co-ed, ages four to eight) in Carlton Drive in Putney; Willington School (boys, ages four to 13) in Worcester Road in Wimbledon; Finton House (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Trinity Road in Wandsworth; Northcote Lodge (boys, ages seven to 13) in Bolingbroke Grove, also in Wandsworth; The Study Preparatory (girls, ages four to 11) in Peek Crescent in Wimbledon; and The Falcons School for Girls (ages three to 11) in Woodborough Road in Putney.

The private secondary school is Emanuel (co-ed, ages 10 to 18) in Battersea Rise.

The all-through private schools are: Putney High (girls, ages four to 18) in Putney Hill; Wimbledon High (girls, ages four to 18) in Mansel Road; Hall School (co-ed, ages four to 16) in Stroud Crescent in Wimbledon and the high-achieving King’s College School (boys, ages seven to 18, with girls in the sixth form) in Southside, also in Wimbledon.