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

Cool customers from Clapham and Balham join medical students eating their way around the world at vibrant local markets.
Daniel Lynch
Anthea Masey5 February 2020

Two long-standing, vibrant indoor markets are helping Tooting to buck the trend of declining high streets and turning the south London neighbourhood into a cool place to live — even attracting Clapham and Balham residents to migrate down the Northern line for a night out.

Home to a real mix of tenants, Tooting Market and nearby Broadway Market are the places to go for everything from fruit and vegetables, bolts of fabric and luggage, to new and exciting food stalls that take visitors on a trip around the culinary world with offerings from Mexico, Spain, Thailand, France, Guyana, South Africa and Venezuela.

Guidebook publisher Lonely Planet even listed the markets as one of the “Top 10 Coolest Place to visit in the World”.

Lettings manager Ashley Harris, at estate agents Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, has been letting homes in Tooting for five years and admits to a massive addiction to the markets. “I am in there at least once a week. Last Thursday it was sushi. The week before it was a fish restaurant and before that it was tacos.”

She says the success of the markets has made a big difference to Tooting’s popularity.

Tooting has roads of Victorian and Edwardian houses of varying sizes; the wild open space of Tooting Bec Common; London’s largest outdoor swimming pool, Tooting Bec Lido, open to hardy coldwater swimmers all year round; excellent schools and access via the Northern line Tube to the West End and the City.

It is also home to one of the most extraordinary buildings in south London, the Granada Tooting in Mitcham Road.

As Britain’s only Grade I-listed purpose-built cinema, it ranks among the nation’s top 5,000 buildings. Yet it remains largely unknown except to its loyal band of bingo fans who can play almost round the clock at what is now Gala Bingo Tooting.

The architectural writer Ian Nairn said of the Thirties-built Art Deco edifice: “Miss the Tower of London if you have to, but don’t miss this.”

The astonishing medieval interior is the work of the Russian émigré theatre director and designer Theodore Komisarjevsky (1882-1954) who was briefly married to the actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft.

From the era of giant dream palaces, the Granada Tooting opened in 1931 as part of the Granada chain built up by entrepreneur Sidney Bernstein, whose later TV enterprises became the foundation for ITV.

Komisarjevsky’s magpie interiors at the Granada Tooting borrowed from the architecture of English and European cathedrals and churches, all embellished with gold leaf.

There are murals of troubadours and wimpled damsels and the first-floor hall of mirrors is a dazzling, arcaded looking-glass cloister.

Estate agent Antony May of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward describes the district as a hard sell but says all the food offerings in the two markets have made it much more appealing, while word of mouth means friends are following friends here.

You'll find mainly of Victorian and Edwardian semi-detached and terrace houses in Tooting
Daniel Lynch

Tooting is six miles south-west of central London with Balham and Clapham to the north; Streatham to the east; Mitcham and Colliers Wood to the south and Wimbledon to the west.

The property scene

Tooting is made up mainly of Victorian and Edwardian semi-detached and terrace houses, with the most expensive on the Heaver Estate. Red-brick Edwardian homes here include double-fronted houses with ironwork balconies and carved brickwork, some with views over Tooting Bec Common.

The most expensive house currently for sale on the Heaver Estate is a six-bedroom three-storey house with a 61ft garden in Drakefield Road. A six-bedroom double-fronted house in Dalebury Road is £2.85million.

Unlike Balham and Clapham, families looking for a project can still find homes to do up in Tooting.

Doer-uppers off the High Street in Trevelyan Road and Sellincourt Road sell for £800,000 to £850,000, then for £950,000 to £1million once extended into the loft and side return.

Tooting’s other favoured area is Furzedown, south of the town centre between Rectory Lane and Mitcham Lane, where there are larger Edwardian houses close to the popular comprehensive school, Graveney. A three-bedroom house in Nimrod Road is for sale for £875,000.

Those looking for value for money opt for Totterdown Fields, a former London County Council garden estate of 1,261 homes off Upper Tooting Road, where there are smaller houses of between 450sqft and 750sqft. A two-bedroom house in Coteford Street is for sale for £525,000.

Another pocket of value can be found in the so-called “ABC roads”.

These are Ascot, Boscombe and Cromer Roads, found off London Road close to Tooting station, from where Thameslink trains go to City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras International. A five-bedroom house in Gunton Road is for sale for £765,000.

New-build homes

Tooting’s largest upcoming development is Springfield Village, which will transform the Springfield Hospital site on the corner of Burntwood Lane and Beechcroft Road into a new neighbourhood.

There’s to be a new £150million in-patient facility for the South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, to be built by Robert McAlpine, with 839 new homes by Barratt, restoration of the heritage buildings as a new primary school, plus a 32-acre park.

The Tramyard (tramyard-balham.co.uk) from developer Joseph Homes in Balham High Road is the nearest large development selling now.

On the site of a former tram depot, there are 70 flats and duplexes including five lower-cost homes.

One-bedroom flats start at £499,995, with two-bedroom flats at £695,000 and three-bedroom flats at £890,000. Call 020 8712 2918.

Bedford House, also in Balham High Road, is a scheme of 52 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, of which 11 are affordable, from award-winning developer Ipsus.

These homes are ready to move into and there are 14 two-bedroom flats and one three-bedroom flat remaining. Prices start at £660,000. Call Savills on 020 3430 6920.

Graveney Mews is a development by Rocco Homes of 10 houses and four flats in Inglemere Road close to Tooting station.

Two-bedroom houses start at £649,950 and three-bedroom houses start at £730,000. Call Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward (020 3993 3905).

Renting

A main driver of the rental market is St George’s Hospital, with nurses and medical students looking in summer for shared houses ready for the autumn term.

Staying power: Tooting has many long-standing families. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan grew up here as did the current MP Rosena Allin-Khan, who is running for deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Postcode

SW17 is the Tooting postcode.

Best roads

Anywhere on the Heaver Estate. In central Tooting, estate agent Antony May from Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward rates Trevelyan Road and Sellincourt Road; in Furzedown it is Clairview Road where there are semi-detached Edwardian houses overlooking the common, and Parklands Road where there are large Edwardian terrace houses.

Up and coming

Totterdown Fields in central Tooting and the ABC roads off London Road close to Tooting station.

Transport

The two local Underground stations, Tooting Broadway and Tooting Bec, are both on the Northern line.

Tooting railway station is on Thameslink with services to Elephant & Castle — where many commuters change for the Northern and Bakerloo lines — City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras International.

All stations are in Travel Zone 3 and an annual travelcard costs £1,696.

Tooting’s main commuter bus service is the No44 to Victoria.

Council

Wandsworth council is Conservative controlled. Band D council tax for 2019/2020 is £764.09.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants

Tooting has an extensive town centre, stretching from Upper Tooting Road and Tooting High Street from Tooting Bec Underground station, to Tooting Broadway station and beyond, and along Mitcham Road.

There is a large Sainsbury’s, a busy branch of Primark and branches of TK Maxx, Lidl, Superdrug, Wilko, Iceland and a branch of department store Morleys.

There are colourful sari and shalwar kameez shops and jewellers selling delicate filigree goldwork, along with grocers with wonderful displays of fruit and vegetables, and cake shops specialising in South Asian sweets.

Mirch Masala and Lahore Karahi are popular canteen-style Indian/Pakistani restaurants. Chain restaurants include Nando’s, Franco Manca, Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger.

In Mitcham Road, Rick’s Dining Room is a long-standing bistro and Milk Teeth is a favourite brunch spot.

All the fun, though, is in the two markets — Tooting and Broadway — which in recent years have brought in new start-up bars, cafés and restaurants that sit alongside the usual covered market mix of fruit and vegetable stalls and others selling luggage, clothing and material.

Tooting Market is more of a daytime venue, with Broadway Market twinkling with fairy lights at night. In Tooting Market there are ramen bars, burger and Greek restaurants; a wine bar and a branch of the growing Brickwood chain, with its popular brunch menu.

In Broadway Market, diners can choose from poké, sushi or tapas, and from fish, Basque, French and Argentinian restaurants.

Open space

Tooting Bec Common off Tooting Bec Road, Garrad’s Road, Bedford Hill is a large protected area of common land dating back to medieval times and is a Site of Metropolitan Importance.

There are playing fields, a riding manège, a café and historic avenues of trees.

Leisure and the arts

Tootopia is a three-day annual festival at the end of September. Live music can be found at Tooting Tram & Social and The Antelope, both in Mitcham Road, and also at The Wheatsheaf in Upper Tooting Road opposite Tooting Bec station.

Tooting Leisure Centre in Greaves Place has the local council-owned swimming pool.

Tooting Bec Lido at Tooting Common, with its famous, brightly coloured cubicle doors, is London’s most-photographed outdoor swimming pool.

Schools

Tooting has a very decent choice of state primary schools rated “good” or “outstanding” by the government education watchdog, Ofsted.

Primary school

The “outstanding” primary schools are: St Boniface RC in Undine Street; Galton (Muslim) in Broadwater Road; Tooting in Franciscan Road; Hillbrook in Hillbrook Road; and St Anselm’s RC in Tooting Bec Road.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” local comprehensive school is Graveney (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Welham Road; the other is Burntwood (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Burntwood Lane, which is judged to be “good”.

The nearby comprehensive schools are: Chestnut Grove (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Chestnut Grove in Balham, rated “good”; Ricards Lodge High (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Lake Road in Wimbledon, rated “outstanding”, and La Retraite RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Atkins Road in Balham, judged “outstanding”.

Private

Al Risalah Boys’ School (ages 11 to 16) and Al Risalah School (girls, ages three to 16) in Upper Tooting Road are private Muslim schools.​

The Tooting-based private primary schools are: Finton House (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Trinity Road and Hornsby House (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Hearnville Road.

In nearby Balham there is Eveline (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Swan House in Balham High Road. In Clapham there is Thomas’s Clapham (co-ed, ages three to 13) in Broomwood Road, and Broomwood Hall (co-ed, ages four to 13) and Oliver House Catholic school (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Nightingale Lane.

In Wimbledon there is Willington (boys, ages four to 13) in Worcester Road.

In Wandsworth there’s Wandsworth Preparatory (co-ed, ages four to 11) in The Old Library in Allfarthing Lane, and Northcote Lodge (boys, ages seven to 13) in Bolingbroke Grove.

There are two Girls’ Day School Trust schools: Wimbledon High in Mansel Road and Streatham & Clapham High in Abbotswood Road.

Parents in search of an alternative education for their children have the choice of London Steiner (co-ed, ages three to 14) in Weir Road in Balham and The London Acorn (co-ed, ages three to 13) in Morden Hall Park.