The London Borough of Sutton () is an Outer London borough in south London, England. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to the east, the London Borough of Merton to the north and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames to the north-west; it also borders the Surrey boroughs of Epsom and Ewell to the west and Reigate and Banstead to the south. The local authority is Sutton London Borough Council. Its principal town is Sutton.
The borough has had some of the schools with the best results in the country.
Low levels of recorded crime have been a feature of the borough, being among the lowest in London.
The London Borough of Sutton was one of the four "vanguard areas" selected in 2010 for the Big Society initiative.
History The area of the modern borough broadly corresponds to the five ancient parishes of Beddington, Carshalton, Cheam, Sutton and Wallington, all of which were historically in the county of Surrey.
The parish of Sutton was made a local government district in 1882. The neighbouring parish of Carshalton was made a local government district the following year. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894. Another urban district was created in 1915 covering the two parishes of Beddington and Wallington.
The Sutton Urban District was enlarged in 1928 to take in the neighbouring parish of Cheam, at which point the urban district was renamed 'Sutton and Cheam'. It was then incorporated to become a municipal borough in 1934. Beddington and Wallington Urban District became a municipal borough in 1937.
The modern London Borough of Sutton was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam, Carshalton Urban District and Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington. The area was transferred from Surrey to Greater London to become one of the 32 London Boroughs.
The 2014 Family Hotspots Report, on the best places in England and Wales for families to live, placed three areas within the borough among the top 10 places in London. The areas were identified as postcodes SM1, SM2 (Sutton town) and SM3 (Cheam). A Rightmove study in 2015 found that Sutton was the fourth happiest borough in which to live out of 33 in London. It achieved the same placing in the 2016 survey.ITV News A Trust for London and New Policy Institute report noted that Sutton had the highest rate in London of pupils achieving 5 A* – C GCSEs. In December 2014 Sutton was described by a senior Government official as the most "normal place in Britain". In connection with this, the leader of Sutton Council described the borough as "quietly brilliant", and noted that 91% of residents say it is "a great place to live".
An Ipsos MORI poll in 2014 found that 97% of residents felt safe in the borough during the day, and 71% felt safe at night, a higher figure than in 2011.Sutton Council press releaseCouncil doc presenting results of Ipsos Mori poll
In 2014, a survey by eMoov (Property Hot Spot Index) found Sutton to be the easiest place in the country in which to sell a property. It was shown in a national detailed Land Use Survey by the Office for National Statistics in 2005 that the London Borough of Sutton had the highest proportion of land taken up by gardens, 35.1%, of any district in England.Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005 2011 census
Districts
Sutton includes the areas:
Bandon Hill Beddington Belmont Benhilton Carshalton Carshalton Beeches Carshalton on the Hill Cheam Hackbridge Little Woodcote North Cheam Rosehill St. Helier South Beddington Sutton (principal town) Sutton Common Sutton High Street (located within Sutton) The Wrythe Wallington Woodcote Green Worcester Park
Surrounding area
Governance
The local authority is Sutton Council, based at the Civic Offices on St Nicholas Way in Sutton.
Greater London representation Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly, the borough forms part of the Croydon and Sutton constituency. The seat has only returned assembly members from the Conservative Party and the current member is Neil Garratt.
UK Parliament Sutton is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Sutton and Cheam and Carshalton and Wallington with one member of Parliament each:
PartyMember of ParliamentConstituency Luke Taylor, replaced Paul Scully in the 2024 General ElectionSutton and Cheam Bobby Dean, replaced Conservative Elliot Colburn in the 2024 General ElectionCarshalton and Wallington
Culture and leisure Descriptions of a selection of the borough's cultural institutions and attractions are set out below.
The Sound Lounge
The Sound Lounge, a grassroots concert venue, opened in December 2020 in Sutton High Street in the former premises of Royal Bank of Scotland. It hosts live performances of blues, Americana, folk and roots music. The venue includes a plant-based, carbon-neutral café, and hosts visual art exhibitions, theatre and dance. The site also incorporates a vinyl record shop (one of two branches of the Union Music Store).
In July 2021 the venue became the country's first grassroots music venue to be certified as carbon neutral. A wide variety of measures have been put in place to achieve neutrality. In addition to the fully plant-based menu for the café, these include getting all energy from renewable sources, not sending any waste to landfill and maintaining an allotment garden on site for zero-carbon produce for the café.
The Charles Cryer Theatre, Carshalton
The Charles Cryer Studio Theatre is situated on the High Street (number 39) in Carshalton Village. It was opened by Prince Edward in 1991. As well as drama and musicals, productions included comedy and dance. With material ranging from Shakespeare to Chekov to panto and children's favourites, the theatre's aim was to balance popularity with quality. The theatre also served as a concert venue for local bands and played host to the popular local Rockshot festival. The theatre is named after the man who led the campaign to open the Secombe Theatre, Sutton, listed below. In August 2016 Sutton Theatres Trust, which owned the theatre, went into administration and it closed. However, at a meeting in October 2018, the local council confirmed that the theatre would be brought back into use, following a successful bid to run the venue (on a 25-year lease) by Cryer Arts Ltd. The company plans a range of events, including music, film and theatre.
The Secombe Theatre, Sutton town centre
The Secombe Theatre (named after Sir Harry Secombe) was in Cheam Road, adjacent to the Holiday Inn Hotel. The theatre was opened by Sir Harry, who lived in Sutton for over 30 years of his life. The theatre was created out of a former Christian Scientist church building originally dating from 1937. The main auditorium seats 396 (or 343 if the orchestra pit is in use), and there is a large multi-purpose function room attached. The Secombe Theatre is operated in conjunction with the Charles Cryer Studio Theatre, named after the man who led the campaign to open the Secombe Theatre. (The Charles Cryer Theatre is in a converted hall in nearby Carshalton – see entry above). Productions at the Secombe have ranged in content from modern productions to new twists on older, more established plays. Some productions have been produced locally, while others have come as part of touring groups. From time to time comedians and musicians have appeared at the theatre.
In 2014, because of local council budget cuts, the venue was, along with its sister theatre, the Charles Cryer Theatre in Carshalton, identified by the Theatre Trust as one of 33 theatres in the country for inclusion on its "At Risk" register. The risk of closure spurred celebrity intervention in favour of the two theatres: writer, actor, comedian and BBC presenter Tim Vine, called on Sutton Council to reconsider its proposals. On 10 November 2014 the local council announced that four organisations submitting outline bids to take over the two theatres had been invited to submit full business cases by 12 December. The council worked with the Theatres Trust and Sutton Centre for Voluntary Services to help bidders through the bidding process. On 15 January 2015 the bid by the new "Sutton Theatres Trust" (STT) was given approval by the council's environment and neighbourhood committee to take over the theatres, thus saving them from closure. In August 2016 the Trust went into administration and the theatre closed permanently.
Carew Manor, Beddington
Beddington Park is the location of Carew Manor which was the home of the Beddington branch of the Carew family. The Grade I listed great hall, with its hammerbeam roof, survives from the Tudor house along with part of the early 18th-century orangery built around the orange trees planted by Sir Francis Carew in the 16th century and claimed to be the first in England. In the grounds is an early 18th-century Grade II* listed dovecote. Archaeologists discovered a Tudor garden including a grotto at Carew Manor, believed to have been created by Sir Francis Carew in the 16th century. There are tours of the great hall organised by the London Borough of Sutton Museum & Heritage Service.
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Beddington, Sutton
The Grade II* listed 14th-century flint parish church of St Mary's occupies a prominent position in Beddington Park, immediately south of what is now Carew Manor School and which was from the late Middle Ages the seat of the Carew family. It contains an organ screen by William Morris. The church is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: It has substantial amounts of fabric from the 14th and 15th centuries It was extensively restored and provided with an extremely elaborate and interesting mid-Victorian decorative scheme. It has monuments and other fixtures of importance from c. 1200 to the 20th century, including font and Carew tombs. The Morris and Co. organ is of special note, and the Last Judgment reredos is unusual.
River Wandle
The River Wandle is a long river which flows through four southwest London boroughs, including Sutton. It passes through Croydon, Sutton, Merton, and Wandsworth where it joins the River Thames. The river changed from being a mainly rural one lined with a scattering of watermills at the beginning of the 19th century to a heavily built-up one by the 1930s. In the second half of the 20th century the river changed again, as the local authorities made improvements to its visual appearance and restored it as a habitat for wildlife. Much of the River is accessible using the Wandle Trail, which passes through Sutton borough at Beddington, Hackbridge and Carshalton (including Grove Park in Carshalton Village).
Little Holland House, Carshalton Little Holland House in Carshalton Beeches was the home of the artist Frank Dickinson (1874–1961). Dickinson's Arts and Crafts style interior was influenced by John Ruskin and textile designer and artist William Morris. The house contains many of his art works. Admission is free and the house is open 1.30–5.30pm the first Sunday of each month plus Bank Holiday Sundays and Mondays.
Sutton Library, Sutton town centre Sutton Library is situated close to the top of the town, near St Nicholas Church and the Holiday Inn Hotel, and is part of a complex which contains the Civic Offices, home of Sutton Borough Council, and the Sutton College of Liberal Arts. It is the largest library in the borough. Originally opened in 1975, it was extensively refurbished in 2004 to meet changing customer needs. It was the first public library to appoint a library writer-in-residence; the first to establish a CD and video lending library; and the first to offer a full public library service on Sundays.