Wandsworth Heritage Festival: 23 May to 14 June

Posted 4 March 2026

Tooting History Group is currently getting ready for the launch of the Tooting Historic Shops Trail. Events will run as part of the Wandsworth Heritage Festival – this year’s focus is Wandsworth’s shops and high streets. Full details will follow, but in the meantime you can find dates and times on our Events page..

Planning application: 2025/2256 Land rear of 2-28 Bickley Street

Posted 25 January 2026

A planning proposal has been submitted for a small mews-style residential development on a ‘brownfield site’ at the back of a terrace of maisonettes on Bickley Street and next to Granada Street, which runs alongside the Grade I listed Granada Cinema building.

Although not opposed to the principle of the development, Tooting History Group has expressed its concern, as this is in an Archaeological Priority Area. We have suggested that in the event of the planning application being approved, and before work begins, further investigation of the site is essential. Recent submissions from Historic England are encouraging. For more information follow this link. 

Planning application: 2025/4580  Diprose Lodge The Chapel 750 Garratt Lane SW17 0LY

Posted 25 January 2026

Tooting History Group is pleased to see Listed Building Consent sought for a ‘limited, conservation-led programme of investigative and enabling works to Diprose Chapel, a Grade II listed building forming part of the former St Clement Danes Holborn Estate Almshouses’.  

The building has been vacant for some years and was sold last year at auction. Details from the agent together with those included in the application indicate some damage including from water ingress. We feel the proposed intervention is well timed. For more information follow this link.

An Asset of Community Value: the Granada Cinema

Posted 1 November 2025

Tooting History Group is delighted that Wandsworth Borough Council has accepted our nomination to list the Granada Cinema building at 50-58 Mitcham Road as an Asset of Community Value. We are grateful to members who supported our application and to Wandsworth Officers for processing and issuing the status.

Built in 1931 as a cinema by the architect Cecil Massey, with interiors by Theodore Komiisarjevsky, it is considered the most spectacular in Britain, the only building of its kind to be awarded Grade I listed status in its entirety. In the late 1950s, as television eclipsed cinema, the Granada also became a concert venue and hosted huge internationally renowned acts including Sinatra, the Beatles and the Stones. This musical heritage contributes to its historic significance.

For now the Granada as ‘Buzz’ is a mecca for bingo-loving dabbers in Tooting and beyond, but with its rich history and architectural splendour the building itself has always been a main attraction, and continues, rightly, to be a source of huge local pride. Fortunately for Tooting residents, and for those who come to visit the historic interiors, Buzz allows access free of charge to the building.

The ACV status recognizes just how much the Granada cinema building means to our community. It has had several previous owners and purposes, and this listing helps ensure that a future owner is aware of its place and importance to the Tooting community, and that access to it is all important. The ACV takes effect from 29th October 2025 and is valid for 5 years.

46 Longley Road: Sir Harry Lauder’s former home

Posted 25 October 2025

Tooting History Group has been concerned about the redevelopment of 46 Longley Road, Tooting for 10 years. The house is one of the most historic in Tooting, having once been lived in by the world-famous music hall and radio star, Sir Harry Lauder. The developer has flouted the agreed planning permission and ignored conditions agreed by Wandsworth Council in 2020. Despite numerous complaints from THG and local residents, no enforcement action has been taken by the Council until now.

At the Planning Applications Committee on 23rd October, Planning Enforcement Officers are recommending the developer takes remedial action to rectify the breeches of planning permission. It is extremely disappointing to THG that our previous complaints were ignored and investigations were closed. We are asking that the remedial work will take less than the 14 months outlined in the report. More information can be found here.