Sutton, London

Sutton is a large town on the lower slopes of the North Downs in south London, England which has the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Sutton. It is located 10.9 mi south-southwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. The town was connected to central London by rail in 1847. An ancient parish in the county of Surrey, Sutton significantly expanded and increased in population as part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century. It became a municipal borough with neighbouring Cheam in 1934, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965. It now forms a significant civic and retail district.

Origin of the name
The placename Sutton is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Sudtone. It is formed from Old English 'sūth' and 'tūn', meaning 'the south farm'. It was probably in relation to Mitcham and Morden that it was considered southerly. The name was later applied to Sutton Common and the Sutton New Town development in the 19th century.

Pre 1700
Archaeological finds in the region date back over ten thousand years, but the first substantial evidence of habitation comes from the excavation of a Roman villa in Beddington. The Roman road of Stane Street forms part of the northern boundary of the parish of Sutton. The course of Stane Street through the area is now followed by the modern roads Stonecot Hill and London Road, and designated A24 on road maps.

William The Conqueror's Domesday Book of 1086 assesses Sudtone:

In the time of King Edward it was assessed at 30 hides; now at 8½ hides. There are 2 carucates in the demesne, and 29 villains and 4 cottars with 13 carucates. There are 2 churches, and 2 bondmen, and 2 acre of meadow. The wood yields 10 swine. In the time of King Edward it was valued at 20 pounds, now at 15 pounds.

The Domesday Book also states that the Abbot of Chertsey held the Manor. This remained so until 1538 when the Manor was sold to King Henry VIII, along with the manors of Ebisham (Epsom), Coulsdon, and Horley. They were all then granted to Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington in that same year. When Sir Nicholas was sentenced to death for treason, the King seized the manors, and they remained possessions of the Crown until King Edward VI granted part of them to Thomas, Lord of D'Arcy of Cliché, but kept the Manors of Sutton, Ebisham and Coulsdon. Queen Mary later restored the whole of these manors to Francis, only son of Sir Nicholas Carew. At a later date, and for unknown reasons, the Manor once more became possession of the Crown until King Charles II granted it to the Duke of Portland in 1663, who sold it in 1669 to Sir Robert Long, who sold it that same year to Sir Richard Mason. The Manor sold almost all of its land and has regularly changed hands since.

From the time of Domesday until the 19th century establishment of local government and disestablishment of hundred courts, Sutton formed a parish in the Wallington hundred of Surrey, in the feudal system. However, by the time of Richard II, the parish was not required to do suit and pay feudal dues at the Hundred Court—probably the parish was exempt on account of liberties enjoyed by its lord.

Post 1700
In 1755, a turnpike road from London to Brighton was constructed, intersecting with a turnpike road from Carshalton to Ewell which was constructed at the same time. The toll bars for Cheam Road and Brighton Road were originally located at right angles to each other by the Cock Hotel, an inn that sat on the south-east corner of the intersection of the turnpikes. The toll bar for Carshalton Road was where the police station is now, though the existence of this toll bar is disputed. All three of these toll bars moved further away from the intersection after a number of years to account for the growth in Sutton's size. The northmost toll bar was situated where Rosehill is now. The toll bars remained in effect until 1882.

Sutton railway station was opened on 10 May 1847. Likely due to the new, fast link to central London, Sutton's population more than doubled between 1851 and 1861. New housing to accommodate this growth was constructed in the Lind Road area, and called the "New Town". Today, a pub on the corner of Lind Road and Greyhound Road is named The New Town. Sutton Water Company was incorporated in 1863, and the provision of water mains finally allowed houses to be built outside of the area defined by the water-yielding Thanet Sands. The Lord of the Manor at the time, Mr Alcock, sold land that was previously unsuitable for residential buildings, making it available for new construction. Sutton's population more than doubled between 1861 and 1871.

During World War II bombing was not as heavy as in central London however the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 187 civilian casualties for Sutton and Cheam. In 1945 the Sutton and Cheam constituency was constituted. In 1959 a local resident George Alcock started a campaign to preserve a unique avenue of Copper Beech trees. This led the same year to the formation of the Sutton & Cheam Society of which he was secretary for many years. A plaque commemorating his life is situated on the corner of Christchurch Park with Brighton Road.

Local Government
Sutton came within the area of the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. The parish authorities lost control of poor relief in 1834 when the parish was grouped into Epsom Poor Law Union. This led to the parish forming part of the Epsom Rural Sanitary District from 1875. The parish of Sutton adopted the Local Government Act 1858 in 1882 and a local board was formed to govern the area, which was constituted a local government district. The Local Government Act 1894 reformed it as Sutton Urban District, governed by an urban district council. In 1928 the area of the urban district was expanded, by the addition of the parish of Cheam. The urban district was renamed to Sutton and Cheam to reflect this. The urban district council successfully petitioned for a charter of incorporation and the town became a municipal borough in 1934. Having only nominal existence within a municipal borough, the civil parishes were merged in 1949. The municipal borough was abolished in 1965 and its former area became part of the London Borough of Sutton in Greater London.

Geology, soil and elevations
Sutton is one of several towns located on a narrow bed of Thanet Sands which extends from Croydon in the east, to Epsom in the west. To the south of this belt is chalk of the North Downs, and to the north is clay. The belt of Thanet sands allowed wells to provide clean water, whereas the clay to the north mostly offered surface water of unsuitable quality. This feature attracted settlements to the sand belt from a very early date.

Elevations range from 115m AOD in the south of Belmont (a contiguous neighbourhood formerly considered part of the town) (or 85m on the borders of the two places, south of the railway station) to 29-33m in the Sutton Common and Benhilton neighbourhoods which are north of the High Street and at the start of the Pyl Brook, the major tributary of the Beverley Brook.

Architecture


Sutton is mainly the product of the railways, so most of the earliest architecture in the town is Victorian, although St Nicholas Church originally dates from before this era. The High Street and the central area housing has a majority of Victorian architecture; Edwardian architecture is also represented, especially among the town's housing stock, as are a variety of more recent eras and styles right up to 21st century.

The two most prominent examples of the latter are the Aspects of Sutton apartment building and the Lamborne. Aspects was created out of a former office building; it was reclad in a terracotta colour and three additional floors were added at the top to house a number of penthouses, and, with a total of eighteen floors, it can be seen from across Sutton. By contrast, the slightly less tall Docklands-style Lamborne apartment building is totally newly built; it is finished in white with wooden inserts and is balconied throughout.

There are three residential Conservation areas in the town of Sutton itself (although there are several others within the wider borough)—Landseer Road, Grove Avenue and Sutton Garden Suburb. In addition, The Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads Conservation Area was designated on 9 May 2011, following a review of the town centre, which highlighted the historic importance of the highway network at the crossroads of Cheam Road/ Carshalton Road and the High Street, as well as the associated buildings and spaces—this Conservation Area focuses around the historic crossroads and stretches from the Station down to Trinity Square.

Landseer Road Conservation Area includes Landseer, Bridgefield, York, Derby, Salisbury and Cecil Roads; a development beginning in the late nineteenth century, completed by 1913 and containing the finest, detailed Edwardian detached and semi-detached houses in the Borough, according to Rookledge. The Sutton Garden Suburb was mostly built prior to World War One. Designed by F. Cavendish Pearson, it has an integrated house and landscape design, some secreted around small greens and others along well-planted avenues. Grove Avenue Conservation Area was a private estate built in 1920s or early 1930s. Here the properties consist of single blocks, each containing four maisonettes, presenting a symmetrical facade to the road. The blocks are alternately built in modernist, or half timbered styles. Many of the details survive, including iron-framed windows, hand-painted number and instruction boards, garage facades, front-garden walls, tree plantings and the estate gate-piers.

Churches


Three main churches are in the town centre: the Sutton Baptist Church, Trinity Church which is a Methodist church and St. Nicholas Church. The Baptist Church is situated in Cheam Road, while Trinity Church and St Nicholas Church are nearby, opposite each other on the western street parallel to the High Street. The Salvation Army have a centre for meetings and helping people through problems in Benhill Avenue. Among a number of others in the vicinity of the town, there is also All Saints Church, just to the north of the town centre.

In contrast to the other two town centre churches, the Baptist Church is relatively modern—it was designed by the architect Nugent Cachemaille-Day (1896-1976) using mainly traditional materials, such as brick and tile, in a style influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement. Built by Messrs. Pitchers Ltd. of Holloway, the church took little more than half-a-year to build, commencing in January 1934 and opening in September the same year, and its notable design aroused interest not only locally, but in church and architectural circles nationwide. The church is considered one of the best examples of a contemporary brick building in the Borough of Sutton. The bold design has imposing proportions with long walls and concave sweeps in the moderne style. The windows are in simple clean lines, in a simplified Gothic style. The interior is considered equally dramatic, with much exposed brickwork and sweeping pointed arches, which are highlighted by the directions in which the bricks are laid, and its clean simplicity is in tune with the ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement, referred to above, as well as the later modern architectural movements.
 * Sutton Baptist Church

More traditional in its architecture is the Grade II listed Trinity Church, whose exterior is in Kent ragstone, but whose "crown and lantern" spire is a very unusual feature, shared with two cathedrals—St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and Newcastle Cathedral. The interior resembles the design of a traditional parish church, except that the wider nave means that everyone in the congregation has an uninterrupted view of the pulpit - an indication of the importance the church gives to preaching. A new church organ was installed in 1922 - originally built in 1912 for a country mansion in Northamptonshire, it was reconstructed for church use and specially adapted to fit in with the church woodwork. 1991 saw the opening of the church's "Oasis Caf". The exterior of Trinity church forms a distinctive landmark for the town, owing to the prominent position of the church and the rare crown and lantern spire referred to above.
 * Trinity Methodist Church

St Nicholas Church is the oldest of the three town centre churches, and is surrounded by a small ancient graveyard, which is wooded. It also contains some lawned areas with benches. Two well used public footpaths run through these grounds. It is in ecumenical partnership with other denominations and in a Team Ministry with other Anglican churches. The present building, which is listed, stands on a site that has been used as a church since Saxon times - an earlier, smaller church occupied the site until the nineteenth century, which apart from its baptismal piscina (font) was replaced by the present church building, which was consecrated in February 1864. It was designed by Edwin Nash, an architect involved in church restoration, whose son lived in Sutton Common Road. The vestry on the north side of the chancel was added in the late 19th century, as was the church's stained glass.
 * St Nicholas Church

Just to the north of Sutton town centre in All Saints Road is All Saints Church. Its parish was created in 1863, and the foundation stone of the grade II* listed building was laid in the same year, designed by Samuel Teulon. The nave and south aisle were finished first, the tower and chancel were added in 1867, while the north aisle was not fully roofed until 1906. The church has always been noted for its bells; the first was the tenor bell, which was presented by Thomas Alcock and was rung on the day the church was consecrated. The framework for a complete peel was fixed in the tower in 1877. Another bell was added the same year, and a third the year after. There were six by 1882 and all eight had been inaugurated by 1893.
 * All Saints Church

Green spaces
In addition to the St Nicholas church grounds, there are two larger areas of green space within the town centre: one called Manor Park, which is situated opposite the police station and which is home to the Sutton War Memorial; and the other called Sutton Green, located at the lower (northern) end of the high street, near All Saints Church.

The memorial in Manor Park consists of a large ornamental cross on a plinth. 524 men who died in the First World War are commemorated on the memorial. In addition it has four panels, one containing an inscription, the other three containing the emblems representing the Army, Navy and R.A.F. The inscription reads:  "This sign of the great sacrifice is raised in honour of OUR HEROIC DEAD, who gave their lives for England in the Great War. Their name liveth for evermore". There are also four angels on the plinth overlooking the park.

Just to the north of central Sutton there is more extensive green space in the form of Sutton Common, which originally (until the beginning of the nineteenth century) encompassed Sutton Green. Today a portion of the Common houses a major junior tennis facility. The Common is situated both to the east and west of Angel Hill.

Slightly further in the opposite direction out of the town lie Banstead Common and Banstead Downs—these start a few hundred yards from the southern end of Sutton, and extend for around a mile further south towards neighbouring Banstead.

Public art
The town centre features six major examples of public art.

Three of the six examples are creations on the side walls of buildings.
 * Exterior wall art


 * One consists of murals depicting Sutton's European twin towns: Gagny, a suburb of Paris; Gladsaxe (a suburb of Copenhagen) in Denmark; Minden in Germany; Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin, and Tavernelle, near Florence in Italy. The murals were designed and painted (on to plywood) by professional artists Gary Drostle and Rob Turner and were unveiled in 1993 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sutton's twinning with Wilmersdorf. Each twin town is depicted with its heraldic shield above a painting of the town, showing some of its defining features. Each has a different plant symbolising its environmental awareness. They are inset within seven facsimile window frames positioned along the side of a Victorian commercial building at the southern end of the High Street near the train station at the junction with Sutton Court Road.


 * In addition, there is a large town centre mosaic measuring 9 metres (30 feet) in height and 5 metres (16 feet approximately) in width, and covering the whole of another three storey wall in the town square near the Waterstones bookshop. Commissioned to celebrate Sutton's main heritage sites, the Drostle and Turner mosaic was made from vitreous ceramic tesserae (small tiles made of glass and clay), and put in place in 1994. Consisting of well over 100,000 pieces, the mosaic took over 1,500 hours to design and construct. It was designed by Rob Turner, and shows several aspects of Sutton's heritage and local history in a classical geometric pattern with nineteen black and white panels set against a multi-colour background. The centre-piece is the depiction of Henry VIII's palace at Nonsuch. Other panels depict armorial bearers from the old local families, as well as  industrial and architectural heritage.


 * There is a third example of such building-height wall art, situated in Wellesley Road, about 100 yards south of the mainline train station. The mural is a specially-commissioned picture depicting an image of Erykah Badu, the American singer-songwriter, record producer, activist and actress. It shows her head, face and shoulders, with beads and multiple bangles which she is wearing held up in front of her, while pink and purple flower petals complete the image.  The painting  covers the entire side wall of Indepth House, a small office building.


 * Armillary


 * In addition to the wall art, there is a "Millennium Dial" Armillary, which was dedicated to the town in the year 2000 by the Rotary Club. It is in the form of an historical timepiece, and it serves three purposes: firstly, simply to tell the time; secondly, to commemorate time through various inscriptions including the Rotary motto "Service Above Self" and distances to nearby areas such as Kingston upon Thames; and thirdly, to commemorate the work which the Rotary Club has done.

The Armillary is a popular feature of the town. It was originally installed in the centre of a small "Millennium Garden", but was slightly re-positioned in 2011, since when it has stood on the edge of the new central square, directly in front of the Waterstones bookshop.

Since 1981 two outside sculptures have been installed in and around the town centre.
 * Sculptures
 * First, The Messenger statue, a sculpture in bronze with very dark patination completed by David Wynne, OBE in 1981 of a large horse and rider. The horse, with a slightly raised left leg, looks towards the railway station. The rider, seated bareback, raises his left hand in the air above his head and his right hand to his mouth, as if calling. It is fully life-size and mounted on a high (7 foot) plinth of marble and granite slabs. The total height is 150 inches. It was a major commission for the sculptor, which took four years from his first idea and inspiration on receipt of the brief through roughing out, refining and foundry to the final unveiling and installation. The creation is located directly outside the main entrance to Quadrant House (in the Quadrant), the large office building near Sutton railway station occupied by Reed Business Information, the well-known media publishing company.


 * Secondly, the Transpose 2002 sculpture by Michael Dan Archer, located at the junction of Carshalton Road and Langley Park Road, about 250 yards from the town's historic central crossroads. It is 7 metres (23 feet) in height, 1.5 metres (5 feet) in width and 1.5 metres in depth, and made of Chinese granite and stainless steel. As its name suggests, it dates from 2002.  Archer says his sculptures "primarily invoke the massiveness and physicality of stone and its relationship to architecture, humanity and landscape".  The design, location and  dimensions of Transpose 2002 all combine to make it a significant landmark for those entering Sutton town centre from an easterly direction along Carshalton Road.

Literary facilities
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.

The library is arranged over four storeys, and the lending and reference facilities extend to a reader's lounge; café and shop; IT facilities; opportunities to listen to music; and a children's library themed around the world's environments. The library aims to focus on the needs of those using its facilities, and to maintain its reputation for breaking new ground. An example of this is the new 3M SelfCheck terminal system, which uses radio frequency identification technology (RFID) to make the library 100% self-service for issuing and returning books, thus freeing up staff to devote more time to giving users a better, more personalised service.

Art exhibitions are held in the library's Europa Gallery.

Sutton Life Centre
The Sutton Life Centre situated in Alcorn Close, just off Sutton Common Road, is an £8 million facility designed to improve life chances for younger people and encourage good citizenship. Its key feature – the lifezone – is a virtual street, a room with screens on all walls using film-set technology to show real-life scenes from Sutton's streets. The Centre also has a library, a cafe, a climbing wall, and community, eco, sports, youth and media zones. The library is designed to be more like a High Street bookshop than a traditional library. It also offers longer opening hours and a self-service facility for borrowing books. The centre tries to encourage community engagement and involvement. It was opened on 27 October 2010 by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Theatre and cinema


The Secombe Centre theatre (named after Sir Harry Secombe) is in Cheam Road, adjacent to the Holiday Inn Hotel. The theatre was opened by Sir Harry in 1983, who lived in Sutton for over 30 years of his life. The theatre was created out of a former Christian Scientist church building. The main auditorium seats 340, 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 Studio is in a converted hall in nearby Carshalton). Productions at the Secombe range in content from modern productions to new  twists on older more established plays. Some productions are produced locally, while others come as part of touring groups. From time to time comedians and musicians appear at the theatre.

The former Granada Cinema, designed by Robert Cromie, originally opened as the Plaza Theatre in September 1934 with the films Catherine the Great and Oliver the Eighth. In common with many cinemas from that era, it has since been demolished (in 1975). Today there is the seven-screen Empire Cinema situated opposite the St. Nicholas Centre shopping centre, to which it is linked by an enclosed, marble-clad walking bridge. It was opened in 1991, at the same time as the Centre.

Historical note: The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones were discovered by a notable music promoter in 1963 at the then Red Lion public house (now the Winning Post) in Sutton. It was during an historic early gig there over half a century ago that the audience included impresario/music manager Giorgio Gomelsky, who spotted and signed the band up for a residency at Richmond's Crawdaddy Club, months before they made the charts and became stars.

It was also at the Sutton pub that, on 23 January 1963, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman became permanent members of The Rolling Stones.

Media
The episode The Return of Mr Bean was filmed at department store Allders on its previous site, which is now occupied by Waterstones book shop and others. Furthermore, episodes of The Bill television programme were often filmed in Sutton and nearby Merton. Additionally, the Channel 4 TV show The Games training is filmed at Sutton Arena. The town's football club, Sutton United F.C. have also appeared regularly on adverts from energy drink manufacturers, Lucozade.

The sitcom "Phoneshop" which began in October 2010 and broadcast on E4 is filmed on Sutton High Street. It is based around a fictional phone shop which has had two different locations on the High Street.

A TV commercial for the dating website "match.com", which was first broadcast in August 2011 was filmed at Sutton Railway Station. The 60-second advert featured an encounter between a young man and woman who are on opposite platforms while he sings to her.

Scenes for the Hollywood film "Black Sea" were shot outside Sutton Grammar School on 1 August 2013. The film, directed by Kevin Macdonald, stars Jude Law, who appears in the scenes getting in and out of a car, while school children walk out of the school in the background.

Context
Sutton is one of the eleven major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan, and benefits from very low crime by London standards (see Crime in London). There are good public transport links through buses and trains (see separate Transport section below), a one-way system around the High Street and three main public car parks, as well as a "car club"—to reduce the need for local car ownership. Two of the car parks are located near the cinema and shopping area, and the third one, as well as the car club, is located near the main library, hotel and theatre.

Sutton has over 6,800 businesses, an increase of about 19% since 1994. Most of these are small or medium sized enterprises, but several large businesses, such as Reed Business Information, the well-known media publishing company, are also present and have major office space in the town: Reed occupies the large Quadrant House office building adjacent to the mainline station. New statistics from business analysts Duport have found that 863 new companies were formed in Sutton in 2012 – the highest number since records began.

Also of note is that the Royal Marsden Hospital has a longstanding presence in Sutton, on a site at the southern end of the town. The site was acquired by Royal Marsden in 1962.

Retailing


Retailing has long been a major part of the Sutton economy, with the Victorian-era  High Street now established for well over 100 years (see photograph in the "History" section above). Sutton High Street starts just north of Marshalls Road and extends for about a mile up to Sutton mainline railway station, just beyond the junction with Grove Road. In more recent years, the town has gained two covered shopping centres, both of which are situated right in the central High Street area. The larger of these is the St. Nicholas Centre with three main levels, and five levels for Debenhams, the main anchor store. Times Square is the smaller of the two. Many of the country's main High Street fashion names are represented in the central area, as are banks, building societies and estate agents.

Sutton also has a number of restaurants, coffee bars, pubs, clubs and bars, including, notably, the country's first branch of All Bar One. The central area is pedestrianised during shopping hours, facilitating the setting up of outdoor tables by several establishments. Sutton's range of restaurants has expanded in recent years, and now includes examples of French, Spanish, British, Mexican, Malaysian, Thai, Pakistani and Turkish themes, as well as the more longstanding presence of Italian, Indian and Chinese establishments. Of note is that Sutton's provision of restaurants includes one (Brasserie Vacherin Malcolm John) which is listed in The Good Food Guide.

There are currently three large supermarket stores in the town centre, the two largest at opposite ends of the High Street, whilst a large Marks and Spencer Food Hall is at the mid-point of the High Street within a large (two storey) M&S store. A fourth large supermarket is located about half-a-mile outside the town centre (in Oldfields Road). A possible fifth is at the planning stage (see below). In addition, there are several smaller food stores in the town.

There are a number of book retailers in the town centre, notably Waterstones which is arranged over two storeys.

Future plans
A 2007 retail study found a need for 25% more retail floorspace as well as new mixed use development to accommodate office space, leisure, cultural and residential facilities. Against this background a number of development schemes of note are at the planning stage, both at the north and the south end of the town centre. Details of the three most significant of these are briefly set out below.

An initial public consultation took place in mid-2012 on  plans for a further supermarket in the town as part of a planned  redevelopment of a large (6 acre), mainly disused site at the northern end of the town centre, which would also include homes, retail units, and a new public plaza around a water feature. A public exhibition for the development (initially dubbed "Sutton North Central") was held in late Autumn 2012, in conjunction with which plans of a more specific nature than previously, including indicative images, were made available. Slightly revised plans, taking account of suggestions from local residents and other local stakeholders, were released in June 2013. Following further revisions, a formal town planning application was submitted in October 2013.

There are also plans to redevelop a site at the southern end of the town centre adjacent to the railway station ("Sutton Point") for mixed use including 300 apartments, a health and fitness centre, office suites, cafes, restaurants and shops, a new public plaza and a 139 room hotel. The scheme will also include a car club to reduce the need for individual car ownership. The scheme was granted planning approval in mid-2013.

In addition, a planning application has been put in to redevelop the large Sutherland House office building in Brighton Road, just south of the railway station, into apartments, restaurants and cafes around an illuminated piazza.

There is co-ordination among the businesses in the town centre in the form of a Town Centre Manager, who works in partnership with local businesses, the Police and transport providers to promote the centre and its future development. The Town Centre Manager co-ordinates the implementation of a programme of initiatives funded by the Council and other partners and set out in a Business Plan approved by a representative Town Centre Management Group.

Transport
Within the town of Sutton, there are three railway stations.

Sutton station is the town's major station, from where frequent direct trains to London Victoria, London Bridge, St. Pancras International, and Blackfriars within central London run. The fastest of the Victoria-bound trains take 26 minutes (stopping only at Clapham Junction). As well as these direct trains to central London, there are also direct services to destinations outside central London including Banstead, Dorking, Epsom, Horsham, Leatherhead, West Croydon, Wimbledon, Luton and St Albans.

Two waiting rooms serve the Sutton station: one has its own cafe; the other has a Starbucks coffee kiosk adjacent. Three lifts serve all platforms - one each for platforms one, two/three and four. The station is set for a major (£1.2 million) refurbishment during the year 2013/2014, which will include, among several other improvements, a new side entry/exit point into the Quadrant.

West Sutton and Sutton Common are both on the First Capital Connect lines to Wimbledon and on to central London direct. Being on the Thameslink line, they continue on to stations both within and the other side of London.

Morden Underground Station lies about two miles from the north end of the town, providing a useful gateway to the Underground network for many residents of the town.

Local bus services that stop at Sutton are operated by London General, Epsom Coaches (Quality Line), Abellio London and Metrobus.

List of primary and secondary schools


The following is a list of schools in the town of Sutton; for a list of all schools in the wider borough, see the article on the London Borough of Sutton

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Sport
Association football club Sutton United F.C. play in the Conference South league at Step 6 of the Football system, and famously beat 2–1 in the FA Cup in 1989. Coventry City were then in Division 1 and winners of the contest two seasons previous. Sutton United's ground is in Gander Green Lane.

Sutton Cricket Club is based in Cheam Road. The Club’s 1st XI plays at the highest level of the sport available to it, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s ‘Surrey Championship Premier Division’ which they won in 2009. The club’s 2nd and 3rd teams also play at the highest level available to them, the ‘Surrey Championship 2nd XI and 3rd XI Premier Divisions’ with the 2nd XI having been league winners in 2009.