No longer exists. It was a cul-de-sac off the south side of Phipps Bridge Road (the part of which is now Liberty Avenue), and west of Willow View.

1952 OS map

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 2nd February, 1968:

HOMES MUST GO – MINISTER
Shore Street residents lose fight against demolition
Colliers Wood redevelopment plan confirmed

A GROUP of Colliers Wood residents have lost their fight to prevent their homes being
demolished in a housing redevelopment scheme.

The Ministry of Housing this week approval Merton Council’s controversial compulsory purchase order for 34 properties in the Shore Street area.

But some of the residents have gained a partial victory, for while their homes will still be demolished, they are not now considered unfit for human habitation.

Nine properties have been transferred from this category and their owners will get compensation at the higher market value instead of site value.\

‘The best solution’

And another 12 owners are to receive good maintenance payments for keeping properties, confirmed as unfit, in good condition.

At a public inquiry in October, the council claimed all but one of the houses were unfit and sought approval to remodel the whole area.

Residents claimed many of the properties were quite habitable and others could easily be improved. Demolition, they said, would not be the answer.

But the Minister has accepted his inspector’s recommendations that the demolition of all the buildings is the best solution, and has confirmed the order.

Town Clerk, Mr Sydney Astin, said this week : “In accordance with the Minister’s instructions, market value and good maintenance payments will be made, where applicable.”

The houses were described by the Medical Officer in an inspection in January, 1939:

January 28, 1939

To the Chairman and members of the Public Health Committee,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

SHORE STREET

As requested by the Committee I have made a detailed inspection of the houses on Shore Street.

There are fourteen houses, eight (1-8) situated on one side of the road and six (9-14) on the opposite side. The houses are between sixty and seventy years old. All the houses are of fairly sound construction and the outside walls have been built with a hard brick. The roofs are made of slate and are fairly sound.

The rents vary from 9s. to 10s. per week.

The front room of each house opens directly on to the pavement. There is no bad arrangement of the street, and each house has plenty of air space both front and back.

As far as the inernal arrangement is concerned there is on the ground floor a front living room, with a scullery behind, and on the first floor, a front and back bedroom. The height of the rooms varies from 7 ft. 9 ins. to 7 ft. 11 ins. In some cases the floor of the front room ground floor is of concrete, in others it is wood. The staircase in all the houses is extremely dark.

Although the houses are old they are not unfit for human habitation, and the defects which found can be remedied at a reasonable cost.

As far as I have been able to ascertain there has been only one recent occasion in which the street was flooded, and this was due to the gulleys being blocked by rubbish. In heavy storms the rain beats in under the doors of some of the houses and causes the floors to become very damp. This state of affairs could probably be remedied by raising the height of the door steps and attention to the fit of the doors. Some of the houses have back additions which make the scullery very dark, and cause a certain amount of dampness.

Two of the houses are overcrowded, and two showed the presence of vermin infestation.

The owner has always complied with any sanitary notices that have been served.

A. T. Till
Medical Officer of Health

SCHEDULE OF DEFECTS
By house number

1. Three adults, seven children. Small fractures in brick work of back wall. Slight dampness round chimney breast in back bedroom.

2. Two adults, two children. Flooring of front room ground floor requires repairing. Cracked chimney pot on front chimney stack.

3. Two adults. Rainwater pipe front of house leaking. Small repair required to pointing of brickwork of front wall.

4. Two adults, three children. Slight ground dampness in living room. Small repair required to pointing of brickwork of front wall.

5. Two adults, two children. Joint forming the interspace between the window frame and brickwork of living room defective.

6. Four adults. Flooring by door defective. Rainwater gutter and pipe at rear defective. Stone window sill of back bedroom defective. Dampness around chimney breast in back bedroom.

7. Two adults, two children. Flooring week in living room.

8. Two adults. Dampness in corner of front bedroom by parapet wall.

9. Two adults, one child. Good condition.

10. Three adults. Dampness around chimney breast back room first floor.

11. Two adults, five children over 10 years of age. Good condition.

12. One adult. Joints forming interspace between window frame and brickwork living room defective. Defective stair tread. Countless round chimney breast in back bedroom. Slight dampness above matchboarding in front room ground floor.

13. Two adults. Week flooring of front room ground floor. Stone window sill back bedroom first floor. Woodwork of windows back bedroom first floor defective.

14. Four adults. Week flooring front room ground floor. Flooring defective by cover. Rainwater gutter and pipe at rear defective. Stone window sill of back bedroom defective. Woodwork of back bedroom window defective. Dampness around chimney breast of back bedroom.

Source: Minutes of the Mitcham Borough Council, volume 5, pages 315-6.

Occupants in 1925 street directory

North Side
1 Alfred BULL
2 Gilroy M HARRINGTON
3 Charles Jesse COLES
4 Thomas ROSUM
5 Geogre NOVELL
6 James SEAGRAVE
7 Walter READ
8 Frederick John PAYNE

South Side
14 George CODD
13 Ernest Garrat REEKS
12 Mrs F PROCTOR
11 Arthur Cecil POULTON
10 Harry WARNER
9 Mrs SINEY

Occupants in the 1933 Electoral Register

1, Harry, Elizabeth and Eleanor BULL
2, William Henry and Marian Maud CHADWICK
3, Charles Jesse and William Henry COLES
4, Charles and Adelaide Violet CARTWRIGHT
5, Harriett, Edith May and Florence Ethel NOVELL
6, James, Louisa and Richard SEAGROVE
7, Walter and Ada Alice READ
8, Frederick and Lilian Maud PAYNE; George Frederick DUMSDAY
9, Jane IVES; Violet SINEY; Arthur and Beatrice THOMAS
10, Harry, Alice and Henry James WARNER
11, Arthur Cecil and Rose POULTON
12, george, Florence and Kathleen Susan PROCTOR
13, Ernest Garrett and Margaret REEKS
14, George Francis, Bertha Eleanor, Harry and Esther Emily CODD

clip from Merton Memories photo, copyright London Borough of Merton

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Minutes of meetings held by the Mitcham Borough Council are available on request from the Merton Heritage and Local Studies Centre at Morden Library.