Category Archives: Buildings

256 and 254 London Road

Building divided into two shops with flats above, on west side of London Road, opposite the White Lion of Mortimer pub (formerly the Bucks Head). Numbered from north to south, 254 is on the right and 256 on the left as viewed from the street. Before 1926/7 this part of London Road was called Mitcham High Street, and the numbers ran south to north.

256 on left and 254 on right, London Road, Mitcham. Photo taken August 2017.

This photo, before 1980 or so, showed two features on the top of the building:

This photo from 1895 shows that before this was built stood the drapery shop of Mrs Lack and Mr Cummings greengrocers, see directory listing below.

1895 clip of Merton Memories photo reference Mit_​Streets_​Lon_​38-14 copyright London Borough of Merton

Before being renumbered in 1926, this part of the London Road was called Mitcham High Street. From the 1891 directory (the shops were numbered from 1 going north):

1, Henry COLLBRAN, butcher
2, S.E. BURTON, stationer
3, Charles GOULD, The Kings’ Arms Public House
4, Mrs H. LACK, draper
5, John CUMMINGS, greengrocer
6, Joseph COOK, butcher
7, T.P. SHEPPARD, grocer
8, William BARTER, grocer
9, George Joseph DALE, news agent

— here is Sibthorpe Road

In the 1930 commercial directory, John CUMMINGS is still listed as greengrocer at number 254, hence 4 High Street became number 256.

In the 1938 commercial directory, A. Lewis and Co. (Westminster) Ltd., is listed as tobacconists at number 254


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

South Suburban Co-Op, 37/39 Upper Green East

Numbers 37 and 39, Upper Green East, is a single building with, currently in 2018, a Cost Cutter shop with flats above. The postcode is CR4 2PF.

Photo taken 1st August 2019

The co-op was not listed in the 1930 commercial directory, but is in the 1938 edition, with a telephone number of 3937.

It is presumed that this was built in the mid 1930s by the South Suburban Co-operative Society, which was a co-op based in Croydon. The society merged in 1984 into the Co-operative Wholesale Society. This ad from 1936 doesn’t give the address, but may be referring to this building:

1936 ad


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