Category Archives: Roads

1989 : Shops in the Parade

1989 list of shops in ‘The Parade’, the original name for the parade of shops now known as numbers 225 to 261 London Road.

from Fair Green to Langdale Avenue

Didico, chemists
J & P, off licence
Borris, ladies wear
Kentucky Fried Chicken, fast food
Hong Kong House, Chinese takeaway
Electrical Domestic Appliance Centre
Binneet, newsagents
Toullas, hairdressers
Midland Bank
Saviles Cycle Store
Walkers, fishmonger
Bamboo House, Chinese restaurant

from Langdale Avenue to the telephone exchange

Nationwide Anglia Building Society
Nino, hairdressers
Perfect Pizza, restaurant
Abba’s Fashions, ladies wear
Trattoria Romana, restaurant
John Lewis, opticians
Gresham Motors, garage

Merton Memories Photos taken around 1987

Didico, J & P, Borris, Kentucky Fried Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hong Kong House, Electrical Domestic Appliance Centre, Binneet

Toullas, Midland Bank, Saviles Cycle Store, Walkers, Bamboo House

Nationwide Anglia Building Society, Nino, Toytime

Trattoria Romana, John Lewis, Gresham Motors

Notes
237 London Road was H.J. Chapman, newsagents in 1955, and in 2019 it is Shreeji News.

239 London Road was from 1952 until 1976, a ladies and gents hairdressing shop called “Shaw’s“, owned by Tom and Lily Shaw, which then became “Toulla’s. In 2016 the dentists ‘Simply Bright’ moved there from Fair Green Parade.

255 London Road – see Toytime for ad from 1987

York Place

Terrace of 7 shops, on the north side of the Fair Green, west of the London Road. It became part of St Marks Road, until demolished to make way for Majestic Way in the late 1980s.

york-place

early 1900s

Eric Montague’s Mitcham Histories : 7 The Upper or Fair Green, Mitcham, page 108 said that in 1828 at number 4 lived William HILLS, a local builder who the last parish beadle. Montague suggested that York Place was built in the first two decades of the 19th century.

1921

1921

1964

1964

From the Dentists Registry entries from 1879 to 1893, William James Jones was in practice as a dentist with the pharmacy at 1, York Place before 22nd July 1878.

From the 1891 street directory:

from High Street to Killick’s Lane

NORTH SIDE

1 W.J. Jones, chemist & stationer
2 Post Office
3 William Saynes, beer retailer
4 Joseph Shepherd, corn dealer
5 G.B. Bennett, tobacconist

7 William Shepherd, machine agent

Number 3 was the Lord Napier pub, before becoming George York’s funeral business.

In the 1915 street directory, these retain the numbers as above, but are part of St. Marks Road:

NORTH SIDE

1 John K. Harvey, chemist
2 Mrs L.C. Williams, dining rooms
3 George York, undertaker
4 H. Tedder, hair dresser
5 William Whittington, tobacconist
6 William Augustus Martin, butcher
7 S. & E. Rimmel, grocers

In the 1925 street directory, the shops have been renumbered odd:

1 John K. Harvey M.P.S., chemist
3 William Scratchley, dining rooms
5 George York, undertaker
7 H. Tedder, hair dresser
9 William Whittington, tobacconist
11 A. Bacon, hosier
13 S. & E. Rimmel, grocers

From the 1954 telephone directory:

1 J.K. Harvey, chemist & druggist, MIT 0892
3 Thorpes Radio, MIT 3964
5 George York, undertaker, MIT 2926
7
9
11
13

(Scratchley’s Dining Rooms is in the 1954 phone book at 310 High Street, Sutton VIG 4125)