Tag Archives: 1953

Worthington Close

New road with housing off east side of Tamworth Park, north of Commonside East and south of Tamworth Lane. The road is parallel to Tamworth Park. There are 33 properties in this road, numbered consecutively from 1 to 33, all with the postcode CR4 1JQ.

aerial view looking towards the east

aerial view looking towards the east

Possibly built in 1988 or 1989. Planning permission 88/P1199 was applied for in 1988 for Numbers 54/56 and land and premises rear of numbers 2-52, Tamworth Park, Mitcham
for the redevelopment of site by the erection of 6 x three bedroom houses 6 x three bedroom flats 12 x two bedroom flats and 19 x one bedroom flats together with associated parking and landscaping. This application was refused and an appeal was lodged, with that being refused as well. The LB Merton planning website doesn’t however show the application that was allowed for the current development, which is of 4 blocks, 2 of flats, and 2 terraces of houses.

This 1910 OS map shows that a field, numbered 268, of 1.182 acres, where Worthington Close is now.

1910 OS Map

1910 OS Map


The Tithe Apportionment Map of 1846 shows that this field was part of the land owned by John Watney.

The 1938 OS map shows a cluster of buildings at the north end of this field.

1938 OS Map

1938 OS Map

The 1953 OS map helps to identify these buildings:

1953 OS map

1953 OS map


On the map, there is one building with a number: 54. The houses in Tamworth Park are numbered to 52 before the access road to these buildings, and 56 after, so the address of this is 54 Tamworth Park. This was the address of the Tamworth Park Construction Company, which built Tamworth Park. It was owned by Joseph Owen, who donated the land for the Mitcham Library.

Other occupants of 54 Tamworth Park included the company Hyrax Lubricants Ltd., which applied for a trademark in 1940 for its product “Hyrax-Petrecon”.

Planning application MIT1836, dated 21st December, 1955, has a B.S. Bartlett of 54 Tamworth Park being permitted use of part of 54 Tamworth Park for a garage and motor repair business. It is believed that this property continued to be used for car repairs until the mid 1980s (from a comment on the Facebook Mitcham History Group).

Allen Bros (Mitcham), Ltd.

360/364 London Road

Car sales and repair business that was the on west side of London Road, south of the White Hart pub and on the north side of the corner with Broadway Gardens.

Being a Austin Rover dealer they did a repair on my Rover 3.5 in 1984:

13th November 1984 invoice for repairs to a Rover 3.5

89th February 1985 receipt

The garage also rented cars:

part of rental agreement dated 17th May 1985

Clip from Merton Memories photo, copyright London Borough of Merton.

The site was used by KwikFit for a number of years, as seen in this 2008 Google StreetView:

These aerial views are from Bing:

kwikfit-to-north

kwikfit-to-south

The site was bought by a property developer who wanted to build a block of flats. With the KwikFit signage removed, parts of the original words used by Allen Bros could be seen.

September 2014

September 2014

September 2014. Allen Bros (Mitcham) can just be seen revealed after KwikFit signage was removed.

September 2014. Allen Bros (Mitcham) can just be seen revealed after KwikFit signage was removed.

Demolition began in early December 2016.

13th December 2016

13th December 2016

Photo taken on 2nd January 2017

Photo taken on 2nd January 2017


From 1953 Who’s Who in the Motor Industry digitised by Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History:

Car and Light Commercial Vehicle Stockists.
360, London Road, Mitcham, Surrey.
Telephone: 0867.

Directors:
M.D. Allen.
Lt. Col. F.E. Manning O.B.E.
P.L. Smith.
H.F. Priest.

Note that M.D. Allen referred to Malcolm Day Allen, see obituary below.

Mitcham Advertiser, 3rd July 1958

HE FOUNDED A MOTOR FIRM

The funeral took place on Friday of Mr. Malcolm Day ALLEN, founder and managing director of Messrs. Allen Bros., the Lower Mitcham motor firm, who died at Herring-on-Sea, Sussex. He was the third son of the Rev. Bevill Allen, for 36 years minister of Tooting Congregational Church.

Mr. Allen, who was a bachelor, aged 66, lived with his sister in Langdale Avenue. He attained distinction as an airman in the first world war and as a leading figure in the formation and support of the Mitcham Air-Training Corps.

He flew bombers in the first world war and commanded 2157 (Mitcham East) Squadron A.T.C. in the last war.

At the funeral service in Tooting Congregational Church (his father’s church), and at the London Road Cemetery, Mitcham, were Mr. E.J.D. Field, chairman of Mitcham Magistrates Court, Mr. W. Dalton, a former mayor of Mitcham, who represented the Tooting Church, Mr. Manning, a fellow directors, and representatives of organisations connected with the R.A.F.

Merton Memories Photos
Mr. F.E.Manning, with his son in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in 1957
Vintage car outside Allen Bros. Garage


Advertised as the Broadway Garage in 1937:

1937 ad

1937 ad

1961 advert from Norwood News, via the British Newspaper Archive