Tag Archives: boxing

Peter Waterman’s refreshment hut by the Red House

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Peter Waterman, British and European welterweight boxing champion and elder brother of the actor Dennis Waterman, later ran a refreshment hut on Mitcham Common beside the Red House — serving football supporters near the dressing rooms off Croydon Road / Red House Road.

Born in Stepney on 8 December 1934, Waterman boxed from boyhood, won the ABA light-welterweight title in 1952, fought for Great Britain at the Helsinki Olympics that year, and as a professional took the British welterweight title (1956) and the European title (1957). After a hard fight with Dave Charnley in April 1958 he underwent brain surgery and never boxed again. He died suddenly in Islington on 16 January 1986, aged 51.

The Mitcham Common Conservators’ minutes pick up his Common story a couple of years later. On 14 September 1960 the Board recorded that Mrs Edwards had transferred the Refreshment Licence to Mr Peter Waterman, of 48 Palace Road, Streatham Hill, and granted him a three-year licence for the hut.

In January 1961 he asked for tarmac near the dressing rooms and drive-in, offering an extra £1 a week. Through the early 1960s the Board dealt with higher fees for car-park and football trade, earlier Sunday opening, and — in places where the OCR reads “Mr Waterson” — almost certainly the same licensee. By 1967–68 there were Public Health complaints about the huts at the Red House; meetings followed with Waterman and Merton Council, and the Council was expected not to press further once remedial work was done.

In May 1969 the licence was to be determined and tenders advertised, with the present licensee free to tender. The café remained a recurring Environmental Health item into the late 1970s. On 8 March 1978 the Clerk spoke to Mr Waterman’s Manager about the café and parking. On 7 June 1978 the licence was terminated: the police were content with closure, citing safety with lorries on Croydon Road. On 5 September 1979 the Board noted that the café had been emptied and that Waterman’s Manager should be told the structure was to be destroyed — the site tied in the index to the disused lorry park by Red House Road.

Local memory still links Waterman’s stand with match-day crowds near the Red House (properly the Jolly Gardeners on Mitcham Road / Croydon Road at the Croydon end of the Common — the “Blue House” opposite being the Ravensbury Arms). The minutes do not mention his boxing career or his better-known brother; they show a long-serving Common licensee whose hut served footballers and spectators until the late 1970s, when road safety and health concerns closed that chapter.

Sources: Mitcham Common Conservators Board minutes (esp. 14 Sep 1960; 11 Jan 1961; 1962–63 fees; 1967–68 Public Health; 14 May 1969; 8 Mar & 7 Jun 1978; 5 Sep 1979); Wikipedia / contemporary boxing notices for career outline; local naming of the Red House (Jolly Gardeners).

1933 : Second boxing exhibition

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Mitcham News & Mercury, 10th February, 1933, page 2.

MORE BOXING AT MITCHAM

Large Attendance at the Baths

EVENING OF GOOD SPORT

…. (preamble omitted) …

The opening contest of the evening was between Boy BINKS, of Streatham, and Sammy SMITH, of Mitcham, over six rounds. It was a hard-hitting match, with both men swinging wildly at each other. The first three mrounds went in favour of Binks, who was more aggressive than Smith. However, the tide turned in favour of Smith during the remaining rounds; he had his man down for a count of eight from a stinging right when the bell stopped the fifth round. The sixth round found Smith attacking most. The referee’s decision was a draw.

Scheduled for eight rounds, the next bout lasted for two. Danny GARDINER, of westbourne Park, outboxed his opponent, Jack DAY, of Kingston. Day went to the boards for a count in the first round, but he fought back strongly, to send his man down for a count, the bell saving him.

In the second round Day was knocked off his feet on two occasions, and the referee intervened in favour of Gardiner, Day sustaining a cut eye.

The next bout was a comic event, Albert LLOYD, of Mitcham, drew with Bill HUNTLEY, of Tooting, over six rounds. Both men evoked much laughter from the spectators by their funny tactics, and when they started a fight of their own between the rounds cheers greeted their efforts. Each man in turn went down for a count, and it seemed quite possible that the fight would end with both men on the boards, but it actually finished with both men still wanting to fight on.

A GOOD MATCH

The big event of the evening was between Kid SOCKS, of Bethnal Green, and Sandy McEWAN, of Glasgow. The fight lasted for the full fifteen rounds, and Socks gave an almost perfect exhibition of how to use the left hand. McEwan, on the other hand, was a hard-punching, two-handed fighter.

For the majority of the bout the fighters were well-matched, McEwan striving hard to batter the elusive Socks. In the end it was a case of those pitiless left leads leaving their mark, and the fourteenth round found McEwan weakening, the last two rounds going definitely in Socks’ favour.

The referee awarded the match to Socks on points, but it was a very close fight.

Harry TAYLOR, of Tooting, was unlucky to be knocked out by Bill LEE, of St. James’s, in the second round of their six-round bout, for with his hard swinging rights and lefts he had his man groggy in the first round. His carelessness in the second led to his undoing, for, leavung himself unguarded while he sought to put his man out, he himself caught a right on the jaw, which finished the bout.

The last fight of the evening, over six rounds, between Jack ROBERTS, of wimbledon, and Tom RADFORD, of Tooting, was a battle royal of hectic youth, Both boys flung discretion to the winds and fought in an alarmingly wild manner. Radford was down for a count of eight in the second round, and the bell saved him from the full count at the end of the third round, when a rather low swing from Roberts caused him considerable distress. In the fifth round Radford took the full count and Roberts was awarded the fight.

The evening was ably conducted by Mr. Harry Brevett, late M.C. at the N.S.C., Albert Hall and Olympia, while Johnny Curley as the referee acquitted himself in a praiseworthy manner. The timekeeper was Mr. Hunter, and seconds Arthur Goodwin and Archie Watson.