Sutton High Street
Sutton High Street is a high street running north–south through the town of Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton.
The High Street area constitutes the sixth most important retail centre in London, and is home to many restaurants and major retail names. It is pedestrianised for most of its length, and a conservation area runs down a three hundred yard section. There are three examples of public art in the street, and parks at either end of it. In 2017 the High Street gained Heritage Action Zone status, the first in London to do so.
History
The section of road that is now Sutton High Street dates from the Middle Ages, and developed into part of the main road from London to Brighton. By the 18th century Brighton's popularity as a coastal resort was growing, and the route was well used, but not yet regularly maintained. This was put right in 1755 when the enacting of turnpike legislation provided a means for the road's better maintenance. This, combined with its intersection with the east-west Carshalton/Cheam Road, led to the development of a small settlement around the tollhouse in what is now the centre of the town. By the beginning of the 19th century Sutton had become a fully-fledged village, and the road was dotted with a number of houses, pubs and shops from Sutton Green southwards up to the Cock crossroads. The road was used frequently by the Prince Regent to access Sutton Lodge on Brighton Road, and, being the main route to Epsom Downs, it was also heavily used by visitors to The Derby. In 1801 the population of the town stood at 579, at that point lower than the other settlements in the borough. However, by 1861 it had risen enough to make Sutton the largest settlement in the borough.Their position on the London to Brighton turnpike provided the village's two large coaching inns, the Cock and the Greyhound, with trade serving coaches travelling through the village. The Cock Hotel's sign straddled the Brighton road, and its proprietor was the champion pugilist, "Gentleman" Jackson. The building was demolished in 1898, shortly after a new Cock Hotel had been constructed on a directly adjacent site to the north. Twenty horse drawn carts passed up and down this stretch in a day. Regular contact beyond the town brought both expansion and sophistication. Small businesses opened up, at first directly related to travellers on the turnpike – bakers and brewers to feed visitors, seamstresses to provide running repairs, leather workers to make or mend harnesses – and then to provide trade goods for neighbouring communities.
When the railway arrived, Sutton's people had become travellers themselves. The population of Sutton grew and the village turned into a town. The High Street near the top was known as Cock Hill until the 1880s – the shops on the east side were built in 1880, ten years later than those on the west side.
A notatable building to appear around this time was the grand and decorative 1894 London and Provincial Bank building, which stands over the historic crossroads. It is four storeys tall and forms a prominent landmark when arriving in the town centre from a westerly direction. There is a series of arches at ground level, and the main entrance is on the corner where the two roads meet, rounded in shape and surrounded by an ornate architrave and segmental pediment.
By 1900 the High Street had become heavily built up. By the late 1930s the shops had altered, but the buildings above remained much the same. One new building at this time was Ernest Shinner's new department store, which replaced a Baptist church that had been built in 1886. This later became a branch of Allders.
A long lasting retail business in Sutton dated back to the 1860s – Pearson Cycles was originally a blacksmith shop, but in the 1890s changed to bicycle making and repair. The Pearsons run the cycle business from the same High Street location to 2020 It has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest bicycle shop in the world., when the branch was closed
Conservation Area and Heritage Action Zone
The high street includes a conservation area, the Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads Conservation Area, which was designated on 9 May 2011, following a review of the town centre, which highlighted the historic importance of the highway network at the crossroads of Cheam Road/Carshalton Road and the High Street, as well as the associated buildings and spaces. The conservation area focuses on the area around the historic crossroads, and stretches from the Station down to Trinity Square. The local authority noted that the buildings, especially their upper storeys, were worthy of preservation and enhancement. Its report concluded that Conservation status was warranted on the basis of the historic importance of the area together with its architectural and aesthetic merit. The designation would enable the provision of guidance to landowners and developers on maintaining and improving the historic aspects of the area.Gordon Rookledge in his "Sutton Architectural Identifier" remarks on the "vivid, Victorian, polychrome brick and stone façades" in his description of Sutton High Street.
;Heritage Action Zone
In March 2017 it was announced that Sutton town centre had been designated one of the first ten Heritage Action Zones by Historic England. Gaining this status will unlock resources to enhance the historic environment, including the conservation area, with the aim of encouraging economic growth. Heritage will be made a central consideration for new developments in the area, so as to retain the town's distinct architectural nature.
Landmarks
Sutton High Street began as a shopping street in Victorian times and in 2014 was London's sixth most important retail centre, attracting shoppers from a wide area. It is often the chosen location for new retail ventures.Many of the country's main High Street names are represented in the central area,
as are banks, building societies and estate agents.
Sutton High Street has in recent decades gained two covered shopping centres, both of which are situated in the central High Street area:
- The larger of these is the St. Nicholas Centre, opened in 1992 with three main levels, and five levels to provide space for a department store.
- Times Square is the smaller of the two. It opened in 1985, and was granted planning approval for a refit in June 2014; the work was completed in 2017. The refit was assessed as being a "high quality refurbishment scheme which will make a significant contribution towards the regeneration of this part of the Town Centre." It is expected to attract further major high street names.
St Nicholas Shopping Centre
In recent years, the centre has faced challenges due to the changing retail environment. In 2021, Sutton Council purchased the leasehold interest of the site, aiming to redevelop it into a modern retail, leisure, and community hub. The redevelopment plans include high-quality retail spaces, new homes, and improved community facilities, reflecting the evolving needs of the local population.
This includes the search for a development partner to redevelop the existing St Nicholas Shopping Centre, Civic Offices, Gibson Road car park, and the vacant Secombe Theatre sites. The redevelopment aims to create a vibrant and sustainable town centre with modern retail spaces, new homes, and improved public facilities. The Council’s vision includes a new Civic Hub on the High Street, which will house council offices, a library, and spaces for community activities and events. This initiative is part of a broader effort to enhance Sutton’s appeal as a place to live, work, and visit, leveraging its excellent transport connections and growing status as a hub for cancer research.
Restaurants and bars
The Sutton High Street area also has a number of restaurants, patisseries, coffee houses, gastro pubs and cafe bars. The central area is pedestrianised, facilitating the setting up of outdoor tables by several establishments.Sutton's range of restaurants has expanded in recent years, with culinary offerings from around the world including French, Spanish, British, Mexican, Malaysian, Thai, Pakistani, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Italian, Indian and Chinese cuisine These include a French restaurant which is listed in The Good Food Guide and is Michelin-listed.
Rolling Stones gigs in High Street pub
There is a pub in Sutton High Street called the Winning Post, at the time known as the Red Lion, in which The Rolling Stones played several gigs and where they were spotted in 1963 by Giorgio Gomelsky, a noted music manager, who was in the audience during a historic early gig there. It was also at the Winning Post that, on 23 January 1963, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman became permanent members of the band.In 2011, the Winning Post was added to a list of buildings and structures of local significance.
Booksellers
There are a number of book retailers in the town centre including Waterstones. Its site once was an independent department store when it was built and opened by Ernest Shinner in 1935, and was taken over by Allders in 1979. Allders moved to the then new St Nicholas Centre in 1992. This branch of Waterstones was the first to have a cafe installed.Public Art
Sutton town centre features six major examples of public art, three of them in the High Street.The "Millennium Dial Armillary" was dedicated to the town in the year 2000 by the Rotary Club. The Millennium Dial Armillary is a popular feature of the town and continues to provide an iconic focus for the town centre. It was originally installed in the centre of a small "Millennium Garden", but was slightly re-positioned in 2011, since when it has stood on the edge of the new central square, directly in front of the Waterstones bookshop.
The other examples of public art in the High Street are building-height murals. One consists of a set of seven individual murals on a side wall depicting Sutton's European twin towns. The murals were designed and painted by professional artists Gary Drostle and Rob Turner and were unveiled in 1993 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sutton's twinning with Wilmersdorf.
There is also the Heritage Mosaic measuring high and wide, and covering the whole of another three storey wall in the town square near the Waterstone's bookshop. Commissioned to celebrate Sutton's heritage, the Drostle and Turner mosaic was made from small tiles made of glass and clay, and put in place in 1994. It was designed by Rob Turner, and shows several aspects of Sutton's heritage and local history. The centre-piece is the depiction of Henry VIII's palace at Nonsuch.