Tooting Life

Listed as one of Time Out London's 'hot neighbourhoods' of 2008, Tooting is a culturally vibrant place with an exciting, diverse and mixed background of people and cultures.

This diversity is reflected in the shops, restaurants and wide range of local facilities you'll find right on your doorstep. Big-name chain stores such as Sainsbury's and Primark weigh in on the high street, but Tooting comes into its own with the large variety of specialised and traditional shops and grocery stores – not to mention Tooting and Broadway markets, which provide a fascinating and cosmopolitan selection of clothes, fruit and vegetables from around the world.

If you’d rather have your food cooked for you, Tooting has an excellent selection of decently priced restaurants, with cuisine from all corners of the globe. It is particularly renowned for its many curry houses and cafes specialising in food from the Indian sub-continent.

When it comes to working off all that food, local sports facilities (in addition to SGUL’s own sports centre) include Tooting Leisure Centre and pool, Central London Golf Centre, horse-riding, Tooting Bec Lido (the largest open-air pool in the British Isles, and frequented by Brad Pitt!), Tooting athletics track and the nearby Streatham Ice Rink. If it’s spectator sport you’re after, one of London's few greyhound-racing tracks, the Wimbledon Stadium, is within walking distance. There are also plenty of green spaces in the area. In addition to several small park areas, our halls are located within 10 minutes' walk of the expansive and leafy Wandsworth Common, while Tooting Bec Common is also nearby.

A great advantage of our location in London Transport's zone three is that students are able to live in affordable accommodation within walking distance of lectures – saving you time and money getting around.

But that's not to say you can't be in the very heart of London in next to no time. Tooting has excellent public-transport links, with two Tube and one train station, and multiple bus routes.

Hop on the Tube at Tooting Broadway and it’s a mere 20 minutes to the centre of London, so whether it’s shopping in Covent Garden, seeing the latest exhibition at the National Gallery or Tate Modern, or catching a West End musical, the capital is your oyster.There are also two night buses that run all night directly to Tooting, if checking out London’s eclectic nightlife is more up your street.

Many SGUL students say studying in Tooting really does offer you the best of both worlds – it’s small enough to maintain a friendly, local atmosphere so you don’t feel ‘lost’, but it’s close enough to the bright lights of central London to have all the advantages of having one of the best cities in the world on your doorstep!

Fast facts:

• Tooting Lido is the largest open air pool in the British Isles
• The Beatles used to live in Tooting Bec
• There are over 50 places to eat in Tooting
• There are more than 15 places of worship in Tooting, servicing four major religions
• Jimmi Hendrix, The Police, The Rolling Stones and Jerry Lee Lewis have all performed at Tooting Granada, (now Gala Bingo)
• Merton Abbey Mills, a short bus ride away, is host to Abbeyfest, a Summer festival of theatre, music and comedy
• Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times, and its name means "the dwelling of the sons of Totas"