East Clapham is located south of Clapham Common and Clapham North underground station and Clapham High Street. To the east are a few industrial sites, and further yet Brixton; to the west is Clapham Common itself. The area is otherwise completely surrounded by suburban sprawl, though it is segregated from the northeast, owing to the railway line which largely cuts off the area from places such as Stockwell. The area is largely residential, containing the typical Victorian terrace houses which dominate much of south London, as well as a few post-war council flats but also has a fair share of industrial space, including a former timber yard on Acre Lane (which is also in the same complex as a few stores selling DIY equipment and car parts, as well as a storage facility). The area’s commercial functions though remain focused on Clapham High Street.

Clapham, particularly in the run-up to and after the English Civil War, had a strong non-conformist population, consisting of merchants, bankers and ministers. It was a centre for Puritan ministers prior to the Civil War and was later described as a ‘Whig-Warren’. Many of the merchants who moved to Clapham also had strong connections to North America. John Beauchamp and James Sherley, for instance, were two of the four people who financed the settlers on the Mayflower in return for a six-year monopoly on the fur trade with the Native Americans.

Tucked into a corner of suburbia just off Acre Lane, Sonica Studios is a luxurious recording studio offering services from dubbing to animation, music scoring to English Language Training for film projects internationally. A dialogue and VO recording costs £75/hour (base rate).

World Music Network, a UK-based record label specialising in world music, is also based just further up the road. The website features news, reviews, listings and guides sections on world music, as well as an online ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition.

The area near the railways can get noisy, with some flats even being built right next to the lines without sound insulation, this could be a problem, which grows as more Overground trains get added to the network. Farther south, there is a need to rely on the bus network to take one to Brixton or Clapham Common stations, though this is relatively painless.

Recently, a new residential refurbishment project was completed, which renovated a Grade II listed building and former hospital in the are between Clapham Common and Wandsworth Common and transformed it into a collection of luxuriously converted 1-, 2- & 3-bedroom flats and apartments. This development, known as ‘the 1840, forms part of a new residential village which will include a new 32-acre park, retail and café space, a public square, historic listed buildings, and provision for a new primary school.