Straddling the border between Wandsworth and Merton, this south western are neighbours Tooting, Balham, and Mitcham. This neighbourhood area is served well by transport routes with local Wandsworth Town station, as well as the A3, a 67-mile road connecting the City of London to Portsmouth. Wandsworth is named after the River Wandle, which joins the River Thames. Wandsworth was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, under the name Wandesorde, which means the ‘enclosure of a man named Waendel’.

This South West London neighbourhood area is the birthplace of many ideas which have helped to shape British democracy. The 1647 Putney Debates held in St Mary The Virgin Church, led to democratic rights we enjoy today such as one man, one vote, and the freedom from military conscription. From the early 19th century, Wandsworth’s industrial history began to develop with a gas plant being built in 1834 near Wandsworth Bridge. Even before this, in the late 17th century, the area was known for silk-dyeing and hat-making amongst French Protestant settlers.

Wandsworth is home to England’s, and possibly the world’s, oldest public railway, which runs from Wandsworth to Surrey. Another fact you may not know is that The River Wandle, running through this area, is the Thames’ largest London tributary.

TFL has announced that it will start work to make the one-way system in Wandsworth more pedestrian and cycle friendly. While the plans have not been revoked, works related to the improvements have not yet begun though they were supposed to have started in 2021. Wandsworth Council have stated in their local plan that the area needs 18,123 new homes over the period of 2015 – 2025, which is just over 1,800 per year. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, overruled Wandsworth Council by permitting a housing development to develop an unused former Homebase site. The new development aims to develop 600 new homes (increased following a revision to the proposal in 2021) with at least 35% affordable housing, and the developer will contribute £2.5 million towards a new entrance to nearby Wandsworth Town station. Plans for the new station entrance, as well as the installation of lifts to make the station step-free, were announced to be moving forward in Summer 2022.