Half-residential, half-industrial, this neighbourhood area is split between Norbiton to the north and Berrylands to the south. The area is made up of mostly Edwardian and post-war estates, with a couple of small Victorian family homes and highstreets whose shop fronts face out onto relatively busy roads. Split through the middle by the Hogsmill, a tributary of the Thames, its north bank is home to residential culs-de-sac and green spaces such as the Kingston Cemetery and Kingsmeadow, while the southern side is a combination of suburban industrial and rural areas with a few houses around Berrylands station. Norbiton and the aforementioned Berrylands stations, in the north and south respectively, provide semi-regular trains into London Waterloo, but nearby Surbiton or Kingston-upon-Thames offer more in the way of transport and retail, as well as schools and spaces for recreation. Norbiton, however, has the advantage of sitting one zone closer to London (zone 5), and is therefore cheaper to travel from, making it a popular spot for commuters.

This once-rural area was an outlying farm or grange on the eastern edge of medieval Kingston. As Kingston was a noted coaching town, many residents and owners of coaching firms refused to allow the railways through the town until 1863, and it wasn’t until 1869, when that line from Kingston extended through Norbiton. The subsequent house building near the station was quick, however, and a number of Victorian streets were built up over the next few decades, drawing in many who commuted into the city for work. When Queen Victoria wished to visit the affluent residents of Coombe Hill, her train stopped at Norbiton station as is was the only station in the area whose platform is at ground level – the Queen did not wish to climb up or down a staircase so Kingston and New Malden were out of the question! Nearby Tiffin School was moved to the area in 1929 and began providing secondary education for those who lived in the neighbourhood. The area saw redevelopment of many of its brownfield sites in the 1960s and 1970s and the subsequent building of a large number of council properties, most of which remain today.

While it’s unlikely that he actually lived in the area, there’s no doubt that the former So Solid Crew rapper, Michael (MC) Harvey, spent a great deal of his life here. As a former AFC Wimbledon player, Harvey would have donned his boots and played on the hallowed turf of Kingsmeadow, juggling his commitments to non-league football with those of the UK Garage scene. He later went on to pursue a solo music and acting career, before becoming a contestant on Gladiators and then Big Brother in 2012, in which he finished 6th.

Kingsmeadow, right in the centre of the neighbourhood, is home to both the title winning Chelsea FC Ladies and the former home of AFC Wimbledon, who play in League Two – a surprising spot for such established teams.

The Hogsmill River, which flows through the centre of the neighbourhood, is the setting for the famous painting, Ophelia (1851-2), by John Everett Millais, which is considered one of the masterpieces of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The painting depicts a scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which the heroine, Ophelia, seemingly willingly drowns in a river in Denmark, and is hung on permanent display in the Tate Britain.

The large council estate on Cambridge Road was used as a location on The Bill and the BBC series Some Girls.

A common symptom of these south western suburbs is their lack of convenient travel, particularly at night. While the trains from Norbiton and Berrylands run to London at relatively regular intervals in the day, they stop around midnight, so travelling home from London can prove difficult later in the evening.

There is a £1bn project underway to regenerate the Cambridge Road Estate on Cambridge Road, which will hopefully increase the number of properties from 832 to 2170, including 767 for council rent, following a council-led ballot amongst residents, who voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolition and rebuilding. There are, however concerns over the lack of affordable homes, as well as worries over biodiversity, the carbon cost of demolition and rebuilding, and how well the project will align with the surrounding landscape. Despite the concerns, demolition began on part of the estate in December 2022, with the project slated for completion by 2033.