Living in Surbiton: area guide to homes, schools and transport

Fearing damage to its carriage trade, Kingston refused to allow the builders of the London and Southampton Railway to open a station in its town centre.

Instead the station was built a mile further south in 1838 in what is now known as Surbiton, a town which hardly existed previously.

Today, the inhabitants of Surbiton should still give daily thanks for an accident of history that allows them to get to Waterloo 10 minutes faster than their neighbours.

Gleaming white, Art Deco Surbiton station starred in the 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and also in the first episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot on ITV in 1989.

On the Surrey or south bank of the Thames, Surbiton is 11 miles south-west of central London, with Kingston upon Thames to the north; New Malden and Worcester Park to the east; Hook, Chessington and Tolworth to the south and Thames Ditton and Esher to the west.

Locals have long shrugged off the portrayal of their town as ultra-suburban in BBC hit Seventies sitcom The Good Life, starring Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal as Tom and Barbara Good pursuing a self-sufficient life, and the reaction of their conservative neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter, played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

Estate agent Gene Kelly, of the local branch of Hamptons, says the biggest change he has seen in 15 years is the influx of south-west London buyers who’ve realised the commute to the City from Surbiton is quicker than from many more central Tube stations.

“In Surbiton they get more for their money, a more relaxed lifestyle and a village atmosphere.”

This month 25,000 cyclists on the Prudential RideLondon 100-mile bike ride raced along Surbiton’s Portsmouth Road passing the remains of the historic waterworks that played a central role in the battle against cholera.

The disease killed 52,000 people in the epidemic that swept the country in the two years following an outbreak in 1848.

In 1852 the Lambeth Waterworks Company opened a plant at Seething Wells in Surbiton supplying clean water to south London.

Pioneering doctor John Snow was able to correlate where people were dying from cholera with the water they were drinking, providing evidence that cholera was a waterborne disease. It led to campaigns for clean water and a whole new branch of science, that of epidemiology.

Five years ago Surbiton’s filter beds were under threat of development. The campaign to save them was led by community group State of Seething, which also runs Surbiton Food Festival.

It recently took over Brighton Road premises to run its Museum of Futures with a community kitchen, and has also launched The Suburban Farming Project, a food-growing venture in nearby Tolworth.

Surbiton has a strong sporting tradition. Surbiton Hockey Club in Sugden Road, Long Ditton, is one of the country’s premier clubs, with the women winning hockey’s top contest for the last six years and the men for the last three years.

Players are frequently called up to the national squad. Surbiton Croquet Club in Alexandra Drive is the largest in London, welcoming everyone from beginners to world champions and hosting many championship events.

The property scene

One of Surbiton’s big advantages is the wide range of homes to buy. There are early Victorian villas and cottages; Victorian and Edwardian detached, semi-detached and terrace houses; Twenties and Thirties detached and semi-detached houses; post-war houses from every decade from the Fifties; Art Deco blocks of flats and more modern town centre apartments.

The large, detached houses in leafy streets are found mainly south of the town centre, in Southborough and Long Ditton.

The most expensive house currently on the market in Surbiton is a seven-bedroom double-fronted Edwardian property that has been recently refurbished, in St Mary’s Road in Long Ditton, priced at £2.9 million.

The town centre has St Andrew’s Square, a garden square with large Victorian houses, most of them divided into spacious flats. There are a couple of two-bedroom flats for sale in the square, one at £390,000, the other at £499,950.

The so called “river roads” between Maple Road and Portsmouth Road have pretty Victorian cottages which local Hamptons agent Gene Kelly says are always popular. Two are currently for sale, both with two bedrooms — one in Cleaveland Road for £700,000 and the other in Westfield Road, priced at £650,000.

The Crescent, overlooking Claremont Gardens, is a fine Art Deco block where a three-bedroom flat is for sale at £775,000.

East of Ewell Road in Berrylands there are Victorian houses in the roads closest to Surbiton station. However, the rest of Berrylands comprises Twenties and Thirties detached houses, semis and bungalows.

The most expensive house in Berrylands is a detached double-fronted Twenties home in Pine Walk, on at £1.75 million.

Three-bedroom semis start at about £750,000. According to Gene Kelly, they are becoming popular with families looking for houses that they can extend in order to add to their value.

New-build homes

Tolworth Square in Fullers Way North is a Taylor Wimpey scheme of 106 flats and houses with up to four bedrooms. Two-bedroom flats start at £384,950. Call 020 8012 2262.

Two three-bedroom flats remain at Indigo Scott’s Indigo Square development of 39 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats and two- and three-bedroom duplexes in Brighton Road. Prices start at £700,000. Call Barnard Marcus on 020 8390 8181.

Broomfield Lodge on the corner of Broomfield Road and Ewell Road is the conversion of a former Victorian parish school into nine flats which are ready to move into. Five remain, with one-bedroom flats starting at £395,000, two-bedroom flats from £575,000 and three-bedroom flats at £695,000. Call Dexters on 020 8614 1222.

Beaufield Homes is building two five-bedroom detached houses in the Edwardian style in Southborough Road which will be ready in the autumn. One is priced £1,995,000 and the other is £2.1 million. Call Savills on 01372 461900.

First-time buyers and shared ownership

Richmond Housing Partnership has two two-bedroom shared-ownership flats at Indigo Square, from £123,125 for a 25 per cent share of a flat with market value of £492,500. Call Red Loft on 020 7539 3745.

Rental homes

Hamptons’ Gene Kelly says Surbiton is popular with young commuters, singles, couples and sharers, and anything close to the station rents quickly.

One-bedroom flats range from £950 to £1,350 a month at Surbiton Plaza, a new town centre scheme. Two-bedroom flats range from £1,150 to £2,200 a month in a converted Victorian church in Maple Road.

Surbiton also has a good supply of house shares for students at nearby Kingston University.

Staying power

Hamptons’ agent Gene Kelly says houses in Southborough and Long Ditton are houses for life with many families staying in the same one for 20 or 30 years.

Postcode

KT5 covers Berrylands; KT6 the town centre, Southborough and Long Ditton but also less-desirable Tolworth.

Best roads

In Southborough it is Ashcombe Avenue, Woodlands Road and Langley Avenue and in Long Ditton it is St Mary’s Road, Ditton Hill Road and King’s Road.

Up and coming

Gene Kelly points to a pocket of Victorian houses in Tolworth off Ewell Road where there is a small town centre with shops.

For example, Beaconsfield Road has two- and three-bedroom semi-detached Victorian houses with entrances at the side. Houses in this road currently for sale range from £565,000 to £700,000.

Transport

Surbiton is close to the A3 and its station has fast non-stop trains to Waterloo which take around 20 minutes. The stopping trains take half an hour but stop at Clapham Junction for trains to Victoria and Vauxhall for the Victoria line.

Berrylands is the next station up the line and the trains take a few minutes less to reach Waterloo, stopping at Clapham Junction and Vauxhall.

Surbiton is in Zone 6 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 is £2,568. Berrylands is in Zone 5 and an annual travelcard costs £2,400.

Both stations are included on the proposed Crossrail 2 route.

Council

Most of Surbiton is in Liberal Democrat-controlled Kingston, where Band D council tax for 2019/2020 is £1,900.85. Long Ditton is in Elmbridge (no overall control) and Band D council tax in 2019/2020 is £1,935.37.

Shops and restaurants

The busy town centre along St Mark’s Hill, Victoria Road and Brighton Road doesn’t seem to be suffering too badly from being so close to Kingston.

There are large branches of Sainsbury’s and Waitrose and chain stores M&S Simply Food, Clarks, Poundland, Boots and chain cafés and restaurants Pizza Express, Costa, Caffè Nero and Zizzi.

There is a good choice of independent coffee shops, notably Pickled Pantry, The Press Room, the Clocktower Café, Surbeanton and Soprattutto Cafe; and restaurants The Italian Taste, and Ex Cellar, a wine bar and restaurant.

Lounge Bosco in boutique Hotel Bosco is a champagne and cocktail bar with occasional live music.

Maple Road is where the best restaurants are found; the most popular for special occasions is The French Table run since 2001 by Eric and Sarah Guignard which has a café, bakery and patisserie; The French Tarte, next door; a few doors down, No 97 is another local favourite and the owners have recently opened pizzeria Cento Uno.

The road has three pubs: the Gordon Bennett, The Grove and The Antelope.

Elsewhere The Harts Boatyard is a pub overlooking the river on Portsmouth Road and Langleys is a restaurant and wine bar off the beaten track in Ewell Road. The Regency Bookshop in Victoria Road is an independent bookshop.

On the corner of Brighton Road and Portsmouth Road is a branch of wine merchant Braithwaite’s.

Open space

Surbiton may be a green and leafy suburb but all its parks and recreation grounds are small, although Claremont Gardens is pretty oasis in the town centre.

There are riverside walks, although much of the river at Surbiton is obscured by filter beds, now a sanctuary for wildlife.

Hampton Court Park and Bushy Park are on the Middlesex or north side of the Thames but can be reached in a few minutes by train. The Hogsmill River Trail is a four-mile walk along the River Hogsmill from Malden Manor station to Kingston which passes to the east of Berrylands.

Leisure and the arts

The CornerHOUSE in Douglas Road in Tolworth is the local community arts centre. In nearby Kingston there is an Odeon multiplex cinema and IMAX and the Rose Theatre, founded by Sir Peter Hall, is the largest producing theatre in south-west London.

Surbiton Golf Club is in Woodstock Lane in Chessington.

The two nearest council-owned swimming pools are at the Malden Centre in Blagdon Road in New Malden and the Elmbridge Xcel Leisure Centre in Waterside Drive in Walton-on-Thames.

Surbiton and nearby Kingston upon Thames have top-performing state primary, comprehensive and grammar schools and private primary, preparatory and secondary schools.

Primary schools

All the state primary schools are rated “good” or better by Ofsted. Rated “outstanding” are St Andrew’s and St Mark’s Juniors CofE in Maple Road and Tolworth Infants in School Lane.

The two Kingston grammar schools —Tiffin (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Queen Elizabeth Road and Tiffin Girls’ (ages 11 to 18) in Richmond Road — both get the education watchdog’s “outstanding” rating.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” comprehensive schools are Tolworth Girls’ (ages 11 to 18) in Tala Close and The Kingston Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Richmond Road.

The comprehensive schools judged “good” are The Hollyfield School (co-ed, ages 11 to18) in Surbiton Hill Road, and Southborough High (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Hook Road.

Further education

Esher College (co-ed, ages 16 to 18) is a large sixth-form college in Weston Green Road in Thames Ditton that is rated “outstanding”. Kingston College (co-ed, ages 16-plus) in Kingston Hall Road is the local Further Education college.

Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College (co-ed, ages 18-plus) is a Specialist Designated College offering a range of adult education courses and the Hillcroft campus in South Bank in Surbiton specialises in women’s residential courses.

Private

The local private primary and prep schools are: Shrewsbury House (boys, ages seven to 13) in Ditton Road; and in Kingston: Holy Cross RC (girls, ages four to 11) in George Road; Educare Small School (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Cowleaze Road; Park Hill (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Queen’s Road, and Rokeby (boys, ages four to 13) in George Road.

The private all-through and secondary schools are: Surbiton High (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Surbiton Crescent and in Kingston there is Kingston Grammar (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in London Road; Canbury School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Kingston Hill and Marymount (girls, ages 11 to 18) a day and boarding International Baccalaureate school in George Road.