Man and van in Tooting
Three kinds of front door in one postcode: a 1900s cottage on Totterdown Fields, a tall late-Victorian house on the Heaver Estate, and a new-build flat at Springfield Village with its own loading rules.
Covering Tooting Broadway, Tooting Bec, Furzedown, Totterdown Fields, Tooting Graveney and Springfield Village.
Man and van in Tooting: the A24 and the hospital streets
The A24 runs the length of the neighbourhood as Upper Tooting Road and Tooting High Street, past both Northern line stations. It is a bus corridor with enforced lanes and the shops' loading bays are time-limited, so a flat above the High Street is served from the side streets, not the front.
Blackshaw Road and the streets around St George's Hospital are the other pressure point. Hospital traffic, staff parking and ambulance routes keep them busy all day, and the one-way streets between Garratt Lane and the hospital funnel everything the same way. A move on Fountain Road or Blackshaw Road goes better early, before the clinics open.
Totterdown Fields, the Heaver Estate and Furzedown
Totterdown Fields, between Upper Tooting Road and the Common, was the London County Council's first cottage estate, built in the 1900s and now a conservation area. The houses are two storeys with a small front garden and a door straight off the path. They were built for families with little furniture; a modern sofa or a king-size bed base needs measuring against the door and the turn of the stair.
The Heaver Estate, between Balham High Road and Tooting Bec Road along the Common, is the opposite: wide streets of big late Victorian and Edwardian houses, most of them now two or three flats. Here the question is floors, not doors. Furzedown, towards Streatham, is late Victorian terraces and interwar semis, with the odd driveway.
Springfield Village, on the old hospital grounds between Burntwood Lane and Glenburnie Road, is new: blocks with lifts and houses on managed streets, each developer's part with its own managing agent. Vans come in from the Glenburnie Road side, and the agent sets where one may stand, so ask before you book the hours.
Permit zones around the stations, freer streets further out
Wandsworth runs controlled parking on the streets around Tooting Broadway, Tooting Bec and the High Street, with hours that cover the working day. Totterdown Fields is inside the zone and has no off-street parking at all, so the van competes with residents for the kerb; a bay suspension from Wandsworth, arranged a few days ahead, settles it.
Out in Furzedown and Tooting Graveney the controls thin and some houses have a drive. Say so when you book and the van can load from a few steps away.
- Which door: cottage, converted house or new-build block
- Whether the street is permit-controlled and a suspension is in place
- Whether you are near St George's, so the start time avoids clinic hours
- At Springfield Village, where your managing agent says the van may stand
Narrow cottage doors and the Common's edge
On Totterdown Fields the carry is short, but every big item is a test of the doorway and the staircase. Dismantling the bed and taking the feet off the sofa saves more time than a bigger van would.
On the Heaver Estate it is the reverse: wide doors, high ceilings and three flights of stairs, with a sofa that has to turn on two landings on the way down.
Removals in Tooting, matched to the house
A man with a van moving a cottage, and house removals from a split Edwardian villa, need different hours for the same list of furniture. Name the estate or the street when you book and the driver will know which job it is. Add the floor, the parking position and, near the hospital, the time you want to start.
- Totterdown Fields cottages: narrow doors and a tight stair turn, so measure the big pieces.
- Streets around St George's Hospital are busy all day; start before the clinics open.
- The A24 bus lanes mean High Street flats are loaded from the side streets.
- Springfield Village: your block's managing agent decides where the van stands; vans come in from Glenburnie Road.
- Furzedown and Tooting Graveney: freer parking, and some houses have a drive.
Congestion Charge and ULEZ in Tooting
Tooting is outside the Congestion Charge zone. A move within SW17, or on to Balham, Streatham, Mitcham or Wimbledon, never pays it.
ULEZ and any charge are in the driver’s price. How pricing works
What a move from Tooting costs
Other areas close to Tooting
SW11, SW12, SW17, SW18
SW4
SW19, SW20, CR4, SM4
SW2, SW4, SW8, SW9, SE11, SE27
Moving in Tooting: your questions
Measure it first. The cottages were built in the 1900s with small doors and a tight stair. Taking the feet off a sofa and dismantling a bed base saves more time than any van size.
Early. Hospital traffic, staff parking and the one-way streets off Garratt Lane fill the area through the day, so a start before the clinics open keeps the booked hours on the move.
No; the A24 bus lanes are enforced and the loading bays are time-limited. Give the nearest side street and the driver loads from there.
Not for a move within SW17 or to the neighbouring areas. The zone is miles north, across the river.