Wandsworth - Geography

Geography

There is a band of small and expensive terraced housing (known as the Tonsleys) behind Old York Road — the former centre of old Wandsworth — rising to an area of grander, terraced, semi-detached and detached housing along the roads bounded by West Side Wandsworth Common, Earlsfield Road and East Hill. In contrast, at the base of East Hill is a collection of high-rise council blocks.

The River Front is a former wharf area, and now a long river walk towards Battersea Village and the West End. It is now lined with new apartment blocks, with several bars and restaurants. Notable pubs include the Ship Inn and the Waterfront, on the western and eastern side of (the southern bridgehead of) Wandsworth Bridge respectively.

Wandsworth Common is set back from the river, at the top of East Hill, containing an area known locally as "the Toast Rack" that has some of the most expensive townhouses in London across from Bellevue Road containing several boutiques and the famous restaurant Chez Bruce, formerly Harveys, where chef Gordon Ramsay learned his trade, and which co-owner Bruce Poole gained a Michelin star in 1999, subsequently voted one of London's favourite restaurants in 2006. The area also contains one of Wandsworth's most impressive buildings, the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, which now contains flats, a theatre school and the "Le Gothique" restaurant.

The Tonsleys/Old York Road is a residential area of old Wandsworth close to the river and town centre, so called because many of the street names have the word "Tonsley" included. It has a village feel with the Old York Road's cafes and shops at its heart. The area contains three notable pubs, the Royal Standard, the East Hill and the Alma. Brady's Fish Restaurant serves traditional fish and chips. The area was recently used as the location for the BBC TV series Outnumbered. Houses in this area, although small, sell from £600k to over £1 mil, and are desired because they retain their Victorian character and are in close proximity to the Wandsworth Town railway station. The houses are very popular with city workers, lawyers, advertising executives and other professionals.

East Hill is an area of large Victorian houses bordered by the west side of Wandsworth Common. The De Morgan Centre houses a collection of Victorian artwork.

Wandsworth High Street is a rather traffic-choked street, picking up much of the traffic from the A3, the High Street is dominated by the recently-regenerated Southside shopping centre, cinema and restaurant complex (formerly, and still and more commonly, referred to as the Arndale Centre). Behind the shopping centre, and following the River Wandle upstream towards Earlsfield and further south to Wimbledon, is King George's Park which is home to picturesque ponds, tennis courts, football pitches and cycle paths. Wandsworth Museum occupies the former Victorian library in West Hill having been moved here in 2007. A green plaque to commemorate aviation pioneer Alliott Verdon Roe was unveiled by Wandsworth Council and members of the Verdon-Roe family beside the A3 close to Wandsworth Fire Station on the site of Roe's first workshop in the stables of his brother's house at 47, West Hill.

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