The London Borough of Merton () is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

in Southwest

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The borough was formed under the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

in 1965 by the merger of the

Municipal Borough of Mitcham Mitcham was a local government district in north east Surrey from 1915 to 1965 around the town of Mitcham. History Mitcham local government district was created in 1915 as an urban district from part of the abolished Croydon Rural District. It ga ...

, the

Municipal Borough of Wimbledon Wimbledon was a local government district in north-east Surrey from 1866 to 1965 covering the town of Wimbledon and its surrounding area. It was part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. History Wimbledon Local Govern ...

and the

Merton and Morden Urban District Merton Urban District (1907–1913) and Merton and Morden Urban District (1913–1965) was an urban district in Surrey, England. It was formed in 1907 from the parish of Merton and was expanded in 1913 to take in Morden. The district was abolishe ...

, all formerly within Surrey. The main commercial centres in Merton are

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester ...

and Wimbledon, of which Wimbledon is the largest. Other smaller centres include

Raynes Park Raynes Park is a residential suburb, railway station and local centre near Wimbledon, London, and is within the London Borough of Merton. It is situated southwest of Wimbledon Common, to the northwest of Wimbledon Chase and to the east of Ne ...

Colliers Wood Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is part ...

South Wimbledon South Wimbledon is an area of Wimbledon in south-west London in the London Borough of Merton, England. History Toponymy It is marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1876 as New Wimbledon and on a 1907 map as South Wimbledon. The name is derived fr ...

Wimbledon Park Wimbledon Park is the name of an urban park in Wimbledon and also of the suburb south and east of the park and the Wimbledon Park tube station. The park itself is in area. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is immediately to the west ...

and Tooting Broadway. The borough is the host of the Wimbledon tournament, one of

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

competitions. The borough derives its name from the historic parish of Merton which was centred on the area now known as

. Merton was chosen as an acceptable compromise, following a dispute between Wimbledon and

over the new borough's name. The local authority is

Merton London Borough Council Merton London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Merton in Greater London, England. It is one of the 32 councils that form Greater London. History There were previously a number of local authorities responsible ...

, which is based in

Districts

Bushey Mead Bushey Mead is a small district of the London Borough of Merton, forming a small 'ladder' of terraced streets between Wimbledon Chase railway station and Raynes Park railway station Raynes Park railway station serves the district of Raynes ...

Copse Hill Copse Hill is a low-rise district of the London Borough of Merton to the south of Wimbledon Common, associated with Raynes Park its nearest railway station. It is on higher ground and has the largest green spaces associated with the Raynes Park/ ...

* Cottenham Park * Crooked Billet *

Lower Morden Lower Morden is an area within the district of Morden in south west corner of the London Borough of Merton, to the west of Morden Park and south of Raynes Park. History Until it was absorbed by the suburban expansion of the 1930s, the hamlet (pl ...

Merton Park Merton Park is a suburb in the London Borough of Merton. It is situated between Colliers Wood, Morden, South Wimbledon and Raynes Park. It is 11 miles (11.7 km) southwest of Charing Cross. The area is part of the historic parish of Merton ...

Mitcham Common Mitcham Common is 182 hectares (460 acres) of common land situated in south London. It is predominantly in the London borough of Merton, with parts straddling the borders of Croydon and Sutton. It is designated a Site of Metropolita ...

Morden Park Morden Park is an area within the district of Morden in the London Borough of Merton, and includes the Park itself, an area of green space in an otherwise dense cluster of 1930s suburban housing. The present park and sports fields between Hillc ...

Motspur Park Motspur Park, also known locally as West Barnes, is a residential suburb in south-west London, in the New Malden district. It straddles the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Merton. Motspur Park owes its identity to the railway station of ...

''(also partly

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four royal boroughs in Eng ...

)'' *

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

''(also partly

)'' *

Norbury Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross. Etymology The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note that ...

''(also partly in

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...

and London Borough of Lambeth)'' *

Pollards Hill Pollards Hill is a small residential district straddling south London boroughs of Croydon and Merton between Mitcham, Norbury and Thornton Heath. The boundary of the two boroughs is a street named Recreation Way. No roads directly cross the Cro ...

''(also partly in

)'' *

* St. Helier ''(also partly in the

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is a London borough in south-west London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croy ...

)'' *

* Summerstown ''(also partly in the London Borough of Wandsworth)'' * Wimbledon *

* Tooting Broadway *

Tooting Bec Tooting Bec is in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London, England. History Tooting Bec appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as "Totinges". It was held partly by St Mary de Bec-Hellouin Abbey and partly by Westminster Abbey. Its domesday ass ...

* Beddington Lane *

Sutton Common Sutton Common is the name of former common land and a district and neighbourhood located in Sutton, London. The area is mostly located within the London Borough of Sutton, with some of the streets to the north and west of Sutton Common Park ...

Earlsfield Earlsfield is an area within the London Borough of Wandsworth, London, England. It is a typical London suburb and comprises mostly residential Victorian terraced houses with a high street of shops, bars, and restaurants between Garratt Lane, All ...

History of the Borough

Merton Borough Council

Merton Civic Centre, London Road, Morden (geograph 3090736)

The May 2014 local government elections saw the Labour Party win an overall majority, following the gain of seven seats from the Conservative Party, and one from UKIP. This followed four years as a minority administration. The current council has a Labour majority and its composition is: * Labour: 31 * Liberal Democrats: 17 * Conservatives: 7 * Merton Park Residents: 2

Mayors

At the Annual Council Meeting, a ceremonial mayor is elected to serve for a year. At the same time, it elects a deputy mayor to serve alongside the mayor. The first female Mayor of Merton, Vera Maud Bonner, served from 1973 to 1974. Since 1978, each Mayor must also be an elected councillor. Cllr Mike Brunt who is a Labour councillor for Figge's Marsh ward is currently the Mayor and Cllr Edith Macauley MBE who is a Labour councillor for Lavender ward is his deputy.

Media

A lot of filming for former ITV police drama ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

'' took place in Merton, particularly in the districts of

and

. The set of Sun Hill police station was also located in the Borough. Ray Austin, born at 9 Abbey Rd Merton on the 5 December 1932, is an English television and film director, television writer, novelist and former stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He filmed episodes of '' The Avengers'' and '' The Saint'' in and around Merton. He served as director on episodes of some 150 programs between 1968 and 2010. The main local newspaper in Merton is the ''Wimbledon Times'' (recently changed name from Wimbledon Guardian). This newspaper was founded in 1977 by a former Conservative councillor on Merton Council, but since then the paper has been sold on and it is now widely published in different editions across South London. The newspaper is available free, though there is a charge if bought from a newsagent. It is published each Friday.

Economy

Notable businesses with their headquarters in Merton including: * Eidos Interactive, a subsidiary of Square Enix, located in Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon. *

Lenstore Lenstore is an online optical retailer, specialising in contact lenses, solutions and other accessories and eye care products. History Lenstore was founded on 3 January 2008 by University of Oxford, Oxford graduate, Mitesh Patel. The website w ...

, an online optical retailer, located in

Square Enix Europe Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was i ...

: located in Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon. *

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

head offices, located in Wimbledon, although they are moving out of Wimbledon heading for Tolworth.

Education

London's Poverty Profile
(a 2017 report b
Trust for London
and th
New Policy Institute
found that 40% of Merton's 19-year-olds lack level 3 qualifications. This is the 5th worst figure out of 32 London boroughs.

Transport

Merton is served by a wide range of National Rail stations across the borough, as well as the southern tip of

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

and the

District line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...

on the Wimbledon branch. The borough is also served by several

Tramlink London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...

stops from Wimbledon, that goes to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

New Addington New Addington is a town in South London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located 5 miles south east of Croydon, south of Addington Village and north of Biggin Hill. History Until the 1930s, the area now known as New Addingt ...

Elmers End Elmers End is an area of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, Greater London and formerly part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south of Beckenham, west of Eden Park, north of Monks Orchard and east of An ...

and

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

. It is the only London Borough which has tube, rail and tram services. London Underground stations *

* Wimbledon Tramlink stops * Wimbledon * Dundonald Road *

* Morden Road * Phipps Bridge * Belgrave Walk *

* Mitcham Junction National Rail stations *

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

* Haydons Road * Wimbledon *

Wimbledon Chase Wimbledon Chase is a south-west London suburb part of the wider Wimbledon area. It takes its name from Wimbledon Chase railway station and thus it is an informal definition: parts vie with the definitions of Merton Park, which has a tram link s ...

* South Merton * Morden South * St Helier * Mitcham Junction * Mitcham Eastfields *

In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: driving a car or van, 19.2% of all residents aged 16–74; underground, metro, light rail, tram, 13.0%; train, 13.0%; bus, minibus or coach, 7.5%; on foot, 5.0%; work mainly at or from home, 3.4%; bicycle, 2.4%.

Demographics and social conditions

In 2001, the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

recorded that 25% of the population of the borough was from an ethnic minority. The highest ethnic populations were recorded in wards in the east of the borough in

Eastfields Eastfields is an area of South London situated between Mitcham and Streatham. The area is home to St Mark's Academy (formerly known as Eastfields and then Mitcham Vale) secondary school and to Mitcham Eastfields railway station, which opened on ...

and

. The percentage of population from ethnic minorities is predicted to rise across the borough within the next decade. A 2017 report b
Trust for London
and th
New Policy Institute
found that Merton has a poverty rate of 20%, which is the 7th lowest rate in London. It also found that the level of pay inequality in Merton is lower than in any other borough, except neighbouring Croydon. According to the council's comparative assessment of wards made in 2004, the most deprived wards within the borough were in the south and east where unemployment rates, educational attainment and the quality of health were worst. The most affluent wards were in the north and west of the borough. Comparative crime rates appear to be unrelated to the deprivation ranking of wards. The wards containing Mitcham town centre and the St Helier Estate are ranked highest for crime within Merton with the wards containing the commercial shopping centres of

and Wimbledon also featuring high in the ranking. The constituency area of Wimbledon is an affluent area of

with a high proportion of city workers, while Mitcham and Morden is relatively deprived by comparison, which explains the geographical split of political representation of the borough at both national and local elections. Merton currently operates a Police Cadet scheme under the Metropolitan Police Service.

Ethnicity

Features of interest

Wimbledon tennis tournament

Each year

The Championships, Wimbledon The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

, better known as simply Wimbledon, one of the four tennis

tournaments (along with the US, French and Australian Opens) is held at the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...

in Church Road Wimbledon. The event takes place over a fortnight at the end of June and beginning of July and is the largest annual sporting event to take place in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

with over 200,000 visitors during the Wimbledon fortnight.

Football

The borough gained a football team in 1889 when Wimbledon Old Centrals were founded, and were soon a member of the local football leagues. The club later adopted the title ''Wimbledon FC'' and moved into a new stadium at

Plough Lane Plough Lane – named The Cherry Red Records Stadium for sponsorship reasons – is a football stadium in Wimbledon, south-west London, which has been the home of AFC Wimbledon since 3 November 2020. A groundshare with rugby league side London ...

in 1912, where it would spend the next 79 years. As the 20th century wore on, the club enjoyed considerable success in non-league football. The club was elected to the Football League in 1977 and enjoyed a great run of success when began in 1983 with the Fourth Division title, and saw them reach the First Division in 1986 – a mere nine years after joining the Football League. They quickly established themselves in the highest division of English football, and as clear underdogs, pulled off a shock win in the

1988 FA Cup Final The 1988 FA Cup Final was the 107th final of the FA Cup. It took place on Saturday, 14 May 1988 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Wimbledon and Liverpool, the dominant English club side of the 1980s and newly crowned league champio ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, England's most successful and dominant club side in Europe during that era. They were founder members of the FA Premier League in 1992 and survived at that level until 2000, before relocating to Milton Keynes, some 70 miles away in Buckinghamshire, in a controversial move in 2003, being rebranded as

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

in 2004. The club had left its Plough Lane stadium in 1991 to ground-share with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

at Selhurst Park, with numerous plans to build a new stadium in a number of different locations (including back in London and even in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

) being considered over the following decade before the club's owners chose Milton Keynes as their destination. However, a new Wimbledon club – AFC Wimbledon – was formed to represent the local area in 2002 by fans of the original club after the move to Milton Keynes was given the go-ahead. The new Wimbledon club's progress was rapid, and after just nine years in existence they won promotion to the Football League in 2011. The club gained permission in 2016 it to build a new stadium back on Plough Lane, using the former Greyhound Stadium around a hundred yards from its old stadium site and still within in the London Borough of Merton. In 2018 the final agreements were signed off and demolition work started on the site (for both stadium and 600 flats) in April 2018. Building was completed for the 2020–21 season. The first competitive game in front of fans was played on 14 August 2021, a 3–3 draw against Bolton Wanderers. The borough also has five non-League football clubs:

Colliers Wood United F.C. Colliers Wood United Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in West Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. The club is affiliated to the Surrey County Football Association. The club are currently members of the ...

who play at Wibbandune Sports Ground; Raynes Park Vale F.C. who play at Prince George's Fields; Tooting & Mitcham United F.C. who play at Imperial Fields, Morden; and Merton Forest F.C who also play at Prince George's Fields and a Celebrity Fundraising Football team �
Celeb FC
who play all over the UK without charge for small UK charities.

Darul Amaan Mosque

Darul Amaan Masjid is part of The Darul Amaan Trust, a nonprofit organisation, established in early 1978 in Colliers Wood, Southwest London. Darul Amaan Affiliates Sunni Islam. Darul Amaan Mosque has been serving the community for the past years providing the basic day to day services to the Muslim community including five daily prayers. Friday communal prayers, Eid Prayers and basic Islamic education for young ones. The Mosque is currently under construction for an re-development which costs approximately £2.5million.

Television

The

Talkback Thames Talkback Thames (stylised as talkbackTHAMES) was a British television production company, a division of Fremantle (part of the RTL Group, which in turn is owned by Bertelsmann). It was formed by the merger of Talkback Productions and Thames ...

television studio on Deer Park Road was used as Sun Hill Police Station in the ITV police drama

from its inception in 1984 until it was axed in 2010.

Sister cities

* Irving,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the

Freedom of the Borough The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Merton.

Individuals

* Andy Murray : 20 July 2014. *

Angela Mortimer Florence Angela Margaret Mortimer Barrett, MBE (née Mortimer; born 21 April 1932) is a British former world No. 1 tennis player. Mortimer won three Grand Slam singles titles: the 1955 French Championships, the 1958 Australian Championships, ...

: 27 June 2014. *

Ann Haydon-Jones Ann Shirley Jones, (née Adrianne Haydon on 17 October 1938, also known as Ann Haydon-Jones) is a British former table tennis and lawn tennis champion. She won eight Grand Slam tennis championships in her career: three in singles, three in wome ...

: 27 July 2014. *

Virginia Wade Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three Major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all ...

: 27 July 2014.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
*

Dickie Guy Richard John Guy (born 6 January 1949) is an English former Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Wimbledon F.C., Wimbledon during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, Guy is the President of AFC Wimbledon, the supporter-owned club which repr ...

: 16 July 2021.

References

External links

Merton InformationMerton CouncilMerton Voluntary Service Council – local voluntary, community and political groupsLondon Borough of Merton – openlylocal
{{DEFAULTSORT:London Borough of Merton Merton 1965 establishments in the United Kingdom