Tooting Town Centre Survey

Since 2006 we have been pushing for a better deal for Tooting from Wandsworth's Tory Council. At last the council has conducted a survey of shopping patterns in the area with the aim of boosting the local economy and bringing a wider range of shops to the town centre.

The results show there is a need for Tooting shops to ‘liberate consumers’ spend’. Sainsbury’s is a big draw at the weekend for shoppers but Croydon is the main competing centre and therefore the biggest challenge to Tooting. Top requests are for women’s fashion, bookstores, electrical goods and toys/games/hobbies.

800 people were surveyed throughout the town centre at different days and times; 50% of people questioned were from within 1 mile of the Town Centre. During the week, Tooting is a very localised centre with 50% of shoppers living within 0.9 mile and 80% within a 2.8 mile radius. - most shoppers is use Tooting for convenience goods, but go elsewhere for more expensive items.

The ‘Urban Intelligence’ group makes up 44% of Tooting’s catchment population; this group is made up of 25-34 year old young singles, degree-educated, with high disposable income. One third of visitors are from a further ‘Ties of Community’ group – longer term residents of the area; Tooting is also popular with ‘Welfare Borderline’ and ‘Twilight Subsistence’ groups with lower disposable incomes. However, 66% of the residents in the catchment are from the ABC1 socioeconomic groups.

A key finding is that ‘Parking is a prohibitive factor to people using the centre’. The lack of large units of floorspace is a further problem for big retailers so the Council’s property team is investigating land ownership of sites in Tooting.

The Future for Tooting

Labour's three key points for Tooting are:

• 
  The Council needs to be proactive, using the information from the survey to sell Tooting to retail chains.


• 
  We need to build on the cultural and social diversity which makes Tooting a unique area.


• 
  Timing is vital – as the country emerges from the recession we need to catch the wave as retailers look to expand.