New Malden

New Malden
New Malden High Street, 1993
New Malden
New Malden shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ215685
London borough	Kingston Merton
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEW MALDEN
Postcode district	KT3
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Kingston and Surbiton Richmond Park
London Assembly	South West Merton and Wandsworth

New Malden is a suburb in south-west London, in the boroughs of Kingston and Merton, and is 9.4 miles (15.1 km) from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities are Kingston upon Thames, Raynes Park, Surbiton, Tolworth, Wimbledon and Worcester Park.

History

New Malden was established entirely as a result of the arrival of the railway when what is now called New Malden railway station was opened on 1 December 1846 on the main line from Waterloo. However, when Queen Victoria visited distinguished residents in the Coombe Hill area, the royal train always continued to Norbiton station where the platform was at ground level.

Building started slowly in the area just to the north of the station, gathering pace in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with two- and three-bedroom terraced houses. Further out are larger detached and semi-detached houses from the 1930s. The name of the road up the hill to Coombe, Traps Lane, is thought to derive from a farm owned by a Mrs Trap. Following the opening of the Kingston bypass in 1927, the farms to its south progressively gave way to suburban development.

Two miles (3 km) to the south is the former village of Old Malden (from which New Malden gets its name) whose origins go back to Anglo-Saxon times, the name being Old English for Mæl + duna = "the cross on the hill".

Under the District Councils Act 1895, The Maldens & Coombe Urban District Council was created (the plural relating to Old Malden and New Malden). In 1936 Malden and Coombe was granted full Borough status, with its own Mayor, and had the rare distinction of a civic mace bearing the royal insignia of King Edward VIII. In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 came into force merging the boroughs of Malden & Coombe and Surbiton with Kingston upon Thames to form the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

New Malden is home to the offices of many large organisations, including Nestle Purina (until 2012 when Nestle moved its UK headquarters to Gatwick ^[1]) and Northrop Grumman.

Description

New Malden is bounded to the north by the affluent Coombe Hill and to the south and east by Raynes Park, Worcester Park and Tolworth. New Malden includes Motspur Park, home to the training ground of Fulham Football Club and also the King's College London sports ground, home to the training ground of AFC Wimbledon.

• To the west: Kingston upon Thames, Norbiton
• To the south: Old Malden, Surbiton, Tolworth, Worcester Park
• To the east: Motspur Park, Raynes Park, West Barnes
• To the north: Coombe, Richmond Park, Wimbledon

The busy A3 trunk road runs through part of New Malden. A minor tributary of the River Thames, Beverley Brook, flows through the east of the town, while its western boundary is along the Hogsmill, another Thames tributary.

The first parking meters were made in New Malden at Venners Ltd.

Demographics

Korean community

Kmart, a Korean supermarket in New Malden

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames has one of the largest expatriate communities of South Koreans in Europe, and is said to be one of the most densely populated area of Koreans outside South Korea.^[2] According to different sources, as of 2014 there were about 10,000 ethnic Koreans in New Malden proper,^[3] and as of the same year the Korean population in the area around New Malden is around 20,000, including about 600 originating from North Korea,^[4] giving it the largest group of North Koreans in Europe.^[5] In the 2001 census, some small areas of New Malden had "Other Asian" (i.e., other than of Indian sub-continental origin, which also included Chinese) populations of "over 25%", though no whole ward reached over 20%. Many of the Koreans living in New Malden work for Korean companies, and they are either permanently settled and formerly expatriate, or they are still expatriates.^[6]

The New Malden area has Korean-language churches and nursery schools as well as restaurants and shops with Korean clientele.^[6][2] New Malden functions as the shopping and cultural centre for a Korean population spread more widely across South-West London and the neighbouring counties. The area has Korean supermarkets, about 20 Korean restaurants and cafes,^[3] including those serving bulgogi.^[3] It also has a noraebang (Karaoke bar),^[5] and many other shops. The Korean language is visible on several shop signs. The original Embassy of South Korea to the United Kingdom was in New Malden, before moving to 60 Buckingham Gate in Westminster.^[3]

Some factors cited in The Telegraph as reasons why the Korean community formed in New Malden included a 1950s joint venture partnership between a chaebol and Racal Avionics (formerly Decca), Lord Chancellor's Walk in Coombe Lane West previously serving as the residence of the Ambassador of South Korea to the United Kingdom, and Samsung Electronics having its UK offices in New Malden until they moved to their current location in Chertsey, Surrey in 2005. Many Koreans settled the New Malden in the 1970s due to the ambassador's location.^[5]

Other

There is a Hindu Temple in the Eastern part of Burlington Road.

Amenities

New Malden war memorial

New Malden has its own sports centre, the Malden Centre,^[7] which includes a swimming pool, gym and community facilities. It also runs several adult learning courses.

Beverley Park provides a football pitch, tennis courts, children's playground, allotments and open space.

Tudor Williams Ltd, established in 1913, is a family run department store in the High Street. The company also has shops in Cobham and Dorking and expanded by acquiring department stores Elphicks of Farnham in October 2004, and Knights of Reigate in September 2006. A branch of Waitrose is one of a number of other well known stores in the High Street.

The local newspapers are the Surrey Comet which has been in print since 1854, Coombe Monthly, and the Kingston Guardian.

A monthly publication, The Village Voice,^[8] covers local history, news, topical articles and advertisements for businesses serving the community.

There is an annual Malden Fortnight, which includes a parade showcasing all the local schools and community groups and various other activities.

Each Christmas the High Street is festooned with Christmas lights with its own switching-on ceremony. The choir from Christ Church School, in New Malden sing Christmas carols to the townsfolk.

For a small town it is more than proportionately blessed with winners of the Victoria Cross. Research recently published in the Village Voice revealed the existence of a previously unknown third medal winner – see Notable Residents below.

New Malden has its own youth theatre, the Green Theatre Company, established in 1986 in a converted cricket pavilion at Barton Green. Green Theatre Company

The area's last cinema, the Odeon at Shannon Corner on the A3 has closed and been replaced by a large retail area including several large stores. The other cinema in the High Street (corner of Sussex Road) burnt down on Boxing Day 1936. There was also a silent cinema on Coombe Road by the station, which became the New Malden Gentlemen's Club in 1923; this closed in August 2010, and is now a Korean karaoke and pool bar.

New Malden also has its own "Dino-Golf" course, 18 holes of dinosaur themed crazy golf overlooking the A3. As well as a floodlit golf driving range.

In recent times New Malden played host to the biggest B&Q, Tesco and Currys. This Currys is the biggest electrical store in London. These are situated away from the High Street, which focuses more on smaller, more upmarket shops and restaurants.

Notable open spaces

• Wimbledon Common
• Bushy Park
• Beverley Park^[9]
• Blagdon Open Space^[10]
• Dickerage Road Park

Education and schools

For education in New Malden see the main Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames article.

• Burlington (primary and nursery)
• Christ Church (primary and nursery, Church of England)
• Coombe Boys (secondary; "Beverley" prior to 2006)
• Coombe Girls (secondary; mixed-gender sixth form)
• Coombe Hill Junior (primary)
• Corpus Christi (primary and nursery, Roman Catholic)
• Holy Cross (secondary, Roman Catholic School)
• King's Oak (primary and nursery; formerly, "The Mount")
• Malden Manor (primary and nursery)
• Richard Challoner (secondary, Roman Catholic)
• Sacred Heart (Primary)
• Study School (Primary)

Transport

Rail

New Malden railway station has services provided by South West Trains to London Waterloo, Hampton Court, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond and Shepperton. It is in London Zone 4. The Old Malden area is well served by trains from Malden Manor railway station, travelling north to London and south to Chessington. Motspur Park railway station on the New Malden/Raynes Park borders also has rail connections to Chessington South, Epsom, Leatherhead and Dorking.

Bus

There are many bus routes going through New Malden, including the 213 route going from Kingston towards Sutton, the 131 and N87 routes going through Kingston Town Centre and Tooting Broadway (and Aldwych for the night bus) along with the X26 express bus to Croydon and Heathrow Airport and the 152 route going from New Malden towards Pollards Hill. The town also has a series of local bus routes, including the K1 which goes to Kingston and New Malden Station and the K5 to Ham and Morden.

Second World War

New Malden suffered damage from German bombing during the Second World War.^[11] The first attack took place on 18 September 1940, killing about 50 people and damaging about 1,300 homes. After dropping approximately 150 bombs, German pilots reportedly flew over the railway station at low altitude and machine-gunned passengers as they exited a train that had just arrived at the railway station.^[12] Unexploded munitions from this period are still found on occasion.^[13]

Notable residents

Notable former or current residents include:

• Cyril Barton – posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II^[14]
• Ian Bazalgette – posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II^[15]
• Bernard Braden – TV personality, mainly of the 1960s
• Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton – British peer and Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Anthony Caro – sculptor, born here in 1924
• Vernon Corea – Sri Lankan TV pioneer
• Paul Geraghty – author/illustrator
• Barbara Kelly – TV personality
• David Kynaston – author, historian^[16]
• John Martyn – singer-songwriter
• Sally Morgan – celebrity psychic medium
• October (singer) – singer-songwriter
• Diana Rigg – actress
• Dave Swarbrick – fiddler of Fairport Convention, was born in the town
• Max Wall – actor, comedian and entertainer
• Jamie Woon – singer-songwriter

New Malden also has links to a third recipient of the Victoria Cross, Humphrey Osbaldston Brooke Firman VC, whose parents lived in Coombe at the time of his death. A plaque bearing his name was unveiled on the war memorial in the High Street during April 2008 and a road in a new housing development near the High Street has been named Firman Close.

In popular culture

• In the BBC TV series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, New Malden features twice in the list of excuses Perrin made to his boss for his late arrival at work; one of the claims made is that a badger ate the signal box there.^[17]
• The house on the corner of Dukes Avenue/Howard Road featured in the exterior shots of 1970s ITV series Bless This House, which featured comedian Sid James.
• In 2004, Tesco reported that the New Malden store was the biggest consumer of fruit and veg in the Country, in relation to items of fruit purchased per customer. It is thought that the Korean diet contributes significantly to this.^[18]
• In the former BBC One television series Little Britain, character Marjorie Dawes hosts weekly FatFighters meetings at a community centre in New Malden.
• Mentioned in a mid-1990s MasterCard advert – "New York? The furthest he's ever been is New Malden!"
• Mentioned briefly on the radio traffic report in the BBC television series "Outnumbered".
• Mentioned in Stephen Fry's autobiography 'Moab is my washpot'. "I suppose some rat faced weasel from New Malden will be interviewed at any minute to give the other side of the hunting debate" (page 45)
• The Duke of Cambridge pub, now a Krispy Kreme doughnut store, was formerly a haunt of the Kray twins; the heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston attended the reopening night in the 1960s.^[19]
• Malden features in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, in which the "North Malden Icelandic Saga Society" change the script to the BBC's production of the Icelandic legend "Njorl's Saga" to incorporate references to Malden in an effort to attract investors. (Episode 1, Series 3)
• In the BBC sketch-comedy series Tracey Ullman's Show comedian Tracey Ullman's OAP character Kay Clark lives with her 103-year-old mother in New Malden.

See also

• Koreatown, Los Angeles
• Spring Branch, Houston, the centre of the Korean community in Houston, Texas
• Maldens and Coombe Heritage Society

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Malden.