Tooting

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Template:Infobox London place Tooting is a suburb in the London Borough of Wandsworth in south London. It is 5 miles (8.1 km) south south-west of Charing Cross.

1 History
2 Cultural references
3 Food and retail
4 Politics
5 Open spaces
6 Sport
7 Transport
8 External links

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History

Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times, and its name means "the dwelling of the sons of Totas". The Romans built Stane Street from London (Londinium) to Chichester (Regnum), which passed through Tooting. Tooting High Street is built on this road. The following timeline sets out some crucial moments in the town's history:

666 AD - Tooting and Streatham (then Toting-cum-Stretham) given to the Abbey of Chertsey.
900 AD - Suene (Sweyn), believed to be a Viking, given the Land by Edward the Confessor.
933 AD - King Athelstan of England gave lands including Totinge (Tooting) to the family of Chertsey Minster.
1086 AD - Tooting Bec and Tooting Graveney appear on the Domesday survey as two distinct areas, Upper and Lower Tooting.
1703 AD - Citizen Daniel Defoe was a Tooting Presbyterian Minister in hiding.

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Cultural references

The BBC comedy series Citizen Smith was set in Tooting and popularised the cry "Freedom for Tooting!". Star of the series Wolfie Smith (played by Robert Lindsay) was a beret-hatted Communist "leftie" type, member of revolutionary political organisation, the Tooting Popular Front.

In 2005, a 28-km diameter crater on Mars was named after Tooting [1] [2]. A geologic map of Tooting Crater is under preparation, and will be published by the U.S. Geological Survey in the United States.

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Food and retail

Tooting High Road has a string of curry houses and Indian sweet shops. However, in recent times the town has become more cosmopolitan, with a variety of bars and a wide range of world cuisines including Italian, Chinese, Japanese and many others. There has been a continuing gentrification of the area.

ABar2Far
Ammas (good food and cheap)
David Wongs
Spirit
Hoochie Mama's
Rick's Cafe
Sila
Smoke Bar
Fujisan
The Castle
The Trafalgar (Hardy's)
The Tramshed
The St. George's Hospital Medical School Bar
The Mitre

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Politics

The Member of Parliament for Tooting is Sadiq Khan, first elected at the 2005 General Election to represent the parliamentary constituency of Tooting.

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Open spaces

The large open area of Tooting Bec common lies at the northern end of Tooting. The common includes Tooting Bec Lido, the largest open air pool in Europe, which is 90 metres long.

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Sport

Tooting shares a football club with nearby Mitcham: Tooting & Mitcham United F.C..

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Transport

Tooting is positioned on the Northern Line — with stations at the top and the bottom of the hill that slopes down the High Street, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway.

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