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 of the A24, a major road route roughly following the Northern Line, running from London through Tooting and other areas.

The twelfth-century ruins of Merton Priory were considered by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as a possible British candidate for World Heritage status.

Among those educated at Merton Priory were Thomas Becket and Nicholas Breakspear,[dubious – discuss] who was the only English Pope.

[9] The same BBC poll quoted an architect working for Golfrate Property Management, the current owners, as saying the building was due a make-over and new lease of life.

By 2009, the ground and first floor windows and doors had been boarded up, and green netting attached across each end to prevent falling debris causing injury to passers-by.

A major renovation of the Tower began in 2014, to create a glass clad block of 150 rentable apartments, with commercial units to the ground floor.

The renovation was originally expected to be complete by the end of 2015, but it was finished by October 2017 calling the building Britannia Point.

In 2022, The London Borough of Merton started emergency inspection of the building after footage revealed a glass panel had fallen from a residents window.

This has resulted in a lively programme of social activities for local residents, including a choir,[17] a ukulele orchestra [18] and an annual open gardens event, and its importance has been recognised by attracting grants for its work in community-building.