Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London.

Neighbouring places include Berrylands, Chessington, Epsom, Ewell, Hinchley Wood, Kingston, Long Ditton, New Malden, Surbiton and Worcester Park.

[3] The Evelyn family, who had settled in Surrey, played a prominent role and established gunpowder mills at Tolworth, probably in 1561.

[4] In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Tolworth like this: "TALWORTH, a hamlet in Long Ditton parish, Surrey; 2½ miles SSE of Kingston upon Thames.

In the 1930s and '40s the clay extraction requirements of a brickworks north of the A3 off Red Lion Road (now Red Lion Industrial Park) produced a large water-filled pit (known locally as "The Bluey") which was used as a landfill site for bomb-damage and industrial material removed from bomb-sites resulting from the "Blitz".

This was described as a pioneer roadhouse, with meals served at any time in a restaurant with seating for 700 to 800, dancing until 3 am, a swimming pool, miniature golf course, polo ground, riding school, and an air strip.

David Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth [29] on 10 February 1972.

[30] Other bands to play there included Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, The Yardbirds, John Lee Hooker, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Blodwyn Pig, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Free, Jethro Tull, Taste, Family, Chicken Shack, Genesis and Ten Years After.

[31][32][33][34][35] The Toby Jug pub was demolished in the year 2000, becoming part of the controversial Tesco site (detailed later in this article).

[40] Architecturally, Tolworth consists mainly of low-density 1930s semi-detached properties, and small to medium commercial and retail developments.

The access junction for the A3, linking it on the north with the Broadway and on the south with the A240 Kingston Road toward Epsom, is known as the Toby Jug Roundabout, named after the public house which stood beside it until it was closed and demolished in 2002 under the ownership of Tesco and its partners.

The remaining floors of the building were originally occupied by commercial and government offices, but the north wing has recently[when?]

The stripey green "sureset" resin surface allows users to walk the length of Tolworth Broadway on the Greenway and to cross the Kingston ByPass (A3) at street level.

[50] The red brick building was demolished many years ago but the site continued with police related use as a car compound and with staff operating from temporary cabins.

The Police station moved to the former St Matthew's School building on the other side of the Ewell Road in 1977 where there was vehicle parking.

The building has been sympathetically restored to its previous educational use and is currently a venue for London Tutorial College, offering GCSE and A level programmes as well as language courses for domestic and international students.

CNM Estates have obtained planning permission for a 142-bed hotel, conferencing facility and associated parking close to Tolworth railway station.

[58][needs update] An 11-acre site bounded by the railway line serving Tolworth to the east, the A240 to the north and Hook Rise South & the A3 to the West.

Plans were drawn up in the 1930s for the site to be used for circa 130 family homes in a similar style to much of Tolworth – this was part of a larger development to be known as the "Station Estate" (see above).

It remained in Government hands for a variety of uses from the MAFF and Ministry of Defence to the Directorate of Overseas Surveys; in its heyday it was reported to have employed over 1,000 people.

The site has been subject to a number of planning applications for the construction of a retail store of up to 89,000 sq feet and up to 660 dwellings in buildings up to 12 storeys high.

[83] Apart from the MoD and DOS sites on the south side of the A3, Gala Cosmetics had a large production facility (at the start of Oakcroft Road) as did Andre Rubber Co[84] (who specialised in bonding rubber to metal and made components for cars, docks, armoured fighting vehicles, hospitals, warships and diving helmets) – now the site of the Hook Rise South Industrial Park.

Prior to the construction of Sundial Court[86] there was a camping goods supplier – the previous building having been partially demolished due to road widening.

Siebe Gorman[87] a company that developed diving and breathing equipment purchased 6 acres of land at Tolworth in 1938 – the new building was named Neptune Works, on Davis Road (off Cox Lane) and near to King George's Field – although this would probably be regarded as Chessington nowadays.

[88] Local businessman Eric Miller recalls a part-time job filling breathing masks with carbon granules at Siebe Gorman and also with the nearby J. Lyons and Co. bakery in Cox Lane.

[101] Fox and Nicholl moved to wartime aircraft industry production – handling large quantities of sheet metal work, sub-assemblies.

[102] LF Peatty[103] and Southborough Sheet Metal also manufactured parts for the de Havilland Mosquito[104][105] Nash and Thompson was a British engineering firm established by Archibald Frazer-Nash and Henry Ronald Godfrey.

There was a Blue Star garage[108] and milk was delivered by Jobs Dairy from 432 Ewell Road – (the company was sold to Unigate in 1987).

[citation needed] Tolworth has King George's Field, a memorial to King George V. Corinthian-Casuals F.C., a non-league football team, plays its home games at the playing fields, the site was formerly the home ground of Tolworth Football Club before it merged with Corinthian-Casuals in the late 1980s.

[115] The 2012 and 2016 Irish Olympian Kieran Behan is a member of Tolworth Gymnastics Club, which is based in Fullers Way North.