Tooting And The Movies

A Memory of Tooting.

I lived by Figges Marsh in Mitcham, just over the border with Tooting from 1948 until 1967. In fact I was born in the house I lived all those years in. I early on discovered the movies and I remember with great pleasure going to the Granada Tooting on a regular basis. The Astoria somebody mentioned, I recall as the fleapit, though they did let me talk my way into X films years before my 16th birthday! But when they got a Cinemascope projector, they didn't get a wide screen, so wide screen films had the side parts showing on the walls. Dreadful! I also remember the Vogue at the Broadway, but mainly for seeing foreign language films with subtitles, and there I discovered the wonderful Jeanne Moreau!
I remember Tony's records by Tooting station, and often wonder what happened to Tony. He let you buy now pay later, and was very good to his regular customers.
Tooting used to be a great shopping place, but it has changed a lot, and is dirty and tatty these days, and the glorious Granada is a bingo hall, but at least the building is still there. The ABC up the hill, where I often dragged my dad to see some dreadful A certificate film I wanted to see, is now an Islamic centre, though oddly enough there is a pub stuck into one side of the building. The cinema's original shape can still be seen, as is the case with the Classic just a bit closer to Tooting Bec, but neither shows films any more, probably haven't in years.