Kingston

Overview of borough

Resident population: 160,100

Working age population: 107,800

Key town centres: Kingston, New Malden, Surbiton, Tolworth and Chessington.

There is a strong Korean and Chinese community within the borough.

Skills & Labour Force

Qualifications:

51.5 % of the workforce is educated to degree level (NVQ4+) which is high when compared with London at 38.6%.

International Schools / Universities

Chinesewise School
Mandarin in 4 levels to GCSE for ages 8+.
Web: www.chinesewise.co.uk.

Korean Saturday School
Based at Chessington Community College.
020 8974 1156 / 07958 599153 (Mrs. Kim)

Marymount International School
Independent college-preparatory school for girls aged 11 to 18. Syllabuses are based on American curricula.
Web: http://www.marymountlondon.com/

Colleges / Universities

University of Kingston
Degrees on a wide range of subjects, particular focus on business, human sciences, sciences and technology.
Web: www.kingston.ac.uk

Chessington Community College
11-18 year olds co-educational school. Awarded Specialist Sports College Status by the DFES.
Web: http://www.ccc.kingston.sch.uk/

Kingston College
Further and higher education offering a mix of vocational and academic courses.
Web: www.kingston-college.ac.uk/

Kingston Community Adult Education and Training.
Offers a range of courses covering vocational, personal development and leisure courses.
www.kingston.gov.uk/learning/adulteducation

Hillcroft College 
Website: www.hillcroft.ac.uk

Business Base

There are 86,100 economically active workers employed in the borough.

There are 6,045 VAT registered businesses in Kingston

Kingston is a leading shopping centre in the region, of London’s top ten retail centres by spend, Kingston was in third place at $1.66bn. It also has a large number of multinational companies attracted by the 8 industrial estates and business parks, many of which are in the business and personal services sectors. Other niche sectors include: aerospace & defence – Thales, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, and AMS; and ICT – Bell Micro-products, DST International and Fujikura.

Key companies include: Arrow Plastics, Callaway Golf, Unilever UK, Nestle, Thales Avionics, SITEL, DST International, Bell Microproducts, Northrop Grumman, Bausch & Lomb, Wolters Kluwer, DM Technology and Nikon UK.

Unemployment rate model based unemployed 4.8% (April 2008-Mar 2009)

Transport

10 railway stations connecting to Wimbledon, Richmond, Clapham Junction and Waterloo.

30 minutes away from Heathrow airport and 40 minutes from Gatwick airport.

The A3 links Kingston to the South Circular and the M25. The A240 links Kingston to Epsom, Leatherhead and Dorking.

Quality of life

Top 5 attractions:

Chessington World of Adventures http://www.chessington.com/

Rose Theatre, Kingston http://www.rosetheatrekingston.org/

Canbury Gardens
http://www.kingston.gov.uk/browse/environment/parks/recreation_sites/canbury_gardens_recreation_site.htm

The Rotunda leisure complex
http://www.therotundakingston.co.uk/

The Bentall Centre, the Eden Walk Shopping Centre and a myriad of pretty side streets.

Business Support

Kingston Chamber of Commerce
Unilever House
3 St James's Road
Kingston
KT1 2AH
Telephone: 0208 541 4441
Fax: 0208 541 4445
Kingston upon Thames Council
Guildhall, Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 1EU
020 8547 5757
www.kingston.gov.uk