There's quite a nice, albeit fairly brief, write-up of Sydenham in the Evening Standard's property section:
http://es.homesandproperty.co.uk/handp/ ... 06_744.pdf
This actually came out last Wednesday but the website has only just been updated. The article as a whole profiles areas benefitting from the East London Line extention - they covered Forest Hill and the more northerly areas last week.
The Evening Standard's view of Sydenham
Downloading this link (a lengthy colour PDF document) can be a bit tricky so I have pasted the introduction and the section on Sydenham below for ease of reference:
A new rail service will bring the grand Victorian suburbs of south-east London within easy reach of homebuyers for the first time, says Anthea Masey
THE extension of the East London line in 2010 will put huge swathes of south-east London on the Tube map for the first time. It will focus attention on some of the capital’s least-known and most undervalued neighbourhoods. Last week, we looked at the northern section of the line — part of a new Overground network known as the East London Link — from New Cross Gate to Forest Hill. This week, we turn the spotlight on to the stations running further south, through Sydenham to Crystal Palace, and with a more limited service, via Penge West, Anerley and Norwood Junction to West Croydon …
Sydenham: Victorian at its best
This grand Victorian suburb was portrayed in wintery scenes by the impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, who loved its hills, quiet backwaters and the views north over the city and south to Kent. Today, many of the largest villas have been converted into flats, while the shopping district, along Sydenham Road and around Kirkdale, looks a little frayed. However, new cafés and Sydenham’s first gastropub, The Dolphin, are helping to turn things around.
Sydenham retains an arty air, playing host to an annual international summer music festival, which is on now with 10 more days to run. The Endellion String Quartet has been playing Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy at St Bartholmew’s Church — another Pissarro subject. Nick Stebbings of the local branch of Winkworth says the houses around Lawrie Park Gardens, Wells Park and Newlands Park can sell for about £700,000. Also popular is the Edwardian Thorpe Estate, between Sydenham Road and Mayow Park, where all the road names end in “thorpe”. There, five-bedroom houses sell for £550,000 and those with four bedrooms for about £480,000. Homes in the Victorian enclave off Newlands Park, in roads such as Venner Road and Wiverton Road, sell for about £500,000 for a four-bedroom house and £280,000 for a two-bedroom flat.
A new rail service will bring the grand Victorian suburbs of south-east London within easy reach of homebuyers for the first time, says Anthea Masey
THE extension of the East London line in 2010 will put huge swathes of south-east London on the Tube map for the first time. It will focus attention on some of the capital’s least-known and most undervalued neighbourhoods. Last week, we looked at the northern section of the line — part of a new Overground network known as the East London Link — from New Cross Gate to Forest Hill. This week, we turn the spotlight on to the stations running further south, through Sydenham to Crystal Palace, and with a more limited service, via Penge West, Anerley and Norwood Junction to West Croydon …
Sydenham: Victorian at its best
This grand Victorian suburb was portrayed in wintery scenes by the impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, who loved its hills, quiet backwaters and the views north over the city and south to Kent. Today, many of the largest villas have been converted into flats, while the shopping district, along Sydenham Road and around Kirkdale, looks a little frayed. However, new cafés and Sydenham’s first gastropub, The Dolphin, are helping to turn things around.
Sydenham retains an arty air, playing host to an annual international summer music festival, which is on now with 10 more days to run. The Endellion String Quartet has been playing Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy at St Bartholmew’s Church — another Pissarro subject. Nick Stebbings of the local branch of Winkworth says the houses around Lawrie Park Gardens, Wells Park and Newlands Park can sell for about £700,000. Also popular is the Edwardian Thorpe Estate, between Sydenham Road and Mayow Park, where all the road names end in “thorpe”. There, five-bedroom houses sell for £550,000 and those with four bedrooms for about £480,000. Homes in the Victorian enclave off Newlands Park, in roads such as Venner Road and Wiverton Road, sell for about £500,000 for a four-bedroom house and £280,000 for a two-bedroom flat.
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sydenhamboy
- Posts: 264
- Joined: 8 Oct 2006 10:33
- Location: sydenham
Well if you want a Virtual Latte - then this Town Cafe is the place to get it. Hmm shall we say £2.50 a go? I can put a row of PayPal buttons for all the popular variants ... Virtual Latte has no carbon footprint or artificial ingrediants. It is the truly healthy, socially responsible beverage ... while being completely bladder friendly.sydenhamboy wrote:We should all celebrate with a grande Latte from the coffee shop that isn't there yet.
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Yes, the dry cleaners have appeared to put up a new sign which looks like a bit has fallen off exposing wires behind. Only when you get close do you see it is a photo of garments on hangers. Not good. In fact the shopfronts are almost universally poor all the way down from the station to Bell Green.
Sydenham has no hope of becoming more like Lordship Lane unless somehow we manage to persuade people that we don't need any more pound shops or hairdressers! Walking home from the station last night I saw yet another shop selling cheap goods and another hairdressers. These people must look at the High Street and realise that the chances of their making a success and recouping the cost of all their shopfitting is practically nil. Surely the Council or our Town Centre Manager (whom no one ever seems to see or hear from - do we still have one?) should advise these people that they are wasting their time, effort and money.
I agree. I live in a road opposite Home Park at the end of Sydenham High Road. Apart from one papershop, and one tyre shop (that causes so many problems, but that is a different story) all the shop are fast food take aways. We now have two chicken shops within three shops of each other, madness. All the shops at this end of Sydenham are food shops and the smell sometimes is awful. How do the council justify granting all these food shops a licence?
Whilst I agree with Ella's point about not needing any more pound shops or hairdressers (or nail bars come to think of it) - I must defend our Town Centre Manager, Julie Dutch. She, has been highly involved, along with others at Lewisham Council in getting the community clean up under way. This is where particular roads are targetted and given a face lift and clean up.
Our road benefited from this incentive recently and we were amazed at what a difference this made.
Getting back to the main topic about the calibre of shops in Sydenham Road with all due respect, this subject has been done to death over recent months on this site. Regeneration of an area takes time and money and improvements are slow. These irrelevant shops rarely take off but if you look at Lordship Lane that too has it's share of fast food outlets and a few naff pound shops.
I am sure Sydenham will get there in the end. Once the Greyhound has either been flattened or they have used it's facade in a tasteful development of superior flats (one can only hope) we will have turned a significant corner.
Our road benefited from this incentive recently and we were amazed at what a difference this made.
Getting back to the main topic about the calibre of shops in Sydenham Road with all due respect, this subject has been done to death over recent months on this site. Regeneration of an area takes time and money and improvements are slow. These irrelevant shops rarely take off but if you look at Lordship Lane that too has it's share of fast food outlets and a few naff pound shops.
I am sure Sydenham will get there in the end. Once the Greyhound has either been flattened or they have used it's facade in a tasteful development of superior flats (one can only hope) we will have turned a significant corner.