Hi all I currently live in north London and I'm seriously thinking of moving to Sydenham or Forest Hill, can people just honestly tell what it's really like. Also what areas of sydenham are more desirable or the areas to definately avoid. Links to crime stats would be nice as well.
Thanks
Thinking of moving to Sydenham/forest hill
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Fuzzylilley
- Posts: 11
- Joined: 2 Oct 2007 12:52
- Location: Sydenham
new to the area too
Hey Mike
Ive just moved to the area too and i have to say im very impressed. I moved here from Kingston upon thames and have to say that overall i prefer it in Sydenham to where i was before. Although it is in London it has a village feel to it. The high street is good with lots of good shops. I would certainly recomend Sydenham over Forest hill. Forest hill doesnt have the same feel to it .
Ive just moved to the area too and i have to say im very impressed. I moved here from Kingston upon thames and have to say that overall i prefer it in Sydenham to where i was before. Although it is in London it has a village feel to it. The high street is good with lots of good shops. I would certainly recomend Sydenham over Forest hill. Forest hill doesnt have the same feel to it .
hi fat mike. there are quite a few threads like the one you started - if you look back through some of the older ones, you will find some decent responses. aside from that, you will really find that sydenham is much like any other part of london; nice bits and not so nice bits, nice people and not so nice people. good train links into both eastern central london and western central london, new east london line coming, which will give us an overground underground service up to the city. easy to get to decent shopping in bromley and bluewater (15mins and 30 mins drive respectively). i dont think the crime is any worse here than anywhere else in london, and certainly feels like it has improved. slightly lacking in decent local pubs/bars and dining places (but then crystal palace and east dulwich are full of them - and sydenham is getting better). nice multicultural feel to the area, with decent enough shops and supermarkets. you should get a good feel for the area by having look through some of the threads on the forum. cheers.
Moving to Sydenham
I lived in Honor Oak and Forest Hill before moving to Sydenham (and previously north London) and definately prefer Sydenham. It has more of a community feel and less houses seem to have been converted into flats so people tend to stay for longer - other areas nearby seem very transitory. When I did a Know Your Neighbour search on my postcode before we moved here last year my neighbours were actually considered to be very similar to people in Kingston Upon Thames in terms of profession and income etc - all at the highest level, even though the houses are quite modest really. It has a nice vibe and mix of people. A lot of musicians live here actually and rarely do I walk along the high street and not see someone carrying an instrument case, hence events like the annual Sydenham International Music Festival, I think. It feels more suburban than areas nearby but is still in zone 3, with very regular trains -I have never had to use a timetable in fact - it's just as good as any tube line if not better than some. Great parks and leafy roads. Upper Sydenham and roads off the high street all seem very nice. I don't know the other bits so well.
Re: new to the area too
Wow! We're better than posh Kingston upon Thames! That's cool. I moved here from Chiswick (because it was affordable) - does that convince you too?Fuzzylilley wrote:Hey Mike
I moved here from Kingston upon thames .
Everything everyone's said about good bits/ less good bits applies: like a lot of London, we have our leafy streets with well kept Victorian housing, and patches of estates you might feel wary about. However, despite the High Street being rather scruffy, it doesn't feel threatening and if you use the shops for long enough you'll be recognised by the owners and start to feel part of the community. My experience is that Forest Hill is first starting to feel the influx of 'gentrification' from the promise of a tube line and as East Dulwich has become more expensive, Lordship Lane is pushing darn sarf to encompass SE23 postcodes. Se26 could well follow - our own Half Moon Cafe and the vehement objections to the Greyhound becoming yet another block of 'luxury apartments (for which, read poky flats, built by developers, sold to investors, rented out so no one can actually buy one), shows that there are people who really care about our suburb.
Read the forum for long enough and you'll appreciate that there are communities of artists, musicians, writers, historians etc who love Sydenham and are committed to staying here.
PS for local info including the crime stats you asked for, and a local profile by street, go to...
http://www.upmystreet.com/
and add a postocde
http://www.upmystreet.com/
and add a postocde
