Moving to Sydenham

[2lai]

Hello all,
My husband and I are hoping move to Sydenham from Peckham, where we have lived for years now. We like Sydenham and its green areas, and moving here would allow us to stay in South East London, which we would really like for family and work reasons. We just wondering what you thought about the area around Hazel Grove/Laurel Grove? It seems very convenient (10 minutes from Sydenham station and not too far from Lower Sydenham either), but is it unsafe? The main road especially has a few car shops where I imagine it gets dark and deserted after a certain hour - how safe is it to walk past at night?
Also, is there anyone else who has recently moved to Sydenham and has tips for newcomers?

Thank you in advance! And thank you in general for this forum, it has a lot of useful information on the neighbourhood!

[buzzbee]

Hi 2lai
I moved to Sydenham about 15 months ago and live on Sydenham Rd. As a young(ish) female, I've walked home from the station late at night with no worries. I think it's the general things like keeping your wits about you etc. I haven't encountered any crime - there can be some loud parties every now and again but it's few and far between. Hope this helps. And welcome to Sydenham!

[angela53]

I moved to Sydenham in 1984 and have never felt afraid in the high street at night

Crime is fairly low in comparison to other parts of London

Sydenham is a great place to live with a community that cares about this town

[Dom Johnston]

Hi there,

My wife and I moved here from East Dulwich 6 months ago. We moved to Larkbere Road in Lower Sydenham.

I have never felt unsafe nor has my wife. She is regularly out and about with out 8 week old baby and still feels safe. The main road is wide and there is always people around.

I did get a bit tipsy at a Christmas party and walk down the high street alone at an ungodly hour and there wasn't any problems.

There are lots of great little cafes, parks and shops, the empty shops seem to be getting taken up, apart from the old Co-Op site, however, I do believe this has now been purchased.

Sydenham has a wonderful community feel. People aren't very "London" and tend to be a bit happier than your average Londoner.

There are some fantastic restaurants and the pubs are superb. The Cake shop is spectacular too.

It's not as "Yummy Mummy" as East Dulwich, however, it's certainly catching it and Forest Hill up, but you still get a lot more house for your money.

It's also superbly connected. Sydenham, Lower Sydenham, Sydenham Hill, Penge East, Penge West and Crystal Palace all within reasonable distance of the centre.

I had reservations about moving here as I'm sure you do too, but they were unfounded. If you have any questions you'd prefer to ask in private, just drop me a DM.

Dom

[RJM]

We've been here 3 years, a few streets away from Hazel Grove. We really like it! Absolutely no worries about safety, and there's a good range of shops on the high street. Also we love the Poodle Club, even though we don't manage to go as often as we plan to.

Dom's already mentioned that it's well connected - Sydenham/Lower Sydenham/Penge East all have the extra advantage of being on different lines, so even when there's engineering works you can still get a train into town from somewhere...

[JMLF]

Good luck on the potential move! Echoing everyone else really - been between FH and Syd for 3.5 years and now been between Penge and Syd for 2 years. Never felt unsafe in the area. Unfortunately every area will have various elements of crime which may or may not be reported on depending on various things (eg: West Norwood which is fairly fancy around the station has had two gun incidents in the last 6 months or so). In addition to how I personal feel living here I would say more stuff *seems publicised about crime in other nearby areas than Sydenham over the previous year or two but that’s just subjective!

In terms of kid friendly stuff there are lots of easily accessible places (most pubs, most cafes) and child friendly events (see: Spontaneous Productions/Sydenham Arts, Kirkdale Bookshop, Sydenham Library, Ignition brewery, artisan kidz for just a few) and that’s not including Forest Hill and Penge which again have a load of other great places regardless if with kids or not.

Love living here with the green spaces, High street which has everything you would need for shopping (special shout out to billings butchers/fishmongers, fresh and fruity greengrocer and well-being health food store), good/great places for coffee/booze/food and appears to be improving (new pub, pizza place and bottle shop all opened in last year and yoga studio filling in prominent vacant space soon.

Hope you find what you are looking for!

J

[Emc]

I also live a few streets from there and have always felt very safe even having a late night stroll on ocassion. Sydenham's a lovely place to live and it's so nice being near Mayow Park with it's amazing cafe and tennis courts etc.

[Emc]

Ooh and it's great living near Lower Sydenham with direct trains to the theatres (Charing Cross and Waterloo East) in just 15 minutes. Makes Sydenham feel a bit more fancy and central than it actually is
I love Crystal Palace too but trains are so much more convenient in Sydenham.

[2lai]

Thank you all for your replies! It is reassuring and heartwarming to see you are all happy to be living in Sydenham, and that people care about the community.
I am glad to hear there are no major concerns about safety, and of course I understand London is still a big city and one always has to be careful. I started living in Peckham when people were still very prejudiced against it, and found it completely fine (and actually enjoyed my stay here).

I hope we manage to move soon and I look forward to exploring all the places you mention in your messages! We walked around Mayow Park the other day and loved it.

Enjoy your day everyone!

[John H]

Hello there

I live a very short distance from Hazel Grove. I am on the escape committee.

Hazel Grove is probably the least desirable area of Sydenham. It was developed on the site of an area of housing that was flattened in the second world war. The flats are concrete and unattractive. There is a tendency for noise leakage from some of the flats. The garages beneath the flats are dilapidated.

Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder and you should take a little time to explore the street you are looking to move to and the streets around it. If you find it appealing then there is no other reason not to move there.

Crime in the area is relatively high. Sydenham Road, where Hazel Grove joins it, has one of the highest accident rates in London. However most of us never experience the crime.

Sydenham is well situated for transport as others have mentioned even though it takes 60% longer to reach London Bridge than it did when I moved here 32 years ago.

[Mattyroon]

We also live very close to Hazel Grove, just off Mayow Road and virtually backing on to it, and noise has never been a problem for us. We have never felt unsafe in the area and love being near Mayow Park!

The average journey time from Sydenham to London Bridge is 17 mins so even if it was 60% faster "back in the good old days" that would be about 10 mins. I doubt an extra 7 mins makes too much difference to a daily commute.

Good luck with your search. Maybe DM John H as is appears he would like to move out and it would be nice to have some more positive folk around!!

[Parker1970]

Sydenham is well situated for transport as others have mentioned even though it takes 60% longer to reach London Bridge than it did when I moved here 32 years ago.

32 years ago there were less commuters and less trains on the tracks... of course it won't be as quick... 60% is an over-exaggaration though.

[milton]

I was born in Sydenham,Adamsrill road, 72 years ago.
Lived just off Kirkdale from the age of five till 1970.
Moved to the fringes of SE26 at the end of Newlands park, went to schools in SE26, got mended at the childrens hospital,ran a business in SE26.

I got out in 1988, went back once for a funeral in 2007. Loathed it.

My advice is to get as far way as you possibly can,best thing I ever did.

The Sydenham they enthuse about on here is a different one from the one I grew up in,its unrecognisable to me as the same place.

Just RUN.

[RJM]

Everywhere has changed since the 1980s - it was 30 years ago .

2lai it's a nice area to live, although I can't speak for Hazel Grove specifically. A different feel to Peckham, but not in a bad way - both places have their own character. As I said, we are very happy here! I'd like to see the empty shops filled, but that's an issue in lots of places (also can someone elaborate on the Co-op site having been sold - do we know who to?) and the shops we do have include some excellent ones - Billings and the Cake Store are both very good, as is Fresh and Fruity, and Bob Wines is brilliant but slightly too conveniently located for both my wallet and my liver . There are some nice pubs, a good Italian restaurant and Mayow Park is lovely.

Good luck in finding the right place!

[Dom Johnston]

before paying too much notice to anything that Milton says, I would click on their name and view previous posts. They belong in a shed along with the other tools... If Milton wanted to stay away from Sydenham so much then I would question why they insist on constantly coming here and posting tripe on this forum...

As for John H saying crime is relatively high, I completely disagree. Since I moved here in October last year, there has only been mention of maybe a couple of burglaries, which obviously isn't nice, however, compare that to the more desirable East Dulwich, there has been a couple of fatal stabbings, there are muggings almost every day and thefts from cars and outbuildings a common occurrence. Maybe they just aren't being reported for here, but I haven't seen anything of the sort in Sydenham

[stuart]

i have lived in Sydenham for 35 years. I was mugged once - in East Dulwich!

Sydenham is as good or bad as you want to make it. The difference here is the variety of homes, incomes and much else. It doesn't have the boring homogeneity of many other areas of London that are endless terraces, blocks or manicured lawns. It has a bit of almost everything. But most of all green spaces and excellent public transport links (every 5 mins from Syd Station) - to which I add the 176 24/7 bus service to/from central London which our family feels quite safe to use when the railway has gone to sleep in the early hours without the cost of a taxi.

You'll not get much better value in Zone 3.

Stuart

[milton]

before paying too much notice to anything that Milton says, I would click on their name and view previous posts. They belong in a shed along with the other tools... If Milton wanted to stay away from Sydenham so much then I would question why they insist on constantly coming here and posting tripe on this forum...

I'm surprised you can single out my tripe from all the other tripe here.
I like to pop back here to remind me why I left, plus I still own property in SE 26, and I like to make sure the area is still as ratty as I remember, if it goes up market then I can increase rents.

I'm 70 miles away, get a handsome income from afar, and can cook my own breakfast. Some super sausages down here, Wiltshire bacon is world class, and we have hens for eggs.

Win Win all round I'd say.

I do hope you live in one of my flats, 'cos you'll be out soon

[Sideofham]

before paying too much notice to anything that Milton says, I would click on their name and view previous posts. They belong in a shed along with the other tools... If Milton wanted to stay away from Sydenham so much then I would question why they insist on constantly coming here and posting tripe on this forum...

I'm surprised you can single out my tripe from all the other tripe here.
I like to pop back here to remind me why I left, plus I still own property in SE 26, and I like to make sure the area is still as ratty as I remember, if it goes up market then I can increase rents.

I'm 70 miles away, get a handsome income from afar, and can cook my own breakfast. Some super sausages down here, Wiltshire bacon is world class, and we have hens for eggs.

Win Win all round I'd say.

I do hope you live in one of my flats, 'cos you'll be out soon

Cool, we've got our very own Mr Burns, Milton could you sign off future posts with- Excellent?

[maestro]

Live in Newbury do you milton? How lovely! You've obviously settled in well there and you're clearly a great ambassador for the town. It didn't take me too long to find this quote, however..........

Newbury, Berkshire.

A town where the main form of entertainment is heroin or sexual assault. Beneath it's veneer of middle-class commuting and Vodafone lies an underbelly of scum and villainy. Mos Eisley Cantina is positively picturesque by comparison.

What green space we've had has been sold off for mass property developments (approx another 15,000) within the next couple of years.

Violent offenders and their violent kids are being shipped in, to keep them in one area, where there's so little to do, arson is one of the most reported crimes in the area.

The town centre has had 140 reports of violent and sexual crime over the last eight months, with over 300 in the extended area in the same period.


https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comme ... hit_towns/

Let's hope your tenants find a decent landlord some day.

[milton]

Oh dear, you really had to scour the dregs of the internet for that didn't you?

Im not actually in Newbury,its our postcode sweetie.

But I'll meet your Reddit scourings of some internet sourpuss with this..........https://www.police.uk/metropolitan/00AZ03N/crime/stats/

which is a teeny bit more reliable

and raise you https://www.police.uk/thames-valley/N200/crime/stats/

Green spaces down here do not get built on, but as we are surrounded by the rest of Berkshire which is for the most part green and for the most part owned by some stinking rich folks,[bloody Lloyd-Weber for one] it would hardly notice.
Mind you, Newbury town centre is a depressing sight having suffered years of Lib dumb councils.

Have a nice day chums, there is bound to be a coffee shop/High street/ noise thread along soon, time for me to check on the horse.