Living in Sydenham: area guide to homes, schools and transport

Families and first-timers find community spirit, characterful shops, green spaces and great-value homes in SE26.
Daniel Lynch
Anthea Masey27 January 2017

Campaigning spirit is alive and kicking in Sydenham, where dogged locals have achieved a great victory by saving The Greyhound, a landmark pub at Cobb’s Corner, at the junction of Kirkdale and Sydenham Road in the town centre.

The Greyhound is the area’s oldest watering hole — a pub has stood on the site since 1719 — but three years ago a developer demolished it. After protests led by the Sydenham Society, and after a prosecution by Lewisham council for unauthorised demolition, the developer rebuilt it. With two greyhound statues at the door, the pub is now looking for a new operator to put the heart back into Sydenham.

Eight miles south of central London, Sydenham arranges itself around wooded hills with Crystal Palace Park to its west, Dulwich Village to the north, Forest Hill to its east and Bellingham and Bromley to the south.

The town’s most famous former resident is John Logie Baird, one of the inventors of television who, after his lab was destroyed in the 1936 Crystal Palace blaze, moved his work to his home in Sydenham’s Crescent Wood Road.

Property

It is hard to pin down a “typical” Sydenham house style. There are fine double-fronted Victorian houses with carriage drives in Cator Road, Edwardian terraces in The Thorpes — the roads with names ending in “thorpe” close to Mayow Park — and well-designed Fifties and Sixties flats and houses on the Dulwich Estate close to Sydenham Hill station.

If there is one predominant property type, it is the period flat conversion, with many of Sydenham’s large houses divided up. Estate agent Natasha Osunde at Pedder says Sydenham offers beautiful housing stock, lots of green space and good transport links. Buyers here are a mix of first-timers, families and, increasingly, buy-to-let investors. Many come from inner London in search of more affordable property.


Renting
According to Pedder’s Natasha Osunde, Sydenham is popular with commuting renters — but mainly singles and couples rather than groups of sharers.

Postcodes
SE26 is the Sydenham postcode, although some of the area around Sydenham Hill station falls into the smarter SE21 Dulwich postcode.
 

What's new?

The Haven is currently the only small new development in Sydenham itself. The former care home, in Lawrie Park Crescent, is gated, with four-bedroom terrace houses, semis and detached houses planned. Call Pedder on 020 7737 1464. In nearby Forest Hill, Gaynesford Road launches next month — a large Victorian house conversion. Prices start at £350,000 for a one-bedroom flat and £475,000 for a two-bedroom flat. Through Pedder, (as before).

The nearest big development is Barratt’s Catford Green, overlooking 54-acre Ladywell Fields in Catford. The scheme, in Adenmore Road, has 588 flats, with one-bedroom homes from £314,000 and two-bedroom flats at £379,000. Call 0844 225 0032.

London Help to Buy is available at Catford Green. The minimum deposit is five per cent, minimum mortgage is 55 per cent of the value and the remaining 40 per cent comes in the form of an equity loan, interest-free for five years.

Best roads
Some of London’s most handsome Victorian houses are in Cator Road where there are large double-fronted houses with carriage drives.
 

The “Thorpes” are six roads of Edwardian three- and four-bedroom terrace houses — with the street names ending in “thorpe” — close to Mayow Park. Built between 1901 and 1914, the homes range in style from Queen Anne to vernacular to neo-Georgian, with extensive use of red brick, white roughcast, multi-paned windows and decorative pargeting.

Lawrie Park Estate east of Crystal Palace Park Road is a leafy enclave with a mix of properties, including large Victorian mansions, Thirties mock Tudor houses and modern flats.

The Halifax Street conservation area off Kirkdale has pretty flat-fronted Victorian cottages.

Up and coming areas
The arrival of the retail park at Bell Green is changing perceptions of Lower Sydenham, where there are roads of small Victorian terrace houses. 
 

Staying power
Sydenham has a great sense of community and there is scope to move up and down the property ladder, so people tend to stay.#
 

Travel
Sydenham has three train stations. Trains from Sydenham Hill take 14 minutes to Victoria and to St Pancras via Blackfriars in 25 minutes. Sydenham station is on the Overground line to east London and has trains to London Bridge taking 20 minutes. Lower Sydenham has trains to Charing Cross via Waterloo East in 29 minutes and to Cannon Street via London Bridge in 17 minutes. 
 

Sydenham Hill and Sydenham are in Zone 3 (annual travelcard £1,520); and Lower Sydenham are in Zone 4 (annual travelcard £1,860).


Council
Most of Sydenham is in Labour-controlled Lewisham, and Band D council tax for the 2015/2016 year is £1,355.35.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants
Sydenham Road is the busy high street, where highlights at the Cobb’s Corner end are Kirkdale Bookshop, Blue Mountain Café and Sugahill, a café that puts on vinyl record nights, while the Bell Green end of the street boasts The Dolphin pub and Beer Rebellion, a bar owned by local craft brewery Late Knights Brewery.
 

The newish Bell Green Retail Park off Perry Hill has branches of B&Q, Currys/PC World, Next, Toys R Us, Pets at Home and Next. There is a large branch of Sainsbury’s in Southend Lane.

There are independent shops in Kirkdale where it meets Dartmouth Road. This part of Sydenham has now been branded Kirkdale High Street and there are attractive hand-painted signs referring to the fact that this was Sydenham’s “first” high street. Here, Granny’s Goodies sells vintage teddy bears and Behind the Boxes sells antique Art Deco.

There is a piano shop, a reclamation yard, the 161 Food + Drink wine bar, a sweet little French café called Fig & Pistachio, and Hibagon Sushi & Grill Japanese restaurant. Trattoria Raffaele, a small family-run Italian restaurant, has been crowned the number one restaurant in London by the website TripAdvisor


Open spaces
Sydenham is blessed with lots of open spaces and parks. Crystal Palace Park has the famous huge dinosaur statues, a small animal farm and the listed National Sports Centre. Sydenham Hill Wood is a wooded nature reserve run by the London Wildlife Trust. Sydenham Wells Park is named after the medicinal waters that were discovered there in the 17th century. It has children’s playgrounds, tennis courts and a water play area. Mayow Park has a bowling green, outdoor gym, cricket pitch, tennis courtyard, a meadow area and a café run by Brown & Green, which runs a growing chain of brunch restaurants in this corner of the capital.
 

Leisure and the arts
Sydenham Film Club has screenings on the last Thursday of the month at the recently refurbished Golden Lion pub in Sydenham Road. Sydenham Arts is the local arts organisation responsible for the Sydenham Arts Festival held in July, when there is an annual Artists’ Trail. Halloween is celebrated every year in the high street. 
 

There are two local council-owned swimming pools, at Forest Hill Pools in Dartmouth Road and at The Bridge Leisure Centre in Kangley Bridge Road.

Schools

Primary

Sydenham’s state primary schools are almost all judged “good” by the Ofsted government education watchdog, and two are rated “outstanding” — Eliot Bank in Thorpewood Avenue and Haseltine in Haseltine Road. In nearby Beckenham, Alexandra Infant School in Kent House Road is “outstanding”. St Bartholomew’s CofE in The Peak, Sydenham, is also very popular. Rose House (co-ed, ages three to 11) is a Montessori primary school in the Chapel on the Hill in Forest Hill.

Comprehensive

The three local state comprehensive schools are all judged “good”. These are: Forest Hill (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Dacres Road; Sydenham School (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Dartmouth Road (the two schools share a sixth form), and Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley (ages 11 to 18) in Lennard Road.

Sydenham High (ages four to 18) in Westwood Hill is an all-through girls’ school.

Private

The three Dulwich private schools – Dulwich College, James Allen’s Girls’ School and Alleyn’s School - are all nearby.