Victoria - Eltham conundrum

[ScummyMummy]

Does anyone know the best/quickest way to get from Victoria to Eltham?
Partner has job interview there 10.45am Tuesday- v exciting!

(Maybe we'll even move down that way if he gets it as I'm working in SE London as well atm. Is any there affordable accomodation nearby? Is it a nice place to live? We'd like to buy somewhere to accomodate family of 4 with 2 public sector/voluntary sector workers (ie: not high earners, though things aren't as disasterous as they once were) and I'd also like a garden and a cat in an ideal world!)

[jodee]

Hi Scummy, I don't know that neck of the woods at all but your dp would need to get the Tube from Victoria to London Bridge (District line, change at Westminster, then Jubilee (I think?)), then a Connex train from LB to Eltham. Try National Rail Enquiries (08457 48 49 50) for train times.

Fingers crossed and all the best to your dp!

[crystaltips]

The AA do a great journey planner that is free :

Here is the link

click here

[Marina]

Hi Scummy, this is your SE London Special Correspondent calling (I expect you'll be hearing from another one shortly).
Victoria - Eltham, half-hourly. Journey time a leisurely 30 minutes thanks to signals at Lewisham not favouring the Victoria branch! Look for trains for Dartford via Bexleyheath. I think they run every 20 mins in the rush hour and half-hourly after that. They are not as crowded as other SE London Connex routes.
Eltham station is a 10 minute walk to the centre of Eltham itself - or there are buses from the station concourse to other, slightly further areas of Eltham. There is also a good-ish cab firm on the concourse.
Double-check the interview location is not New Eltham though - it's nearby, but on a different line which is not served by trains from Victoria. He'd have to get to London Bridge for that. More likely to be Eltham though, there's sweet FA goes on in New Eltham, and I should know because I live there.
It's hard to be objective about your home patch, especially when you also grew up nearby. Here are the negative aspects of Eltham in my view:

• Reputation for racist crime justified, unfortunately. Plenty of residents are not racists, of course, but there are gangs of young white men picking on young black men out on their own. Five similar cases to Stephen Lawrence in the past year, luckily no-one else killed. But still a disgrace.
  
  
• High St going down toilet, but then most smaller SE London ones are because of Bluewater.
  
  
• Greenwich Council struggling with secondary education. Policies to improve the situation are slowly taking effect but the borough is surrounded by better achieving authorities on this front.
  
  
• Cultural dead zone. This part of London has no rep theatre any more, no art galleries or museums of note, few really good restaurants, in fact no decent bookshops in the high streets. (Except Greenwich).
  
  And now the plus points - there are some:
  
  
• Loads of open space, especially around Eltham itself. Wild and wonderful Oxleas Woods, Green Chain Walk, beautiful Greenwich Park a bus ride away. Lots of smaller parks, some a bit tatty, but generally heaps of trees and greenery. Divine refurbished Eltham Palace and Gardens.
  
  
• Good public transport, getting much better under Ken. Recent investment in more buses in South Greenwich (ie Eltham/New Eltham) really paying off. Connex is hopeless, but no worse I guess than the Jubilee or District/Circle lines. Eltham is a big bus interchange.
  
  
• High St does still have M & S, Sainsburys, Boots, ELC, WH Smug, some small specialist retailers and an OK pizza parlour not infested with surly teens.
  
  
• Greenwich: council with heart in right place, a bit shambly compared to Lewisham, but trying. Primary education improving a lot, tries not to use B & B for homeless, money to do up hideous Ferrier Estate, VERY good Early Years initiatives etc. Also, extremely excellent not-for-profit sports centres and pools - much, much better than neighbouring boroughs and very reasonable.
  
  
• Crucially for you, property prices in many parts of borough are less pricy than other parts of zone 3/4 London. OK, that's because it's unfashionable, but you may well be able to afford a house with a garden in places like Eltham, New Eltham, Plumstead, Abbey Wood, Catford, etc. Greenwich, parts of Eltham and Blackheath are very expensive and some other areas, like Charlton, are an overpriced bubble waiting to burst.
  
  
• It's quite safe crime-wise compared to other parts of London (except for racist crime, as above). You are not particularly likely to be mugged or burgled in the borough.
  
  
• Great community midwife service (just in case...?!) and very good Womens Services generally at new hospital.
  
  Phew, is that too much info? I hope not. And I really hope dp's interview goes well on Tuesday - let us know how he gets on and let's hope the House of Scum luck on the new job front holds.
  
  Come to SE London - beleaguered Mumsnetters need you down here. It's not happening and prosperous like SW and W London!

[jodee]

Marina, I never knew you could get a direct service there from Victoria - learn something new every day! Glad you posted, or I would have felt guilty for maybe sending Scummy's dp on an unnecessary round trip of South London (sorry Scummy!)

[ScummyMummy]

Thankee all kindly- especially Marina. Great post and SE London sounds like it could well be our manor one day. I like the sound of greenery and gardens and Eltham palace and low property prices and a council with its heart in the right place, esp as they will, if I remember rightly, be my partner's employers if he gets this job! Not too worried about cultural deadness and the high street, though the racism bit sounds terrible. But agree with you, Batters, that the presence of Mumsnetters is a good sign in and of itself and at least I'd know that there were some goodies in the area who weren't racist pigs. Lots to go on in your post anyway, Marina, not least, as jodee points out, that my partner had no idea he could jump on the train at Victoria!

[Marina]

Ah, but Jodee, they don't publicise it much and every single other service goes in and out of Charing X/Cannon St, as you said. The Victoria service is a bit of an oddity, but it has been running for donkey's years. So hopefully it is not going to be scrapped just as Scummy's partner starts his new job.