South Norwood

[01forLondon]

In our ongoing quest for a house we can actually afford we've been looking at South Norwood near Norwood Juntion station. We visited the country park the other day and some of the nearby streets between the park and Portland Rd. Was very quiet and pretty when we visted in the sunshine but I've read that those roads can be plagued by moped riding youths and the area generally can be quite unsafe. Portland Rd did look a bit shabby but no worse than many other streets I've lived near in East London!

Does anyone live in South Norwood? Do you like it? Do you feel safe? Any recommendations would be gratefully received!

Haven't lived there but know it pretty well.
Try visiting it when there is a home match on at Crystal Palace.

Yeah that had crossed my mind, had deliberately avoided the streets near the stadium because of that. But I guess the whole area gets pretty hectic.

Should add that we have 2 DC aged nearly 4 and 8 months, so we'll be looking for a primary school and nursery.

Hi Op the country park is very nice, but tbh the area doesn't have a great reputation & does feel at times quite aggressive & very very noisy traffic is also pretty problematic.
Can't comment on schools, mine way past needing schools what's your budget? maybe might be able to offer some other alternative areas.

Thanks - this seems to be cropping up a lot from what I'm reading, damn... the houses are so nice (and affordable!). We have about £450k and need 3 beds, walking distance to tube / train with easy connections to central and east London. It's a tall order! We were looking at NE London originally (Highams Park, north Walthamstow) but it looked like we could get more for our money in SE.

I doubt anyone is going to sing South Norwoods praises to you but it's probably no worse than plenty of other London suburbs that are a bit rough around the edges. We have friends who live there and we visit them often. It's not for us but it works for them. Go in with your eyes wide open, research schools and streets and see if you can find a nice spot that's fits you- every areas has these.

Don't live in South Norwood but know the area really well. I agree the houses are nice and (for London prices!) You get a decent amount of house for your money.

However, the schools are not great and the area itself is really busy and high street is quite dirty and congested. I must say though it is a safe area as I know a few people who have lived there for years and who have never had any problems. Depends on what you feel you can compromise on.

Oh, and when Croydon Westfield gets built the value of any house in south Norwood will shoot up as its close to a rail station and tram stops that go straight onto croydon!

At least it's better than Thornton Heath next door.

I lived there for a year 20 something years ago. We were in a cul de sac off Portland road and our own street was pretty quiet, which was a plus. We were less than 10 mins down the hill from the station. I appreciate it may have changed a bit since then!

S Norwood near the lakes is lovely and has Cypress primary school nearby which has a good local reputation and is worth investigating. The area is busy on match days, like many areas with a local stadium (e.g. QPR). It's hard to beat on value for money and as other have said a great investment in view of Croydon Westfield

OP, I live in South Norwood. No, it's not trendy or fashionable and yes, it is rough around the edges, much like lots of the outer zones of London. If you know London then I imagine there are lots of areas that you would love to live in but, for £450k it's highly unlikely that you'll find a property that is suitable for a family in those areas .

South Norwood is nowhere near as bad as suggested. It's diverse and it's traditionally a working class area which may give some people the heebeejeebies. It also needs tidying up, a lot. But, this is happening.

You've mentioned the Country Park area - a lot of families from other parts of London have and are continuing to move here. A lot of young professional couples are buying houses here. The main road which runs past the Country Park area is currently undergoing improvements which will see tree-lined paved streets and new seating. There are lovely new shops - galleries, a haberdashery and coffee shops. There are two lovely new pubs which are definitely more current/trendy and an independent bakery about to open.

There are community groups here that are really active and want the best for the area which has led to the above. There's also a monthly market near the station, a weekly Park Run at the Country Park, a local cinema, the impressive Stanley Halls which hosts a theatre, a cafe, weekly yoga sessions and more. This has all happened because of the strong community groups.

Most importantly, for a young family, the schools are improving. Oasis Ryelands which is a Primary school in The Country Park area is a wonderful, nurturing school and has just had a good, with outstanding features rating from Ofsted. Also, the area is so green - it's surrounded by parks with lakes! Who would've thought!

I'm newish to the area and I moved here from a more central part of town so I know it can be daunting but it really is ok here.

Thanks so much for these really helpful replies. Dosouth that's really good to know, thank you. We can't move for about a year so it'll be interesting to see what happens in that time - hopefully we don't get priced out of the area by then! We're currently in Whitechapel and I've lived in Leytonstone (before it was trendy) so I'm quite used to shabby. We're currently surrounded by dealers and boys driving rented fast cars dangerously down narrow streets

Have looked at the Oasis Ryelands but will check out Cypress too. Have heard that Stewart Fleming is good too if you live further north on the West side of the country park.

Have you looked at Wallington/Sutton/Carshalton area? Bit further out but train links are good (no tube though).

Or Morden? It's on the end of the Northern Line.

I used to live in West Norwood and didn't really like South Norwood that much then. Might have changed since though.

I'll be selling my house in a few months, hoping for around the £450k mark too. On the Central Line, Piccadilly Line and spur into Crossrail. Might be too far West for you though. I find that NW London boroughs now have more affordable-ish houses.

I live in South Norwood and I really like it here. We moved from Peckham and while there are occasionally problems with the moped riding teens, really it's a great family area. Stanley Halls is a great cultural and social hub, the Lakes cafe is brilliant for little ones, and Crystal Palace is really quite close.

We live in south Norwood and love it - great community vibe and a brilliant short commute to London Bridge. The lakes and country park are gorgeous and we're big fans of the two new local pubs and a couple of the restaurants. We often brave a walk up the hill to Crystal Palace for dinner or hop on the train for four mins to Boxpark at Croydon. That said we don't have DC yet so can't comment on the schools - have to say I see lots of young families now and really liking it

Oh and yes to Stanley Halls - coffee craft for brunch is brilliant! Would also recommend Yeha Noha by the station

Lovely to hear some positive things! Thanks for the additional replies. We'll go and check out Stanley Halls next time we visit for sure.

Unfortunately we can go too far south or west as we want to be able to connect quickly back to Whitechapel / Shoreditch to see friends. And my work is currently between Oxford Circus & Stratford. Hence why the overground is such a good line for us!

I live at the other end of South Norwood, by Grangewood Park. When we were looking to buy a couple of years ago, we initially focused on the Portland Road end and the ‘ladder’ roads as some people call them, however we decided against it for a number of reasons. We were moving from Crystal Palace and still use that as our go to for socialising as there are lots of great pubs and restaurants. I love that I can walk there in less than 30 minutes and I think I would have felt a bit isolated and very dependent on driving everywhere if we’d bought around Portland Road.

Which brings me to my next point; traffic. It’s terrible so I try and walk as much as possible or use public transport which is much more doable from my end. Someone mentioned Thornton Heath and yes, it’s certainly not the prettiest of places but it’s really useful. There are frequent trains to Victoria which take less than 30 minutes and there’s a good little leisure centre and fantastic gymnastics club. The Council are also spending a lot of money on High Street improvements so it’s starting to look and feel a little less grotty.

Someone else mentioned the football club and I was worried about this too before we moved but it’s actually not that bad. I avoid driving anywhere on match days as the roads get really clogged up and all the parking spaces are taken, but otherwise, it’s not really a problem.
Can’t comment on schools as haven’t got to that stage yet. HTH

All so helpful, thank you Lemon! I need to take a really good look at all the transport links (train, tram and bus) and see what goes where. Great to know about the gymnastics club.

I've seen there's a fairly active SN mums Facebook group so I've joined that to get a feel for what's going on too.

Join CP Mums FB page too as it's huge and very active and covers all the surrounding areas. Good luck!

I used to live near the Crystal Palace triangle but moved down the hill to Anerley/Penge when I realised we could get a house.

I like South Norwood, particularly the bit by the lakes and up towards grangewood park. These roads are full of 1920s/1930s houses, with great outdoor spaces.

Portland Road is ok, and is somewhere i considered living- but I agree that the area has issues with traffic. Transport links are great with the fast London Bridge train, thameslink coming soon and the east London line. Stanley Halls and local film club are wonderful and I think in a few years it will all feel a little less gritty and hope the high street continues to improve.

I live on the other side of the country park in a cluster of roads in Anerley that include Tremaine, Marlow and Worbeck. These roads are great- full of greenery, wide roads, families and beautiful Victorian houses. I'd recommend looking this side as you are close to good transport and other hubs such as beckenham, CP etc. but nice and peaceful without any associated match day crazyness.