SE London: East Dulwich like places but more affordable?

[BuriedTea]

Budget around 800k, house, at least 3 double bedrooms on residential street. Keen on local leisure centre/pool and library preferably walkable or quick bus, family friendly (tweens who will become teens). Not so fussed about other amenities.

Am not white and have no idea about SE london so want to feel safe. What's it like living in: West Norwood, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Brockley, Nunhead, Forest Hill, Crofton Park? Anywhere I missed.

Hither Green and the Lee side of Blackheath.

800k will probably rule out 3 double beds in brockley and forest hill. two double and a single more likely.

agree with Lee and Hither Green. There’s ladywell and catford too.

SE- lewisham, catford, Crofton park, all the areas you mention are very multicultural- 14% white I think, with most being Black African( lots of Ghanaian) and Black Caribbean heritage.

it’s about as safe as anywhere else in London :)

Tbh, £800k won’t get you 3 doubles in any of those areas.
i might be putting my 3 bed house up for sale in Greenwich soon 😃£740k

Beckenham

I was about to say Beckenham. Good transport links into London, out and across. Good schools, as well.

West Norwood has a pool and a library and is safe.

Sydenham or Crystal Palace maybe - lovely areas, but going up in price quickly!

do you need schools?

I'm not sure any of those places has the green spaces & shops,restaurants that East Dulwich offers though

What about sw14, very white but extremely safe

for 800k?

@floorida yes

had a quick look & couldn't see any 3 double bedroom houses for that.

We live in West Norwood (the Dulwich side), it’s lovely - independent cinema, library, little theatre, nice pubs. Parks nearby. Lots of quiet streets. We own a flat but I’m sure you can get a great house for that budget!

We live in se14, Hatcham park. Quiet streets. 3bed (all doubles) terraces. All c.1100-1300 sq foot. £700-850k depending on street. Racially and socially diverse. Not as “nice” as east dulwich but that’s the price difference…. We can walk to peckham/Nunhead/deptford in 15-25 minutes with libraries in all three plus Canada Water. Great primaries, good secondaries.
The other place I’d look at that budget is west Norwood. The catfordy end of Crofton park, too, may be in budget though feel more suburban.

Catford and forest hill are so green leafy and lovely. It's up and coming multi community if you keep your wits about you. It's edgy and arty. There's bargains to be had but 800k means get a move on.

Fantastic transport links too 🙂

Sorry answer was brief yesterday.
This one is near great secondary and primary schools.
Pools (and gyms) in west Wickham and Beckenham. Near a David llloyd if preferred.
Park nearby and lots of other parks nearby too.
Train link from Eden park but near bus routes and Beckenham junction too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127279859#/?channel=RES_BUY

Id second lady well, or hither green. Both quite villagey (nice coffee shops etc) and both close to Blackheath which is just perfect for green, space and village life.

I lived in hither green for 5 years and am Asian - it’s quite white gentrified now and honestly no issues whatsoever

@sm40 Wow that ticks all boxes. Not ready to move yet but certainly going to go visit the area

Great. Have a drive round beckenham and West Wickham. Prices will vary depending on various catchments. Hayes also worth a visit but a little further out. Most Dulwich people get to Beckenham if you need to factor in schools usually pushes people Langley schools way.

In the more urban areas like Crystal Palace, Sydenham, SE14, forest hill, Crofton Park, Hither Green and Catford suggested... what are the nearby good libraries and sports centre (public or private with pools)?

Are they easy to drive out on weekends?

Lee is nice i recall but a bit of nothingness until Eltham (library etc) which is a bit further out than I'd like.

I'm not so fussed about shops, cafes and restaurants. I like Beckenham a lot so far. West Wickham is also nice but maybe I should add we both cycle to Central London for work and 1 hour is my limit so Beckenham is the furthest out I'd go... just adding 10 minutes (west wickham) makes it unpleasant.

Hayes/Chislehurst type areas are absolutely lovely - i love going these places in weekends for walks/pub. But i think for this stage they are too "suburban" lifestyle for us to live in i.e. you drive everywhere for everything. I would love to move somewhere like that though once i retire or kids are in uni!

Traffic around Catford is often horrendous & sometime it's bad at CP. Unsure about the rest.
If you like walking you need to check what activities/amenities on your doorstep. A friend has moved to z4 & found kids clubs is easier to navigate then when she was in z2 for example.

I'm not white and live in Hayes. Transport links are actually very good.

Beckenham is well placed for getting out into Kent/Surrey probably more so than some other places mentioned as the traffic isn’t as bad, the leisure facilities are good sports centres/libraries/parks schools are very good.
tbh I wouldn’t choose to live in Catford, it’s been up & coming for over forty years but I haven’t been over that way the last couple of years so it may have improved.