Eltham - what’s it like?

[tigerbear]

Thinking of moving from Greenwich to Eltham to get more space, and been to see a few places to buy.
Specifically, roads very near the station.
we quite like houses on the Progress Estate.
anyone familiar with the area and can tell me what it’s like?
Thanks in advance!

I’ve lived on the Progress Estate (on the side nearer Westmount Road) for about two years - I have to say some of the reviews of poor old Eltham on here are very harsh, although I appreciate I live in one of the nicer bits! We moved here from zone 2 in order to be able to afford a house with a garden.

The Progress Estate itself is lovely, and feels very safe - as do all the Glen- roads around Eltham Park and Westmount Road. The demographics are changing as lots of recent probate sales on the estate tend to go to young professional couples priced out of naicer bits of London (often commuting to Canary Wharf, the City or Westminster). There are several nice cafes and pubs - restaurants remain far patchier, although as someone mentioned there’s a new Italian restaurant opening up and you can always get a fish supper from Hooked on Westmount Road... For brunch, there’s Westmount Cafe and Chez Maitre, as well as Bob’s Your Uncle on the high st by Sainsbury's. For lunch, Eltham GPO does good small plates (as does the SkyBar actually) and the Rusty Bucket does toasties on a Sunday. Tudor Barn on Well Hall Road does decent pub grub, and has a nice outdoor seating area in the summer.

The High Street is functional enough, although there’s an ominous trend of shops being replaced by gyms. There’s a cinema and also the Bob Hope Community Theatre. The Rusty Bucket - an excellent pub btw - puts on various events, like beer tasting. The parks are great compared to zone 2, and there’s some walks around Eltham Palace which feel like you’re in the countryside but with an unexpected great view of the skyline.

Negatives - the new SE timetable is nonsense, and the buses to Woolwich could be more frequent. Other parts of Eltham are definitely more unreconstructed. Also, there’s several huge roads.

@WednesburyUnreasonable thanks so much for this info, really interesting, and glad to hear that the Progress Estate feels safe. Regarding parks, do you happen to know of any dog friendly ones? The house we’re interested in is right near the Pleasaunce, but was disappointed to see that dogs not allowed. I guess we could go to Oxleas Woods, but not sure if it’s near enough for a quick walk.

Eltham Park is near the Progress Estate (enter from the South, off Glenesk Road - CityMapper has never really got the hang of the side streets around there but eventually you find what the quickest combo is) and completely dog friendly. If you want a really quick walk on a crap day, plenty of people walk their dogs on Lovelace Green on the estate itself.

South Park, off Glenesk Road, is great for dogs and has a cafe. Met lots of people there. Also has a fun day/festival/fete which is great as well as other events.
Bob's is the best cafe and very, very child friendly. Eltham Leisure Centre and Library are both excellent.
The High Street has everything you want for general stuff. As mentioned above it could do with a couple more good restaurants - not just Turkish! Easy to get to Blackheath and Greenwich for eating out with more choice.
Re train to Victoria - you can always change at Lewisham where more trains go through although I believe there are two an hour from Eltham generally.
Great if you want to use the Channel Tunnel to get to France as right at the start of the M20. Also easy for days out to Canterbury and Kent coast as near to M2.
There is complete mix of people here but I have noticed more and more young families moving in. Wish I could live on one of 'Glen' roads...

@WednesburyUnreasonable and @mscynical thanks so much for the info. Good to know that there are decent places to walk the dog, and I did really like Lovelace Green when I viewed a house there a few years ago. I’m going to do a few second house viewings at the weekend 🙏

Eltham Park South leads into Eltham Park north and the woods anyway. And I live on a road which leads to Oxleas Wood and it's a parade of dog walkers daily. It's lovely for long walks but there are nearer parks for shorter walks

Sounds great @Coraline353 !

Not my cup of tea at all. Stay in Greenwich.

Eltham is not trendy or pretty like Greenwich but in many ways it's way more practical when you have DC. Usually easier parking. The high street actually has useful shops rather than trendy ones which don't actually have anything you need.

Bickley orBromley South are on the samé line and much nicer.

We made that move a couple of years ago OP. We are very happy! Primary school is excellent and my DD is at the local grammar. I have never felt unsafe to be honest and when we lived in Greenwich our car got broken into 5 times and our neighbour got burgled. It isn't pretty in the town centre and in fairness I never visit the high street apart to go to the cinema occasionally with the children. Our house is massive in comparison and really worth the move. A lot of new families have moved into our street and slowly I think it will hopefully improve the high street and availability of cafes etc.

We like open spaces and we have a huge garden as well as very accessible green spaces.

Commuting is easy enough to Victoria (that is my commute). If we want Charing X we tend to walk down to New Eltham and use that line.

All in all I would definitely make the move again!

None of the people saying it’s awful say I live here and it’s awful. I know several people that are happy here and have told us to move that way. It’s definitely on the rise with some good features already.

Because it’s a place I wouldn’t live, I don’t need to live there to know that, I live local to the area and I don’t think it’s a nice place. In fact it’s one of the places I avoided moving to.

Maybe the people who don’t like Eltham can explain what they don’t like, which might be more helpful to OP in deciding whether they are issues she can live with than bare statements of dislike or suggestions she simply moves to a more expensive area.

For example, Eltham is quite a big place and I wouldn’t want to live in certain parts that are dominated by some big roads and have a lot of low-density housing but no decent cafes/shops because I don’t have a car and moved here after 12 years in zone 2, so not being able to walk to buy a coffee would make me miserable.

Agree @WednesburyUnreasonable . There are parts of Eltham I don't like but I love the part I live in. Like any borough of London it's pretty mixed. Just declaring 'I don't like it and wouldn't live there ' won't help the OP decide.

My first impressions weren't great either but looking at different houses in different parts.of Eltham made me realise which bits I liked and that parts of Eltham are lovely.

So true! We are very happy here already, and it is only getting better. It has lots of great features for a good family area already in place: good housing stock, including period properties with large gardens, excellent green spaces, good primaries and a practical, although not trendy High Street. Easy acces to countryside and other busier parts of London for more activities. What could still get better is more choice of restaurants and more groceries on Westmount rd, so you don't need to always go to High Street for your food shopping. As someone mentioned, Eltham is a big area and is varied, the best part in my opinion is the area between Oxleas/ Jack Woods and Eltham Park North and the streets near Westmount rd.

A lot of ignorance in the messages here. So, let's look at things a little more factually.

What's good: some FANTASTIC roads with a great house stock; loads of nice green spaces, from parks to woods; EXCELLENT primary schools and decent secondary as well; a no-pub policy to avoid drunken people shouting at you, although in recent years they opened two things that they call pubs but they are not really your traditional pub; excellent proximity to Canary Wharf and good connection to Central London; very close to Blackheath and Greenwich for restaurants and shops.

What's bad: the high street, but then again, I never go there, so who cares; some red neck people still live in the area, although they are slowing dying and gentrification is taking place (including demographics).

So, all in all, definitely an area to consider, but it depends on what you want and in which roads you will end-up (like it is true in any areas of London).

What I read above is just a big pile of chicken droppings.