Live in East Dulwich or Denmark Hill?

[monomo]

I've recently moved to East Dulwich and am quite taken with the area. The village-like ambiance, traditional architecture, and diverse, multicultural community are all features I truly enjoy. However, I've come across a house on Denmark Hill that seems to be my dream home – notably more spacious than my current residence.
Despite this exciting prospect, I find myself unsure about the safety of the Denmark Hill neighborhood. Could anyone provide insights into the area's population structure? Additionally, I'm curious about the safety of walking around after dark. It would be great to pinpoint the specific parts of Denmark Hill that are considered safe.
Furthermore, I've noticed that property prices in Denmark Hill are comparatively lower than those in East Dulwich. This naturally raises questions about the potential reasons behind this price difference.
Any insights and advice on these matters would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Where in Denmark Hill? Camberwell is a diverse area with amazing Georgian townhouses on Grove Lane and Camberwell Grove, and council flats on various estates - plus everything in between. It's a great area for food and very buzzy. How old are you, do you have children etc?

East Dulwich is really nice but I think the transport links are much worse.

Can you specify exactly where in Denmark Hill? I used to live off Camberwell Grove and generally felt very safe. The traffic can be very bad at Camberwell Green and if you are on a main road it can be noisy with sirens day and night due to the proximity to King’s. It is much much better connected than ED however, being on about seventeen million bus routes and having mainline, the ginger line and Thameslink at the station.

Where in Denmark Hill is the main question.
I personally love the green spaces and buzzy high street of East Dulwich/around Lordship Lane, but as others have noted Denmark Hill station and down the hill to Camberwell is much better connected transport wise. Also handy for Kings College Hospital!

There has been a big rise in antisocial behaviour recently around Greendale/the Dog Kennel Hill/Quorn estate with lots of muggings and robberies taking place there and on Grove Vale road/outside East Dulwich station. Maybe something to bear in mind.

If I had to pick I would probably choose East Dulwich, but then again the housing stock is much more expensive, so it depends what your priorities are.

The higher price is because of the ED villageyness, schools and general middle class family appeal of the area. Denmark Hill is more dispersed and a bit grittier but then places with more transport tend to be like that and you get the benefit of being closer in and better connected. I wouldn't say it's unsafe. There's always muggings in most parts of London and you just have to keep your wits about you, but I've lived all over south London for 30+ years and not had any trouble yet (touch wood!). Lived in Camberwell and Loughborough Junction, which I'd say was edgier than Denmark Hill, and would say I felt safer there than in some posher West London places because in the latter the streets were quiet in the way that no one would be there to help whereas in the livelier places it always feels safer to me as there's people around looking out for each other.

The area around Ruskin Park is very nice and safe feeling. A friend bought a big house there and loves it. The only downside of Denmark Hill is it's more of a between place but you've got Herne Hill and Dulwich and Brixton close by plus Kings hospital and the Charter School and buses/trains galore. It'll never have the estate agent fancy factor of ED but day to day that's not what matters. If you love the house, I'd trade ED for DH and not look back.

Could anyone provide insights into the area's population structure?

Are you asking if there are poor people living in ‘Denmark Hill’, ie Camberwell? Yes, there are, but there are also poor people in East Dulwich. The Dog Kennel Hill estate has an SE22 postcode .

We lived very nearby when I had DC1 and I used to go into ED for NCT classes, baby groups etc. It’s villagey insofar as it has an affluent middle-class community but the physical layout of the area isn’t villagey at all and there is no natural focal point like Herne Hill as it’s all scattered along the spine of Lordship Lane and its traffic. Affluent areas are of course targets for thieves. Do they still have a problem with expensive prams being nicked from people’s boots? That was the big thing ten years or so ago.

Denmark Hill is a very small area. There's a block of big houses above the park and, over the road, a large housing estate. Like most of London it is very diverse even in a small patch.

East Dulwich is larger and similarly diverse but I've never seen the big houses you get on Denmark Hill/ Herne Hill borders so it really depends what you are looking for.

Do you know which bit you are looking at and what you need - schools etc?

Is Denmark Hill an actual area or just a train station? I've always considered the area to the north of the station East Dulwich and to the south Camberwell. East Dulwich is generally white/middle class/laptops over an iced latte land and has two M&Ss while Camberwell ranges from the extremely wealthy (architects, city types etc) in the beautiful Camberwell Grove to poverty in other parts, and has a Lidl and a Morrisons.

According to wiki - "Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark, London, England. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge.[1] The road is part of the A215 which north of its main foot, Camberwell Green, becomes Camberwell Road and south of Red Post Hill becomes named Herne Hill, another district."

Which station? East Dulwich? All of Dog Kennel Hill is SE22, including the estate and the Sainsbury’s, up to DKH primary school. Grove Hill Road is the northern boundary between SE22 and SE5. Have you got your compass points mixed up?

In my experience estate agents started referring to ‘Denmark Hill’ as a distinct area when the overground arrived and it became visible on a TfL map

Yeah to me Denmark Hill is just the train station and big Sainsbury's.

As soon as you start going down the hill it's Camberwell.

OP if you mean the area between Sainsbury's and the hospital - it's fine. Yes it's inner London with everything that goes with it but it's generally fine. I suspect it is cheaper as it is not as near the chi chi cafes and cushion shops of Lordship Lane and North Cross road (but they are literally 3 bus stops or a short walk away should you have a yen for a cup cake or £50 cushion) and you are nearer the hospital and station - so more noise. And it is nearer Camberwell, which like Peckham, still seems to give some East Dulwich Clapham nappy valley refugees a fit of the vapours.

I used to live the other side off the top of Coldharbour Lane and you get used to the sirens and air ambulance noise - eventually. 🤣

I meant north of Denmark Hill station is East Dulwich, south of Denmark Hill station is Camberwell. To me Denmark Hill doesn't really exist as a place.

I'm completely baffled by your geography.

North of Denmark Hill station encompasses the area between Denmark Hill road and Grove Lane, including King's and the Maudsley hospitals. It is very firmly in Camberwell, which is a big area all the way north to Burgess Park! You are correct that most of the area south of Denmark Hill station is also Camberwell, until you hit either Herne Hill, East Dulwich, or North Dulwich.

You're right my geography is wonky. I only really know the 176 bus route! :)

I have always thought that Camberwell Green has the best infrastructure of any locale in the world.
It has: a large general hospital, a psychiatric hospital, two supermarkets, a refurbed victorian swimming pool, a new library, a court, and a police station. And a green. Its got it all. I think the green even has a farmers market.
And the secondary school, which used to be quite rough was taken over by Ark demolished and rebuilt and has those trendy toilets which are just individual cubicles built into the corridor.
And the train station at Denmark Hill and 40 billion buses.
Tbf, it also has a lively street life. But the police are right there for when it kicks off.
I'd pick Denmark Hill every time, you can always get a 85, 176, or 40 to Lordship Lane. But the station at Denmark Hill has very good coffee and cakes, so you don't need the cafes.

@Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit

@@I have always thought that Camberwell Green has the best infrastructure of any locale in the world

:)

in the world :)

you maybe kinda right.

It's crap for rail/tube, but

I once read (but haven't checked) that it had a direct bus route to every single london rail terminal.

definitely no shortage of buses and you can of course just bounce from one to the other for a continuous carpet ride.

(ex north londoner who was once dragged to camberwell to see a university mate's family and wondered where the hell I was)

Cambsrwell is fine for rail/tube. It has Denmark Hill station which is served by trains from Blackfriars and Victoria and the Overground takes you to Dalston (via Canada Water) one way and Clapham Junction the other.

But Camberwell is not Denmark Hill.

Denmark Hill really is a very small area but the demographics vary massively.

Not any more! Denmark Hill is on the overground and therefore even appears on the tube map now, so north Londoners have been forced to acknowledge its existence

Denmark Hill is an area of Camberwell, and much of Camberwell is highly gentrified. It has a lot of beautiful Georgian housing.

yes i know.

Have long since appreciated south london, even before the ginger/orange line arrival.

But personally never understood the relatively recent apotheosis of the flatlands of East Dulwich* - can only assume that it's some sort of yummy mummy critical mass - middle class types like to feel comfortable surrounded by their clones - god kows why the OP thinks it so diverse/multicultural but appears so wary of denmark hill&

• is there any other area of london which has its name in so many stations but is nowhere near any of them.

& the DH spoons of course once hosted burton and taylor at the height of their global fame/notoriety for sunday lunch.

>>is there any other area of london which has its name in so many stations but is nowhere near any of them
referred to e dulwich in case not clear - wonky MN editing.

The Fox on the Hill is a great Spoons.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Walters is a good snapshot of what Denmark Hill was like after the war as its fortunes began to wane.

I lived in Champion Hill, off the top of Denmark Hill , and loved going to Dulwich Village. But I have never dared look at property prices there.

Had to google apotheosis,but will say that East Dulwich has been popular for years. It isn't a recent thing. I lived there 2007-2012 and it was completely gentrified by then. Peckham Rye was still pretty real though.

Whether I'd move to DH would v much depend on road and proximity to schools etc. There is some v decent housing stock around there .

yes, surely one of the best spoons gardens in the country* - and one of the best pub gardens in london for sure. View of the london eye plus cheap quality beer - where else better on a summer afternoon/warm evening.