Anyone like to tell me about PENGE or Anerley??

[SpringHeeledJack]

Here's the thing- we live in South East London at the moment- zone 2. Although we like it here, we're thinking about moving out a little way (mostly so we can have a smaller mortgage/get somewhere a little bit bigger)

Is there anyone in Penge who can tell me a bit about living there with kids? we've had a look round and think it looks great but some more info from people on the ground would be handy

...and don't tell me Crystal Palace is nicer. We can't afford it

tia!

I live in West Norwood too. I'm quite surprised by all the MNers here tbh, when I lived (literally!) 10 minutes down the road in Streatham it was like an MN wasteland...

I've lived in this area for years. I grew up in Upper Norwood (5 minutes walk across norwood Park from where I live now) and I was more than happy to come back.

Never lived in Penge, but we used to shop there every weekend. The area around the shops used to be a bit run down, but then again most high streets tend to be a bit like that! My sister lives in Anerley and loves it. Good links to the city and then onto everywhere else.

serenity that's good to know. I have a really great group of MN friends in Streatham that I met 2 years ago when I was pregnant with DS. Gutted to be leaving them, even though I'm only going ten minutes down the road to West Norwood!

Siiiiiiigh....

I miss that area....

DH, DD and I all live in Herts now (rah!), but my old flat which is rented out is on Crystal Palace Park Road, and I once had a big argy with a cabby who said I lived in Penge and I said Crystal Palace. (Penge sounds further at 1am and you're a bit worse for wear). I loved it around there, and if we could afford it and someone would buy our house here, we'd sell both and move back there (I work at Kings) - have so many friends round there. Siiiiigh.

.... and if you want to be posh you can always nip to East Dulwich (on the 176....to... Oxford Circus.... bloody talking buses)....

Ahem. But yes, nice pub near Penge West station, Bridge House, and I think it's owned by the people who own that big one on the roundabout at Gypsy Hill?

Good luck!

roffle at Penge and ley lines

Mind you I did read some time back that -enge is a vaaaaairy ancient suffix (?)- the only other -enge being- wait for it- HENGE

woooooooo

Funny about Streatham- I did notice that no-one suggested it as an option at all. Sparky/serenity- isn't it the Hill is posh, and the Vale isn't?

...and if we ever do get to Penge, sausage, I shall remember your crafty Crystal Palace ruse.

I grew up in Streatham...ah, the lido All right Tootin bleedin Bec for that), the ice rink, the prostitutes and the flashers. And a marvellous ladies' dress shop called "Continental" where you could while away many a Saturday hour shrieking with laughter at the clothes until they threw you out and you went to the wimpy for a Brown Derby. Happy days.

Hully I hung out in that Wimpy in about 1986, one of my best friends lived off Streatham Hill. I've got happy memories of spending ages looking at smelly stationery in that big WH Smiths too when a bit younger.

I'm always really surprised to see that that wholefoods cafe off on the left towards the bottom of the high street is still going, my mum used to take us there in the late seventies

I was a leetle before that - don't remember no wholefood caff?

I went to Brownies in that funny church next to the ice rink.

Here

"very much in the style Cranks used to be" kinda sums it up

Sorry to change tack OP. I have been reading because we are thinking of moving and veering towards West Norwood at the moment, like you, can't afford Crystal Palace. Have you thought about Honor Oak? Very green and leafy, not toooo expensive

That looks a bit posh for me. Honor Oak is quite nice, agree, though don't know about schools and dangerously close to the dreaded Catford (but that may jst be me)

Tbh those are pretty much the reasons that I've dithered about it but thought I'd throw it into the mix.

ooh no, I love a tack change, me

I like Honor Oak- it's just up the road from me, but around the same sort of price/more expensive for houses. We're looking to go somewhere a bit cheaper, though, so we can fritter our spare cash on holidays, clothes and other nonsense

I also have a thing about Catford. Kids round here seem to as well. Don't know if its rep is deserved- but bet someone will come and tell us in a minute?

Honor Oak schools- iirc Fairlawn is an excellent primary. Dunno about secondaries tho- guess it's Sydenham for the girls, Forest Hill for the boys and not much in the middle?

Where are you now then? I once lived in Crofton Park...

If I told you, I would have to namechange. again

but it rhymes with bun- head

...oh, and no-one knows where on earth it is even when they know what it's called

[cryptic]

I know where it is. And it has a lovely home for the deadder among us. My dsis's ex's mum lives there too.

Catford is vile hell on earth (lived there too)

Oh it truly does. That's where I walk my horrible dogs

...anyway, what are you doing looking at property in Honor Oak? I had you down for rural idyll somewhere in Kent. Maybe near Deal. With a lovely village pond

Hi all again, I live in the nice part of that place . On top of a hill, parks everywhere next to where you used to live Hully . The main drag/town centre is hell on earth, that's a good description (I avoid it like the plague).

I really like where you live SHJ but it's another wasteland for secondary schools isn't it. Likewise Brockley, which I also quite like, but just seems a bit tricky with a boy.

ooh, do you, Monty? I think I've got your approximate co-ordinates

Our friends live up there. It's lovely, innit? Good connections, nice and sort of space-y, trees and stuff, but handy for the bustling shopping hubs of Catford and Lewisham ...

why on earth are you moving to Penge, then?

SHJ I'm not looking at Honor Oak pour moi, I just know it of old.

Don't live nowhere near Deal. Or have a pond, italicised or otherwise. Apart from the pond on me allotment.

tatty there's a new boy's academy- Harris, soon to move to permanent East Dulwich site. Think they've just got Y7 in at the moment, so tis a bit of an unknown quantity

boys are definitely a problem here- I think quite a lot used to go to Forest Hill Boys, but now that's gone all popular you haven't a hope.

It's ridiculous, innit. I planned to just do the nearest comp when it came to it- but heard Very Bad Things about it so had to give it a swerve. Southwark and Lewisham very tricky for schools, I think.

I feel really ridiculous for thinking about schools with a three year old and a fetus fgs but I do not ever want to move again after this move.

How can you tell what the secondary schools are going to be like in an area in seven years time? It's absurd but it would be mad to move now and not think about it all.

you really, really can't, tatty, as I said somewhere upthread. They can change in a matter of a couple of years.

Also, of course, you can't tell how your dcs are going to turn out. Friends of mine moved solely to be near a prestigious- pretty strict- girls' school for the dds. The eldest is in Y8 and absolutely loathes it to the point where it's causing her health problems- they all realise now it was totally the wrong school for her...

...sorry. That wasn't very helpful, was it?

Spring - it is lovely, I want to move to get a bit further from exh and to try and get something just, you know, with a shower room or something (two teens). Also, the commute to work from where I live is absolutely ideal, a direct train wow! I have to factor in the cost of moving as well, soooooo.

I'm very much in two minds. None of dds friends live here, they're all Syd/Beck/Penge. We've been here a long time and I am ready for change. But I don't want to make a mistake either. and

Hully - is the pond in your allotment supposed to be there?

Deal's nice.