Living in Beckenham: area guide to homes, schools and transport
Given it is so close to busy Bromley, the south-east London suburb of Beckenham has a surprisingly successful high street. Attractively winding and hilly, it’s home to independent cafés, bars and restaurants, The George Inn, which dates from the 17th century, a fishmonger, a sausage maker and a cinema.
Estate agent Maxine Harris of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward puts it down to the large number of twenty-and thirty-something incomers who expect a good choice of places to go at the weekend or in the evening. She says young couples and families move from areas such as Dulwich in search of a relatively affordable family home, good schools and an easy commute into central London.
On the wall in Regal Alley off the High Street, a mural celebrates household names who called this leafy suburb home. Julie Andrews, Bob Monkhouse, actors James Robertson Justice and Maurice Denham all grew up here.
But the biggest name on this wall of fame is David Bowie, resident in Beckenham for four years from the age of 22.
He started the Beckenham Arts Lab which ran weekly gigs in a High Street pub, now a branch of Zizzi, and in 1969 he held a free music festival on the bandstand at nearby Croydon Recreation Ground, now a place of pilgrimage for Bowie fans.
When he left Beckenham in 1973 he was already an international star and morphing into Ziggy Stardust.
Beckenham Place Park, the area’s biggest green space, is approaching the end of a £4.9 million Heritage Lottery Fund restoration that will see a new café and education centre, 15,000 trees planted and a lake for wild swimming.
The park’s beautiful Palladian mansion is now managed by the crowd from Peckham’s Bussey Building and houses artists’ studios, yoga, Pilates and wellbeing classes, arts and crafts workshops and a café.
Beckenham is 10 miles south of central London with Catford to the north; Bromley to the east; Croydon and West Wickham to the south and Penge and Anerley to the west.
The property scene
There's a bit of everything in Beckenham, with Victorian and Edwardian detached, semi-detached and terrace houses; Twenties and Thirties detached houses and semis, and modern flats mainly near the town centre.
The most expensive house currently for sale is Griffin’s. This detached Twenties five-bedroom home in Manor Way, close to Kelsey Park, is priced at £1.9 million.
The Shortlands area between Beckenham and Bromley was one of the first areas to be developed after the arrival of the railway. An example of a home for sale here is a fine five-bedroom double-fronted Victorian house in Scotts Lane, on the market for £1,595,000.
Park Langley south of the town centre was conceived as a garden city in the early years of the last century, although building continued well into the Thirties. Its most famous landmark is the Chinese garage, now a Kia dealership, in Stone Park Avenue, which the architectural writer Nikolaus Pevsner described as being in “a rampant Road to Mandalay style”.
The Wellcome Trust abandoned its research facility in Langley Court in 1995 and two new gated housing estates, Langley Waterside and Langley Park, were built. A six-bedroom Twenties detached house in Elwill Way, Park Langley, is for sale for £1.3 million.
There is solid Victorian architecture in the Clock House and Kent House areas west of the town centre. An example is Barnmead Road, an unmade road of semis with decorative ironwork porches. A four-bedroom detached Victorian house in Clock House Road is for sale for £900,000.
Close to Ravensbourne station there are large detached Thirties houses in Downs Hill and semi-detached houses in Ravensbourne Avenue. These are popular with doctors as there are trains to Denmark Hill, for King’s College Hospital.
Fans of Span houses, developed in the Sixties, can take a look at West Oak, in a leafy corner off The Avenue. A four-bedroom house which has been in the same family since it was built is for sale for £580,000.
New-build homes
The largest development in the pipeline is a Cala scheme of 280 new homes. This mix of flats, houses and a 100-bed care home would stand on what remains of the Wellcome site in South Eden Park Road and is still in the planning process.
All the other new homes developments are modest in size. There are three in Albemarle Road in the town centre. De La Mare House — the poet Walter de la Mare lived in Beckenham for a while — is an over-55s retirement scheme of 17 two-bedroom flats and two three-bedroom penthouses which are ready to move into.
Prices of the three remaining flats start at £500,000. Call Sinclair Hammelton 020 8663 9000.
The Gardens and The Albemarle are two similar strikingly modern blocks featuring a lot of glass. They each have eight two-bedroom flats and a three-bedroom penthouse. The Gardens is ready to move into and prices range from £545,000, up to £900,000 for the penthouse. Contact Alan de Maid on 020 8289 4544.
The Albemarle will be ready in the summer, with prices from £525,000 up to £900,000 for the penthouse. Call Sinclair Hammelton (as before).
L’Ancresse Villas in Hayne Road is a development of six two-bedroom, two-bathroom flats which are move-in ready with prices from £470,000. Call Proctors on 020 8650 2000.
First-time buyer homes
Help to Buy is available at The Gardens, The Albemarle and L’Ancresse Villas (as before).
Rental homes
There are three times as many homes available to buy in Beckenham as there are homes to rent. The majority of rentals are flats, with those close to a station the most popular.
Many families who bought their houses in the Nineties developments of Langley Waterside and Langley Park have held on to them as investments.
Rents in Beckenham start at around £850 a month for a one-bedroom flat up to £4,000 a month for a four-bedroom modern house in Langley Waterside.
Staying power
For many, a detached house in one of Beckenham’s best roads will be a house for life.
Postcode
BR is the Beckenham postcode, covering the town centre, Elmers End, Eden Park and Park Langley with Shortlands falling into the BR2 Bromley postcode.
Best roads
Manor Way south of the town centre close to Kelsey Park, and Beckenham Place Park north of the town centre close to the park.
Up and coming
KFH estate agent Maxine Harris says Seventies-built blocks of flats may not look very nice but the homes often have good proportions and are undervalued, especially if close to a station. One-bedroom flats sell from £280,000 and two-bedroom flats from £330,000.
Travel
There are eight train stations. The five Tramlink stops are Beckenham Junction, Beckenham Road, Avenue Road, Birkbeck and Elmers End.
Trains reach central London in 20-35 minutes, to Cannon Street and Charing Cross via London Bridge from Eden Park, Elmers End, Clock House and New Beckenham.
Trains from Shortlands, Beckenham Junction and Kent House go to Victoria with some direct trains from Beckenham Junction to London Bridge. Shortlands and Ravensbourne trains go to Blackfriars via Denmark Hill for King’s College Hospital; some go on to St Pancras. From Birkbeck there are trains to London Bridge and Blackfriars.
All stations apart from Eden Park are in Zone 4 and the annual travelcard is £2,020. Eden Park is in Zone 5 and the travelcard is £2,400. Tramlink services run to Croydon and Wimbledon.
Council
Bromley council is Conservative controlled. Band D council tax in 2019/2020 is £1,536.77.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Beckenham High Street winds round from Beckenham Junction station down past St George’s Church with its ancient lychgate and on down through the town centre to the war memorial roundabout and the Odeon cinema. There is a mix of high street chains and independent shops, cafés, bars and restaurants, with a good choice of places to eat out during the day and the evening.
There are branches of Waitrose, M&S Food Hall, Lidl and Sainsbury’s. There is an independent bookshop; a sausage specialist called Villagers Fine Sausages; Pearl Fisheries fishmonger; Jumping Bean gift shop and Ollie & Dollie, a new shop selling gifts and clothes for babies and children.
There are chain restaurants Prezzo, Zizzi, Pizza Express and Nando’s but there are independent Thai, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, steak and noodle restaurants. Martine Harris is a fan of Chai Naasto, off High Street in Fairfield Road, which serves Indian street food; Q Bar and Kitchen, open for brunch, lunch and dinner with a cocktail menu; and newcomer My Place, a cocktail bar serving seasonal modern European and British cuisine.
The George Inn is a local landmark; Fee & Brown and Deli Nene are two coffee shops sitting next to each other opposite St George’s Church.
Open space
Beckenham Place Park north of the town centre is getting a £4.9 million pound Lottery Heritage Fund makeover.
Langley Park south of the town centre was once the landscaped park of the Kelsey Manor Estate; it is characterised by its large lake and there are tennis courts, mini golf, children’s playground and café.
The Croydon Recreation Ground is where David Bowie played a free concert in 1969. There is now a fundraising campaign to restore the Edwardian bandstand in his memory.
The park also has a playground, multi-use court, paddling pool, tennis courts, football pitch and a bowling green.
Leisure and the arts
Beckenham Theatre in Bromley Road is an amateur theatre and with 47 seats claims to be the smallest proscenium arch theatre in the country. The Odeon in the High Street overlooking the war memorial roundabout is a six-screen multiplex cinema.
Beckenham Sports Club in Foxgrove Road offers cricket, tennis, hockey, running, badminton, squash, cycling and vets football. The Parklangley Club in Wickham Way offers tennis, squash and badminton.
David Lloyd Beckenham in Stanhope Grove has a both indoor and outdoor swimming pools and the nearest council-owned swimming pool is at The Pavilion leisure centre in Kentish Way, Bromley, with two flumes and a wave machine.
Schools
Primary school
All but one of Beckenham’s state primary schools are judged “good” or better by Ofsted. Those with the “outstanding” rating include three Harris schools — Harris Primary Academy Beckenham in Manor Way; Harris Primary Academy Kent House in High Street, Penge, and Harris Primary Academy Shortlands in Kingswood Road — plus Highfields Infant School in Highfield Drive and Highfields Junior School in South Hill Road. Balgowan Primary School, in Balgowan Road, is also popular with parents.
Comprehensive
Maxine Harris says it used to be the case that Beckenham parents would move to Park Langley to get their children into the comprehensive Langley Park boys’ and girls’ schools. However, the arrival of Harris Academy Beckenham (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Manor Way, which is judged to be “outstanding”, has given parents more choice.
The other “outstanding” comprehensive schools are: Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley in Lennard Road; Langley Park School for Boys (ages, 11 to 18) in South Eden Park Road, and Bonus Pastor Catholic College (co-ed ages 11 to 16) in Winlaton Road, Bromley. Langley Park School for Girls (ages 11 to 18) in Hawksbrook Lane is judged to be “good”.
Private
The local all-through and secondary private schools are: Bishop Challoner (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Bromley Road in Shortlands; Sydenham High (girls, ages four to 18) in Westwood Hill in Sydenham; St Dunstan’s (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Stanstead Road in Catford; Wickham Court (co-ed, ages two to 18) in Layhams Road in West Wickham; Bromley High (girls, ages four to 18) in Blackbrook Lane in Bickley; Eltham College (co-ed, ages seven to 18) in Grove Park Road in Eltham, and Colfe’s (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Horn Park Lane in Lee.
Well-known Croydon and Dulwich private schools are: Trinity (co-ed, ages 10 to 18) in Shirley Park; Whitgift (boys, ages four to 18) in Haling Park Road, Croydon; Dulwich College (boys, ages six months to 18, with girls ages six months to seven) in Dulwich Common; Alleyn’s (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Townley Road, and James Allen’s Girls’ (co-ed, ages four to 18) in East Dulwich Grove in Dulwich.