Living in Bromley: area guide to homes, schools and transport
With such a wide choice of homes and no fewer than six local railway stations, Bromley is drawing commuters like a magnet. Many make a beeline for new-build flats near a station.
Flocking to this good-value south London town are young professionals and first-time buyers, as well as families wanting houses with big gardens near rated schools.
Poetically, the name Bromley derives from the Anglo-Saxon, “a place where broom grows”. From the 10th century the Bishop of Rochester had a home here in a palace where he rested on his way to London and in the early 13th century, the then-bishop persuaded King John to grant the town a market charter, a tradition that continues to this day with a market every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Bromley is a major shopping centre, classified by the Mayor of London as a Metropolitan Centre — one of only four south of the river, the others being Croydon, Sutton and Kingston.
In recent years the tired town centre has been getting a council facelift. The northern end of town, branded Bromley North Village, has new pedestrian streets and public realm improvements and now the central pedestrian area is being torn up and smartly repaved.
Two town centre developments are bringing new homes and facilities. St Mark’s Square, close to Bromley South station, is nearing completion, while consultation is taking place over Churchill Quarter, a new joint venture between Bromley council and housebuilder Countryside.
This mixed-use scheme in and around the Churchill Theatre will open up new green routes to Church House Gardens, a lovely hillside park that is Bromley’s hidden gem.
Twelve miles south-east of central London, Bromley sits on the A21 London to Hastings road with Beckenham to the west, Catford to the north, Chislehurst to the east, the open countryside to the south and Croydon to the south west.
Authors HG Wells and Richmal Crompton, and naturalist Charles Darwin, all have links with Bromley. Wells grew up above his father’s shop, now marked with a blue plaque on the Bromley branch of Primark.
Just William creator Crompton taught at Bromley High School and her success gave her the means to build a house, The Glebe, on Bromley Common.
Most famously of all, Darwin changed how we see the world when he wrote On the Origin of Species in the nearby village of Downe.
The property scene
The range of homes in Bromley is wide — from small Victorian cottages to big detached Edwardian houses, Twenties detached houses, Thirties semis, period conversions and new-build flats.
Estate agent Emily Williams from the local branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says Bromley is made up of six separate villages.
Victorian houses and cottages are found in Bromley North Village, sometimes called Old Town; Sundridge Park has large Edwardian houses and its own smart little shopping centre in Plaistow Lane; Shortlands bordering Beckenham has Victorian and Edwardian houses; Chatterton Village, south of the town centre, has small Victorian terrace houses that are attracting first-time buyers from Dulwich and Brockley.
The Palace Estate has wide, tree-lined streets of Twenties and Thirties terrace and semi-detached houses close to Bromley South station. Finally, the triangle north of Westmoreland Road is popular with parents who want to be in Highfield Primary School catchment area.
The most expensive house currently for sale is a nine-bedroom Queen Anne-style home in Chislehurst Road in nearby Bickley, priced £2.6 million. Garden Road in Sundridge Park is one of the best roads, with large detached Edwardian houses.
A six-bedroom house is currently for sale there priced £1.85 million. Two-bedroom cottages in Bromley Village North sell for about £350,000. One-bedroom conversion apartments and new build flats start at about £250,000.
What's new?
The largest scheme, St Mark’s Square, is on a former car park site in Westmoreland Road behind Direct Line’s HQ opposite Bromley South station.
A joint venture between the local council and regeneration specialists U+I, there will be 200 new homes in a staggered gleaming white block around a new plaza which will have a nine-screen Vue cinema and a 130-bed Premier Inn hotel. Restaurants PizzaExpress, Las Iguanas, Nando’s and Turtle Bay are already signed up.
The one- and two-bedroom flats and duplexes are for sale off-plan with prices ranging from £395,000 to £585,000. The first residents move in this coming spring and the whole development will be ready by summer. Call estate agents JDM on 020 8313 6800.
Matilda House is a Northstar development of seven one- and two-bedroom flats in Hillbrow Road close to Ravensbourne station. The scheme is move-in ready and the remaining two-bedroom flats start at £450,000. Through estate agent Sinclair Hammelton (020 8464 5566).
Woodlands Place in Woodlands Road, Bickley, a few steps away from Chislehurst station, is a collection of four five-bedroom houses, priced £1.65 million and ready to move into by the end of the year. Through Acorn New Homes (020 8315 6996).
Staverton Place in Oldfield Road, one of the best roads in Bickley, is a Croudace Portland development of four detached five-bedroom houses in a traditional style. Ready to move into, prices start at £1,775,000. Call JDM (as before).
Chester House is a scheme of nine one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in a new mock-Tudor block in Bickley Park Road. Off-plan sales start at £375,000. The homes will be ready in spring next year and unusually, the developer is offering a share of the freehold. Through Goodfellows property agents (020 8652 2929).
Affordable
There will be 38 one-, two- and three-bedroom shared-ownership homes at St Mark’s Square through Moat Homes housing association (0845 359 6330). Sixteen will be for buyers who have lived in Bromley borough for longer than a year.
The remaining 22 are earmarked for residents from the wider London area. A further 24 will be for affordable rent.
Help to Buy is available at Matilda House and Chester House (as before).
Renting
Anita Barry, lettings manager at the Bromley branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says young professionals coming to the area are looking for modern flats close to a station.
Sharers pay about £1,400 month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat. Rents at the new St Mark’s Square development are likely to be about £1,600 a month, says Barry.
Family homes available to rent locally range from three-bedroom terrace houses to five- and six-bedroom detached houses. The biggest ones rent for up to £7,000 a month.
Staying power
Local estate agents say Bromley is often a staging post before families make a move to West Wickham, Sevenoaks or Tunbridge Wells, usually at the time children reach secondary school age.
Postcode
BR1, the Bromley postcode covers Bromley North Village, Sundridge and Bickley. The BR2 Bromley and Keston postcode covers a large area including Bromley town centre, Bromley Common and Shortlands and extends south to Keston. BR3, the Beckenham postcode, strays into Shortlands.
Best roads
Garden Road has large detached Edwardian houses; Lodge Road and Edward Road have later and more modern detached houses; they are all close to Sundridge Park Golf Club. Rodway Road in Bromley North Village has detached Edwardian houses.
Up and coming
Chatterton Village, which has its own little shopping centre along Chatterton Road, is a firm favourite with young families buying a house for the first time.
Travel
Local stations are Bromley South, Bromley North, Bickley, Sundridge Park, Shortlands and Ravensbourne. Bromley South has 20-minute non-stop Victoria trains.
Blackfriars, Farringdon and St Pancras trains go from Bromley South, Ravensbourne, Bickley and Shortlands. London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross trains go from North Bromley, change at Grove Park.
Bromley North, Sundridge Park, Shortlands and Ravensbourne are in Zone 4 and an annual travelcard is £1,860. Bromley South and Bickley are in Zone 5 — travelcard £2,208.
Council
Bromley borough council is Conservative controlled. Band D council tax for 2017-2018 is £1,394.04.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Bromley town centre is busy, with all the usual high street retail and restaurant chains, plus a Debenhams department store and large branches of Waitrose and Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
The Glades covered shopping centre has recently attracted a number of top names such as The White Company, Karen Millen, Bobbi Brown, and Jo Malone. There is also a new food court overlooking a small park with branches of Wagamama, Byron and Ed’s Easy Diner.
Open space
Bromley has two fine town centre parks — Bromley Palace Park, in the grounds of the former Bishops of Rochester Palace, a Grade II-listed mansion built in 1776; and Church House Gardens, which has rosebeds, formal gardens, a rockery, a lake, an amphitheatre, children’s playground, tennis courts and a skateboard park.
The borough looks after High Elms Country Park in Farnborough; Jubilee Country Park in Petts Wood and Scadbury Park Local Nature Reserve in Chislehurst.
Leisure and the arts
Bromley has its own theatre, the Churchill. This year’s Christmas pantomime is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs starring Jessie Wallace, of EastEnders fame. Bromley Little Theatre in North Street is a busy amateur theatre company.
The Art Deco Cineworld cinema in High Street is to be turned into a six screen Picturehouse Cinema and will be joined by a nine-screen Vue multiplex cinema at the new St Mark’s Square development.
The council-run Pavilion Leisure Centre in Kentish Way has a fitness suite, exercise classes, bowling and swimming pool.
Schools
Primary school
There is strong demand for homes in the Highfield Primary School catchment area with the infant school in Highfield Road and the junior school in South Hill Road — both schools get an “outstanding” Ofsted report.
All Bromley’s primary schools are rated “good” or better by the watchdog. The other “outstanding” primaries are: Harris Primary Academy Shortlands in Kingswood Road; Parish CofE in London Lane; Pickhurst Infants and Juniors in Pickhurst Lane; and Rangefield in Glenbow Road.
Langley Park Primary opened last September on a temporary site and hasn’t yet had an Ofsted inspection. Planning permission has been granted for a new school building on the Langley Park Girls and Boys Schools campus in Hawksbrook Lane, due to open in September next year.
Grammar
There are two selective grammar schools, both “outstanding” and in Orpington: Newstead Wood (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Avebury Road and St Olave’s and St Saviour’s (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Goddington Lane.
Comprehensive
All the local comprehensive schools are rated “good” or better.
Rated “outstanding” are: Bullers Wood (girls, ages 11 to 18) in St Nicholas Lane in Chislehurst; Hayes (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in West Common Road; Langley Park School for Boys (ages 11 to 18) in South Eden Park Road, Beckenham; Harris Academy Beckenham (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Manor Way, and Darrick Wood (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Lovibonds Avenue in Orpington.
Rated “good” are: Bishop Justus CofE (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Magpie Hall Lane; Langley Park School for Girls (ages 11 to 18) in Hawksbrook Lane in Beckenham; Ravens Wood (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Oakley Road; The Ravensbourne School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Hayes Lane, and Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley (ages 11 to 18) in Lennard Road in Beckenham.
Haberdashers’ Aske’s Knights Academy (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Launcelot Road is an all-through school rated “good”.
Eden Park High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) is a new Free School which opened to Year 7 in September at The Ravensbourne School; it has planning permission for a new school building in Balmoral Avenue.
London South East Colleges (co-ed, ages 14 to 18) in Rookery Lane, the local Further Education college, also has campuses in Bexley, Greenwich and Orpington. It gets a “good” Ofsted rating.
Private
Bromley also has a wide choice of private schools. The primary and preparatory schools are: Ashgrove (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Widmore Road; Breaside (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Orchard Road; Bickley Park (boys, ages two to 13) in Page Heath Lane, and St Christopher’s The Hall (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Bromley Road.
There are also a number of all-through private schools — Bishop Challoner RC (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Bromley Road; Bromley High (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Blackbrook Lane; Babington House (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Grange Drive; Eltham College (boys, ages seven to 18 with girls in the sixth form) in Grove Park Road in Mottingham. Farringtons (co-ed, ages three to 18) is a Methodist school in Perry Street, Chislehurst.