Living in Woolwich: area guide to homes, schools and transport

Poised to become one of the big winners from the arrival of the Elizabeth line, Woolwich will have its own station stop on the new service in 14 months’ time.

Trains will roll in on their way from Abbey Wood to Paddington, putting this south-east London town just eight minutes from Canary Wharf, 14 minutes from Liverpool Street and 22 minutes from Bond Street.

Already a place of great historic interest with many heritage buildings, Woolwich is being transformed with thousands of new homes and a revitalised town centre.

Property agent CBRE estimates that house prices close to the new station will grow 4.5 per cent a year faster than in the wider area.

The former Royal Arsenal in Woolwich was at the heart of the munitions industry for more than 200 years, cut off from public view by high walls and known only to those who worked there.

During its First World War peak, it covered 1,285 riverside acres, stretching from Henry VIII’s dockyard in the west to what is now Thamesmead in the east, and employed 80,000.

In 1868, its workers founded the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society which eventually owned farms, bakeries and housing estates as well as shops. A statue of one of the society’s founders, Alexander McLeod, stands above its listed Edwardian HQ in Powis Street, Woolwich, below the motto: “Each for all and all for each”.

In 1886, another group of workers started a football club in Dial Square in the arsenal. The club soon adopted the name Woolwich Arsenal and even though it moved to Highbury in 1913 and long ago dropped Woolwich from its name, fans today still call Arsenal the “Gunners”

The regeneration of Woolwich began in 2003 with the residential towers of Royal Artillery Quays on the eastern edge of the town where it borders Thamesmead.

This was followed by a new town centre square overlooked by a futuristic development of flats above a giant Tesco. The largest of all, though, is Royal Arsenal Riverside, the Berkeley Homes £1.2 billion development of the arsenal site which is bringing 5,000 new homes to the area, some in converted heritage buildings, others in new riverside towers.

Woolwich is 10 miles south-east of central London with the Thames to the north, Thamesmead and Abbey Wood to the east, Welling, Eltham and Blackheath to the south and Greenwich to the west.

Estate agent Patricia Irwin-Brown of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says young professionals moving to Woolwich seek value and the opportunities the Elizabeth line will bring. The area’s full potential will only become evident after the line’s arrival, she adds.

The property scene

With so many new homes going up it is easy to forget that Woolwich also has a stock of period houses.

Typical examples are a four-bedroom Victorian terrace house in Eglinton Hill, on the market priced £600,000, and a Thirties three-bedroom terrace house in Ankerdine Crescent for sale at £415,000, both in the Shooters Hill area.

There are also converted houses and flats in heritage buildings in the arsenal and “right-to-buy” flats on estates of social housing.

And for fans of pioneering self-build housing, there are two small enclaves of Walter Segal houses — at Parish Wharf off Woodhill, and in Llanover Road.

What's new?

Royal Arsenal Riverside is the Berkeley Homes development of the former Woolwich Arsenal riverside site. Some 5,000 homes are being created and prices range from £485,000 for a one-bedroom flat and £635,000 for a two-bedroom flat to £1,905,000 for a three-bedroom duplex penthouse. Call 020 8331 7130 for more information.

Trinity Walk is a Lovell Homes development which replaces the Connaught estate in Woolwich New Road. One-bedroom flats in Phase One start at £355,000, with two-bedroom apartments priced from £420,000. Call 020 8003 9674 or visit trinitywalk-woolwich.com for more details.

Callis Yard is a scheme of 120 one- and two-bedroom flats and three-bedroom houses carved out of a former stable block in Bunton Street.

One-bedroom flats start at £350,000, two-bedroom flats are priced from £500,000 and the houses are £800,000. They will be ready in autumn next year, available through Savills on 020 7531 2500 and CBRE on 020 7205 2199.

Wellington Quarter in Wellington Street opposite the town hall is a development of 81 private sale one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in four towers of up to 12 storeys. It’s still no more than a hole in the ground. Off-plan sales for completion at the end of 2019 range from £392,000 to £621,000. Call IP Global on 020 3696 9630 for more.

A handful of homes remain at The Academy, developer Durkan’s conversion of the listed Royal Military Academy in Red Lion Lane overlooking Woolwich Common. The scheme comprises 328 homes of which 173 are converted from the listed buildings and 155 are new build.

The homes include 182 for private sale, 85 affordable and 23 extra care.

Prices at the development start at £485,000 for a one-bedroom flat, £555,000 for a two-bedroom flat, £600,000 for a two-bedroom house and £695,000 for a three-bedroom duplex.

Visit theacademywoolwich.co.uk or call 020 3689 7828.

GAMA Property has converted the Grade II-listed former Woolwich fire station in Sunbury Street into The Old Fire Station.

There are just nine one- and two-bedroom flats in all. A pair of the two-bedroom homes remain, priced at £450,000 each and move-in ready. Call Foxtons on 020 7386 6525.

Affordable homes

Berkeley Homes is offering one- and two-bedroom flats at Kinetic in Cannon Square at Royal Arsenal Riverside under the local council’s discount market sales scheme, open to Greenwich residents only, who pay 80 per cent of the market price with the council owning the remaining 20 per cent. Prices start at £402,500 before the discount.

Housing association Asra has shared-ownership flats at Trinity Walk, starting at £97,500 for a 25 per cent share of a two-bedroom flat with a market value of £390,000 and £143,750 for a 25 per cent share of a three-bedroom flat with a market value of £475,000. Ready next month. Call 020 3394 0078.

Staying power

Estate agent Patricia Irwin-Brown of Kinleigh Folkard and Hayward says Woolwich is short of good secondary schools which often leads to parents leaving the area.

Postcode

SE18 is the Woolwich postcode which also includes Shooters Hill and Plumstead.

Best roads

Ashridge Crescent and Mereworth Drive in the Shooters Hill area have detached and semi-detached Thirties houses laid out with wide pavements and privet hedges.

Heathwood Gardens and Woodhill, close to Woolwich Dockyard station have Victorian terrace houses, some flat-fronted early Victorian and some double-fronted. The period conversions in Royal Arsenal Riverside are also very desirable.

Up and coming

KFH’s Patricia Irwin-Brown says the whole of Woolwich is up and coming.

Shops and restaurants

Woolwich has a large town centre branch of Tesco. Open Monday to Saturday from 6am to midnight, the branch contains concessions from Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Burtons. There are market stalls dotted around the town centre.

Powis Street — the main shopping street — and the adjoining streets offer a mix of independent shops and chains such as Superdrug, JD Sports, Nando’s, Poundland, New Look, Iceland, TK Maxx and Primark.

The high spot in Powis Street is artFix, which describes itself as a café, a learning centre, a co-working space and an exhibition and performance venue.

Royal Arsenal Riverside has a Tesco Express and three gastropubs — The Guard House, Dial Arch and The Taproom. Cornerstone Café is an independent coffee shop and Con Gusto is an Italian restaurant housed in a tiny former guardhouse. There is a twice-monthly farmers’ market.

Open space:

Although the Thames Path officially ends at the Thames Barrier, it is now possible to walk along the river as far as Erith. Both the Capital Ring and the Green Chain Walks pass through Woolwich.

Woolwich Common is popular with dog walkers and joggers. Maryon Park and nearby Maryon Wilson Animal Park occupy hilly sites. The park tennis courts famously featured in the 1966 film Blow-Up, Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s take on swinging London.

Leisure and the arts

Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum, which had found a home in the arsenal, closed last year. Since then the local council, Greenwich, has announced a new £32 million Cultural Quarter containing a 450-seat theatre, an open-air performance courtyard and rehearsal studios. The proposal is being called the “New South Bank”.

The Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre — GLYPT for short — is based in The Tramshed in Woolwich New Road, offering theatre and arts activities and workshops.

Waterfront Leisure Centre in Woolwich High Street has two swimming pools, one with slides and a wave machine.

Shooters Hill Golf Club in Eaglesfield Road is a parkland course with views across the North Kent countryside.

Primary schools

Woolwich’s state primary schools are all rated “good” or better by Ofsted. Those rated “outstanding” are: Saint Mary Magdalene CofE in Kingsman Street, which is being expanded with a secondary school in Greenwich Peninsula; St Peter’s RC in Crescent Road; Cardwell in Frances Street; Foxfield in Sandbach Place, and Heronsgate in Whinchat Road.

Secondary

Finding a good state secondary school is more of a challenge, with a number of local ones requiring improvement. The only “outstanding” comprehensive is Woolwich Polytechnic (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Hutchins Road in Thamesmead. The nearby comprehensives rated “good” are: Greenwich Free School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Shooters Hill Road; St Paul’s Academy RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Finchale Road, Abbey Wood; Thomas Tallis School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Kidbrooke Park Road, and The John Roan School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Westcombe Park Road, both in Blackheath.

Private

There are two private schools in nearby Blackheath: Greenwich Steiner (ages three to 14) in Mycenae Road and Blackheath High (girls, ages three to 18) in Vanbrugh Park.