Living in Stockwell: area guide to homes, schools and transport links
As a result, it has areas of late-Georgian and early Victorian houses that are among the loveliest in the capital. Something of a hidden gem, Stockwell’s classical terraces are there to be discovered, tucked away off the area’s busy main roads.
The historic south London hamlet of Stockwell Green was one of the oldest and longest-established in Lambeth. First mentioned in the late 12th century, its name derives from “stoc” meaning woodlands or tree stumps and “wells” because it had natural springs.
What remains of the hamlet is found off Stockwell Road where there are a few period buildings — the green itself is long gone. Stockwell Green was lost in 1876 after the freeholder, a Mr Honey, won a legal battle to develop the land.
The crossroads at the centre of Stockwell is next to the Underground station where Clapham Road, Stockwell Road and South Lambeth Road all meet.
A mural painted on the shaft of one of the Second World War deep-level shelters built under the Northern line celebrates local heroes — the artist Vincent van Gogh and the wartime spy, Violette Szabo.
As a young man Van Gogh came to London in 1873 and worked for an art dealer. He lived for a year at 87 Hackford Road where he is thought to have fallen in love with Eugenie Loyer, his landlord’s daughter.
In 1973 a pen and ink sketch of the house, discovered among papers belonging to Eugenie’s granddaughter, turned out to be by the artist, and earlier this year a life-size mock-up of the front of the house was the centrepiece of Tate Britain’s Van Gogh and Britain exhibition.
The house is now being restored by couple Jian Wang and Alice Childs who plan to use it as a base for visiting Chinese artists.
Local girl Violette Szabo became a Special Operations Executive agent in wartime France. Aged 23, she was captured by the Germans on her second mission and executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Szabo was posthumously awarded the George Cross and a film about her life, Carve Her Name with Pride, (1958) starred Virginia McKenna.
On July 22, 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station after being mistakenly identified as a suspect from failed London bomb attacks the previous day.
Two weeks before, suicide bombers had targeted the London transport network, killing 52 people. The Brazilian electrician’s family campaigned for justice and for several years a makeshift shrine stood outside the station.
A mosaic in his memory was unveiled at the station in 2010 on June 7, which would have been his 32nd birthday.
Stockwell has Vauxhall and Nine Elms to the north; Camberwell to the east; Brixton and Clapham to the south and Wandsworth to the west.
The property scene
Secret garden squares and sweeping crescents of classically designed early Victorian villas and terraces are to be found in Stockwell’s conservation areas.
These are houses for life and rarely come to the market. Estate agent Paul Bent from Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says there is always a queue of would-be buyers, from £1.5 million to over £2.5 million.
“People put notes through doors asking owners to get in touch if they are thinking of selling,” he says.
Only three such house are currently for sale: a double-fronted seven-bedroom house in Durand Gardens for £2.65 million; a six-bedroom house in Albert Square for £2.1 million and a three-bedroom villa in Stockwell Park Crescent for £1,499,950.
Young professionals and couples like Stockwell’s excellent transport links into the West End and the City and often buy their first home in one of the streets of mansion flats.
Two-bedroom flats on the market now range in price from £480,000 in Liberty Street to £672,000 in popular Cranworth Gardens. Stockwell also has many estates of social housing.
New-build homes
Stockwell abuts the Vauxhall and Nine Elms regeneration area where thousands of new homes are being built. Along South Lambeth Road and Wandsworth Road are two schemes on the boundary of Stockwell — Keybridge and Nine Elms Point.
Keybridge, a joint venture between developer Mount Anvil and housing association A2 Dominion Fabrica, is nearing completion, with residents moving in.
Its 611 flats include 51 lower-cost homes. Studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats are in six buildings including 37-storey Keybridge Capital, the highest residential brick tower in the country.
The scheme has also paid for a new 345-place campus for nearby Wyvil Primary School. The last phase of 125 homes in the tower are for sale now off-plan, with two-bedroom flats from £1.07 million and three-bedroom flats from £1.3 million.
In Keybridge Lofts, two-bedroom flats for sale start at £907,500, with three-bedroom flats from £1,677,500. Call 020 3797 4369.
Nine Elms Point by Barratt Homes brings 648 new studios and flats, also nearing completion, on the former Sainsbury’s site that incorporates a new store for the supermarket chain.
One-bedroom flats in Waterford Point, a 36-storey tower on the corner of Wandsworth Road and Nine Elms Lane, start at £749,995, with two-bedroom flats at £769,990 and a three-bedroom top-floor penthouse at £3,999,950. Call 03333 559275.
BRX in Stockwell Road is part of the Stockwell Park Estate regeneration begun in 2008.
Housing association Network Homes is selling flats overlooking Stockwell Skatepark, almost in the centre of Brixton. One-bedroom flats start at £455,000 and two-bedroom flats at £590,000. Call 020 7205 2932.
Two four-bedroom townhouses remain at 330 Clapham Road, a gated scheme of duplexes and townhouses.From £1.19 million (020 7498 5613).
First-time buyers and shared ownership
Lower-cost homes at Keybridge are available through A2 Dominion Fabrica. Call 0800 783 2159.
Help to Buy is available at BRX (as before). Network Homes will soon be launching shared-ownership homes at REZ, Brixton SW9 in Aytoun Road. Call 0300 373 3000.
Rental homes
KFH lettings manager Caroline Duvergier says Stockwell is popular with young professionals, couples and sharers. “It is a good location for sharers who might be working in different parts of London because the transport links to both the City and West End are good.”
Period conversions are popular and a cheaper option than the new-build flats in nearby Vauxhall and Nine Elms. Duvergier currently has a one-bedroom period conversion flat with high ceilings to let in St Martin’s Road for £1,500 a month and doesn’t expect it to be on her books for long.
Most of her landlords have previously lived in the homes they now rent out.
Staying power
There is a slow turnover of houses in Stockwell as families tend to hang on to them.
Excellent state primary schools abound but some families move their children to the private schools in Dulwich for secondary school and move to be closer to these schools.
Postcode
SW9 is the Stockwell postcode which also takes in huge swathes of Brixton as far as Loughborough Junction.
The Lansdowne Gardens and Albert Square conservation areas are in SW8, the South Lambeth postcode which includes Vauxhall and Nine Elms.
Best roads
Stockwell Park Crescent, Lorn Road, where there some unusual houses with Gothic features; Groveway; Lansdowne Gardens where there is a beautiful circus around a circular garden; and grand Albert Square.
Up and coming
Flat conversions along Stockwell’s many main roads tend to be cheaper.
Transport
Stockwell Underground station is on the Northern and Victoria lines. The station is in Zone 2 with an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costing £1,404.
A new station at Nine Elms on the Northern line extension opens in 2021 in Wandsworth Road.
The useful commuter buses are the No 88 to Parliament Hill Fields via Oxford Circus, and from along Brixton Road, the No 3 goes to Whitehall, the No 59 runs to Euston via Waterloo and Holborn and the No 159 goes to Marble Arch via Piccadilly Circus.
Listed Stockwell bus station, near the Tube station, is a concrete modernist marvel. It opened in 1952 and at the time had Europe’s largest unsupported roof span.
Council
Lambeth council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2019/2020 is £1,445.20.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Stockwell has a large Portuguese community and there are Portuguese cafés and restaurants dotted throughout the area — so life can get lively whenever there is a football match featuring the national team.
There is a large branch of Sainsbury’s in Wandsworth Road and local shops around the station on Clapham Road and Brixton Road.
For a wider selection of shops, cafés, bars and restaurants, Brixton and Clapham are close by. The best restaurant is the Canton Arms gastropub in South Lambeth Road.
Open space
Larkhall Park in Courland Grove has a café, a One O’Clock Club, children’s playground, football pitch and tennis courts.
Slade Gardens in Robsart Street has a popular adventure playground. Oasisplay in Priory Grove is another adventure playground with a go-kart track and a nature garden.
Leisure and the arts
Stockwell Festival is held every year in Larkhall Park on a Saturday in July; next year it celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Stockwell Playhouse in Wandsworth Road is the local fringe theatre. There are cinemas in nearby Brixton and Clapham.
The two closest council-owned swimming pools are at Brixton Recreation Centre in Brixton Station Road and Clapham Leisure Centre in& Clapham Manor Stre
Schools
Stockwell has a good number of schools rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
Primary school
The “outstanding” primary schools are Herbert Morrison in Hartington Road; Wyvil in Wyvil Road; Reay in Hackford Road; Ashmole in Ashmole Street; and Henry Fawcett in Bowling Green Street.
Comprehensive
The neighbourhood comprehensive Platanos College (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Clapham Road is also “outstanding”, as are the nearby Lilian Baylis (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Kennington Lane; Oasis Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Westminster Bridge Road; Sacred Heart RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Camberwell New Road and Notre Dame RC (girls, ages 11 to 16) in St George’s Road in Kennington.
Private
Nonetheless, some parents opt for the private schools in Dulwich: Dulwich College (co-ed, ages two to seven; boys ages eight to 18) in Dulwich Common; James Allen’s (girls, ages four to 18) in East Dulwich Grove; and Alleyn’s (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Townley Road.