Living in Streatham: area guide to homes, schools and transport links

This up-and-coming Zone 3 district a 20-minute train ride from Victoria is the go-to choice of priced-out families and first timers.
Daniel Lynch
Anthea Masey29 August 2018

Banners fixed to lamp posts proudly declare Streatham High Road, home to 400 businesses, to be London’s longest high street, with the south London suburb stretching for two miles either side of the A23 London to Brighton route

Following £3 million investment from the Mayor’s Outer London Fund and Lambeth council, the High Road should no longer suffer the indignity of being voted the capital’s worst high street, as happened in 2002.

Families in search of a house with a sizeable garden who can’t afford nearby Balham, Clapham or Brixton move to Streatham. It’s also the go-to place for first-time buyers and downsizers looking for flats in the mainly Thirties High Road blocks.

Streatham’s stories involve a brewer, a sugar magnate, a brothel keeper and a long-lamented department store.

Henry Thrale (1724-1781) lived at Streatham Park, a big estate between the High Road and Tooting Common. Thrale owned the Anchor Brewery in Southwark and was the local MP. He entertained the great and the good of the day, many of whom were painted by his friend Joshua Reynolds.

Henry Tate (1819-1899) founded Tate & Lyle sugar refiners and live in fine style off Streatham Common at Park Hill, a house now converted into eight flats and a mews of new houses.

A great philanthropist, Tate endowed the Tate Gallery, now Tate Britain, donating 65 contemporary paintings.

Streatham Common at the southern end of the area is a Local Nature Reserve on London’s Capital Ring 
Daniel Lynch

Cynthia “Madam Cyn” Payne (1932-2015), whose clients allegedly included vicars, barristers and a peer of the realm, was jailed for 18 months, later reduced to six, in 1980 for keeping a brothel in Ambleside Avenue, Streatham. Clients reputedly paid with Luncheon Vouchers.

Pratts department store in the High Road, established in the 1850s, became part of the John Lewis chain but shut for good in 1990.

Its closure marked the start of a decline in Streatham’s fortunes, only now being reversed with the arrival of coffee shops, a jazz club, restaurants, a new ice rink, a new performance space and an annual October festival.

Streatham, six miles south of central London, neighbours Brixton, West Norwood, Norbury, Thornton Heath, Balham and Tooting.

Local Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward estate agent Robert Cornthwaite says the area is up and coming. “It has some fine architecture and buyers are seeing it as an opportunity."

The property scene

Streatham is perfect for fans of period property 
Daniel Lynch

Fans of period property will find Victorian, Edwardian and later family houses in varying sizes in Streatham.

There are large detached and semi-detached Arts and Crafts houses and a long-standing private tennis club on the Telford Park estate between Streatham Hill and Balham, while the Streatham Park and Garrads Road conservation area has large, three-storey semi-detached Edwardian houses.

You’ll find more Edwardian houses in Streatham Lodge Estate conservation area around Braxted Park south of Streatham Common. Furzedown north of Mitcham Lane has roads of four- and five-bedroom Victorian houses close to Graveney, a popular state comprehensive.

The Sunnyhill Road conservation area has small cottages and a village feel.

The “ABC avenues” — Amesbury, Barcombe and Cricklade — off Streatham Hill form part of the Leigham Court Estate (North) conservation area. These roads of austere, red-brick and tile-hung terrace houses and maisonettes are an early example of social housing, although many are now privately owned.

There are one- and two-bedroom flats in Thirties blocks in the High Road and also in listed Pullman Court in Streatham Hill, designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd, who went on to design the Catholic cathedral in Liverpool.

The most expensive house currently for sale in Streatham is a six-bedroom detached double-fronted Thirties property with 4,050 square feet of space in Hoadly Road close to Streatham Hill station. It’s priced at £2.8 million.

On the Telford Park estate there is a five-bedroom semi-detached house in Criffel Avenue with a 59ft garden on the market for £1,975,000.

What's new?

London Square Streatham Hill is Streatham’s largest recent development. The imposing façade to the High Road has been retained.

The 254 studios, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom flats, of which 41 are affordable, are now 95 per cent sold.

Designed around a landscaped communal garden, the remaining three-bedroom flats start at £700,000 and four-bedroom flats at £769,000. Call 0333 666 2131 for more.

House I in Streatham Common Southside is one of two new-build houses designed by Rafael Borrego. It covers 4,317sq ft and has five bedrooms, a big internal courtyard, a gym, sauna, media room and private integrated garage.

It is £2.5 million through The Modern House (020 3795 5920).

Affordable homes

Cheviot Gardens off Cheviot Road in nearby West Norwood is an Older People’s Shared Ownership scheme from housing association Notting Hill Genesis.

The scheme is for over-55s and similar to shared ownership, with shares of between 25 per cent and 75 per cent available, and no rent element payable if a 75 per cent share is bought.

The site includes a landscaped garden, communal lounge and café plus an extra care facility. Call 020 3815 1234.

Renting

Lettings manager Sarah Burgess, at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, says Streatham is popular with young families and sharers who have been priced out of Clapham, Balham and Brixton. “Our staple is the one-bedroom flat. Mansion flats along the High Road rent for around £1,200 a month while period conversions start at £1,150 a month and rise to around £1,350 a month if there is some outside space.”

Staying power

Good architecture and large family houses are bringing people round to the view that Streatham is now a place worth putting down roots.

Postcode

SW16 is the Streatham postcode, although parts of Streatham Hill fall into the SW2 Brixton postcode.

Best roads

Lewin Road is a long road of semi-detached Victorian, Edwardian and later houses close to the Streatham Common.

Anywhere on the Telford Park estate is good, especially houses backing on to the tennis club. Estate agent Robert Cornthwaite of KFH is a fan of the Streatham Lodge Estate conservation area around Braxted Park, south of Streatham Common, and for period flat conversions he tips Buckleigh Road and Tankerville Road.

Up and coming

Ferrers Triangle is an enclave of small Victorian terrace houses behind the Tesco Extra store in Streatham High Road.

The roads are Ferrers Road, Hambro Road, Natal Road and Ellora Road and in the last year houses have sold for between £640,000 and £793,000.

Robert Cornthwaite favours the area around Gracefield Gardens, “close to the popular all-through Dunraven School; prices range from £625,000 to £850,000 for a top-end house.”

Transport

Streatham is generously endowed with three railway stations all placed along the High Road: Streatham Hill, pictured above, Streatham and Streatham Common, though a lot of commuters at Streatham Hill, the most northerly end of Streatham, take a bus to Brixton where they pick up the Victoria line Tube.

Trains from Streatham Common take 20 minutes to Victoria, a few minutes less from Streatham Hill. Streatham has trains to London Bridge which take around 23 minutes.

There are also Thameslink trains to Blackfriars (21 minutes), Farringdon (25 minutes) and St Pancras (30 minutes). All stations are in Zone 3 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,600.

Daytime commuter buses to central London include number 133 which goes to Great Winchester Street and 159 to Marble Arch. Additionally, the numbers 109, 118 and 250 all drop commuters at Brixton station.

Council

Lambeth council is Labour controlled; Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,386.27

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants

Streatham High Road is on the up. There are three large supermarkets — a Tesco Extra, open 24 hours except for Sundays and Mondays; a Sainsbury’s, and newer arrival Aldi.

The improvement has seen more independent cafés and restaurants opening in recent years. Top of most locals’ list would be coffee shops: Batch & Co; Boyce Da Roca; Brooks & Gao, and Blackbird Bakery, part of a growing south London chain.

New restaurants and wine bars include modern British restaurant Hood, Streatham Wine House, and Brickwood, another growing south London chain this time with an Aussie vibe, which is cheering up Streatham’s Somali quarter.

Pizza-lovers have stalwart Pizza Express but also a number of independents such as Addomme in Sternhold Avenue, Trio in the High Road and Bravi Ragazzi in Sunnyhill Road.

And burger-lovers have newcomers Bunk Burgers; Daddy Buns from the team behind Bravi Ragazzi and the Burger Shack in the garden at The Bull, a popular Young’s pub.

Not to forget the long-standing outfits that kept Streatham fed through the dark days such as tapas restaurant Bar 61 and vegetarian café Wholemeal in Shrubbery Road, which this year celebrates its 40th birthday.

Open space

Streatham Common at the southern end of the area is a Local Nature Reserve on London’s Capital Ring with a popular new playground at the Streatham High Road end of the common.

The nearby Rookery in Covington Way is a hidden gem off the common. A formally landscaped Green Flag park, it has a rock garden, a pond, a community food growing area and a café.

Hillside Gardens Park in Hillside Road close to the ABC avenues also has a Green Flag; it has tennis courts, two multi-use games areas, a playground, an outdoor gym and a mini-allotment site.

Leisure and the arts

No one is ever short of something to do in Streatham. The neighbourhood definitely likes a festival with the Streatham Festival, this year in its 17th year, from October 5 to 13; a food festival in June and a free film festival in September.

There is a new amateur dramatics company, Streatham Theatre, which aims to put on three or four shows a year.

Streatham has a new performance space as part of the London Square Streatham Hill development — the Streatham Space Project, in Sternhold Avenue. It aims to put on theatre, comedy and music events and the local charity running it crowdfunded £26,554 in 43 days from 428 local donors.

The Hideaway off Stanthorpe Road close to Streatham station is one of London’s leading jazz clubs.

The Odeon is the local multiplex cinema. There is council-owned swimming pool and ice rink at The Streatham Hub on the same site as the large Tesco Extra in the High Road.

Schools

Primary

The state school everyone wants to get their children into is Dunraven (co-ed, ages four to 18), an all-through school in Leigham Court Road that is judged to be “outstanding” by the Government’s education watchdog Ofsted.

However, parents who fail to get their children in still have a good choice of state primary and comprehensive schools. The “outstanding” primary schools are: Telferscot in Telferscot Road; St Leonard’s CofE in Mitcham Lane; St Andrew’s RC in Polworth Road; Immanuel and St Andrew CofE in Northanger Road and Granton in Granton Road.

Comprehensive

The following comprehensive schools in Streatham and nearby are judged to be “outstanding”: Bishop Thomas Grant RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Belltrees Grove; La Retraite RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Atkins Road in Balham; Chestnut Grove (co-ed, ages 11 to18) in Chestnut Grove in Balham; and Graveney (co-ed, ages 11 to18) in Welham Road in the Furzedown area.

The following comprehensives are judged to be “good”: City Heights E-ACT (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Abbots Park; St Martin-in-the-Fields CofE (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Tulse Hill; The Elmgreen School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Elmcourt Road in West Norwood; Trinity Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18), a Free School in Brixton Hill; St Joseph’s RC (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Beulah Hill in Upper Norwood; Norwood School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Crown Dale in West Norwood; and Virgo Fidelis RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Central Hill in Upper Norwood.

The South Bank Engineering UTC (co-ed, ages 14 to 18) is a state University Technical College which opened in 2016 and has not yet been inspected by Ofsted.

Private

The local private primary schools are: Oleander Preparatory (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Brixton Hill; The White House (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Thornton Road in Balham; Hornsby House (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Hearnville Road in Balham; and Oakfield Preparatory (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Thurlow Park Road in West Dulwich.

The private all-through and secondary schools are: Streatham & Clapham High (girls, ages three to 18) in Abbotswood Road; The Laurels (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Atkins Road in Balham; London Steiner (co-ed, ages three to 14) in Weir Road, also in Balham; and the three Dulwich schools: Dulwich College (co-ed, ages 0 to seven; boys, ages seven 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.