Living in Brockley: area guide to homes, schools and transport links
“The independent coffee shops and delicatessens followed.”
He points out the Zone 2 location and the selection of spacious period conversion flats in the large Victorian houses in Brockley conservation area. “No two conversions are the same, which gives the area a special appeal.”
Nothing much disturbs Brockley’s tranquillity. The current burning issue is the future of the pretty little lanes that run between the conservation area’s large, tree-lined roads.
One of these lanes, Ashby Mews, was recently gated and resurfaced, to the consternation of the Brockley Society, the conservation area’s community association, which values the rural feel of these quiet and largely undeveloped alleyways.
Brockley’s social life revolves around Brockley Market, held in the grounds of Lewisham College in Lewisham Way on Saturdays. A mixture of food stalls and street food stands, it’s where young families congregate to enjoy brunch and shop for Sunday lunch.
Brockley Max, the local festival, ran for nine days in early June starting with an explosion of music in the streets around the station and culminating with Art in the Park in popular Hilly Fields, a park with a historic link to Octavia Hill, the 19th-century philanthropist and campaigner who started the National Trust.
Hilly Fields was saved from development following local protests which were joined by Octavia Hill.
As recounted in Space for the People, her article about the importance of parks and open space in the city, Hill noticed a vase of fresh flowers as she visited tenants in Deptford.
After being told they had been picked at Hilly Fields, she set off to visit the area and became involved in the campaign to create a park.
Hilly Fields park was formally opened in May 1896.
The property scene
Most of the large Victorian and Edwardian houses in the long, wide, tree-lined roads that form the framework of Brockley conservation area have been broken up into spacious flats. Smaller red-brick houses in the Arts and Crafts style are to be found close to Hilly Fields park.
The most expensive house currently for sale in Brockley is a five-bedroom, three-storey semi-detached Victorian property in Harefield Road, priced at £1,475,000. The most unusual is a three-bedroom newly converted live/work mews house in the now-gated and resurfaced Ashby Mews, on sale for £1.4 million.
New-build homes
There are no large new developments currently for sale in Brockley itself. The nearest significant new homes scheme is Bond House, a Crest Nicholson development of 89 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, including 12 affordable homes, in Goodwood Road in New Cross.
The scheme includes a gallery and artists’ studio. Off-plan prices range from £524,950 to £719,950, and the flats should be move-in ready by spring next year. Call 020 3437 1663 for more information.
Affordable homes
Help to Buy is available on 95 per cent of apartments at Bond House (see above). Shared ownership is also available there, through housing association Optivo (optivo.org.uk).
Renting
Lettings manager Andy Parker at the local branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says Brockley is a popular rental spot with students, young professionals and young families who find they can get more for their money than in East Dulwich or Blackheath.
One- and two-bedroom flats are the most popular homes to rent, with one-bedroom apartments ranging from £900, to £1,500 a month if there is a garden, and two-bedroom flats ranging from £1,100 a month to £2,000 for a penthouse.
Most of Parker’s landlords are based locally. Often they are former owners but some are investors with more than one property.
Best roads
Brockley conservation area’s long roads — Wickham Road, Breakspears Road, Tressillian Road and Tyrwhitt Road — are tops. Comerford Road and Whitbread Road are rated for Victorian family houses.
Staying power
KFH estate agent Simon Smith says Brockley is popular with young families but the leap from a two-bedroom flat to a family house can be a financial step too far. “Brockley is a young market; lots of new people have moved in over the last five years and only time will tell whether they will stay for the long term.”
Postcode
SE4 is the Brockley postcode and covers a small area which includes nearby Crofton Park.
Up and coming areas
Simon Smith says Brockley is a small area and there are no undervalued corners. Buyers searching for value are now looking in nearby Catford.
Travel
Now on London Overground, Brockley station has trains to Shoreditch High Street for the City and for Canada Water, which is one stop on the Jubilee line from Canary Wharf.
There are also trains to London Bridge which take 15 minutes and to Victoria which take 45 minutes. Brockley is in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,364.
There are currently two useful commuter buses — the No 171 to Holborn and the No 172 to Clerkenwell Green, both via Waterloo and Aldwych.
However, Transport for London is currently consulting on proposals to curtail the 171 at Aldwych and the 172 at Elephant & Castle. The Brockley community is fighting the plans.
Council
Lewisham council is Labour-controlled. Band D council tax for the 2018/2019 year is £1,498.10
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Shops are strung out along Brockley Road with concentrations close to Brockley station and St Andrew’s Church.
At the Crofton Park end there are two small supermarkets, a Co-op and a Budgens; two independent coffee shops, Fred’s and Arlo & Moe, the latter now with three branches in south-east London; Jam Circus, a long-standing restaurant with frequent live music; Brickfields for burgers, craft beer and cocktails “late into the night”; and Crofton Books, a second-hand bookshop operating out of the library.
Close to St Andrew’s Church there is Magi’s for gifts and Gently Elephant for smart children’s clothes, shoes and toys. Off Brockley Road in Harefield Road find The Orchard Bar & Kitchen, run by the same people as Brickfields.
Close to the station The Gantry is a laid-back bar and restaurant. In Coulgate Street opposite the station, Browns of Brockley is an independent coffee shop and The Broca is a vegan and vegetarian café. Brockley Cross features the Brockley Deli, which also operates as a café, and Masala Wala, a Pakistani café.
Norbert in Mantle Road is the newest addition to the Brockley dining scene. This all-day restaurant opened in February and its head chef is Harry Milbourne who trained under Anthony Demetre of Wild Honey and Arbutus and also under the Galvin Brothers at La Chapelle.
The Talbot in Tyrwhitt Road is a popular pub serving pizzas and Sunday roasts.
Open space
Hilly Fields is the local park accessed from Hilly Fields Crescent, Vicars Hill, Adelaide Avenue and Montague Avenue. It has a café, tennis courts, cricket and football pitches and the Francis Drake Bowls Club.
The 37-acre Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries in Brockley Road form a peaceful oasis.
Leisure and the arts
The Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley Road is a Fifties-style venue, a remarkable survivor from the age of ballroom dancing. It now puts on disco nights, film nights and special events, including for Halloween.
Jack Studio Theatre in the Brockley Jack pub is a fringe theatre that supports new companies.
Schools
Primary schools
All Brockley’s primary schools are rated “good” or better by Ofsted. Those with the “outstanding” rating are: John Stainer in Asaph Road; Lucas Vale in Thornville Street; Beecroft Garden in Beecroft Road; Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Temple Grove Free School in Pepys Road in New Cross.
The following are rated “good”: Myatt Garden in Rokeby Road; Ashmead in Ashmead Road; St Mary Magdalen’s RC in Howson Road; St Stephen’s CofE in Albyn Road; Turnham Academy in Turnham Road and Gordonbrock in Amyruth Road.
Comprehensive
The two closest comprehensive schools, both judged “outstanding”, are Prendergast (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Adelaide Avenue and all-through Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Pepys Road in New Cross.
The other nearby “outstanding” comprehensive schools are: Harris Girls’ East Dulwich (ages 11 to 18) in Homestall Road; St Thomas the Apostle RC (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Hollydale Road in Nunhead; St Ursula’s Convent RC (girls, ages 11 to 16) in Crooms Hill in Greenwich, and Harris Boys’ East Dulwich in Peckham Rye.
Private
There are no private schools in Brockley and KFH agent Simon Smith says gridlocked roads during the school run can make the journey to the private schools outside the area very difficult.
The popular nearby private schools are St Dunstan’s (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Stanstead Road in Catford; Colfe’s (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Horn Park Lane in Lee and the three Dulwich schools — Alleyn’s (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Townley Road; James Allen’s Girls’ (ages four to 18) in East Dulwich Grove and Dulwich College (co-ed, ages 0 to seven; boys ages seven to 18) in Dulwich Common.