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

This historic corner of London is where in 1765 the poet and painter William Blake, then aged eight, saw an oak tree “filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars”.

It is characteristic of the activism prevailing in Peckham that local artist John Hartley felt impelled to plant a young oak sapling on Peckham Rye Common to replace William Blake’s lost tree in 2011.

An example of Peckham’s fighting community spirit was the battle to save the Peckhamplex cinema and the multi-storey car park behind it.

It was first colonised over 10 years ago by art gallery owner Hannah Barry who runs Bold Tendencies, an annual summer programme of arts activities on the car park’s upper floors, and Frank’s Café, a rooftop bar offering some of London’s best sunset views.

The venue was threatened with redevelopment by Southwark council but after much protest, the council had a change of heart and now the unused car park floors house Peckham Levels, full of creative studios, food stalls and clubs, while Bold Tendencies and Frank’s Café got to stay.

Now there is a campaign to save Peckham Arch, the large canopy built in 1994 that frames the entrance to the late architect Will Alsop’s best-known building, Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library off the High Street.

The arch is threatened with demolition, with the council wanting to develop part of the site for housing.

Less controversial is Peckham Coal Line, a community-led project to open up a walking and cycling route alongside the railway line that runs for over half a mile between Peckham’s two stations, Queens Road Peckham and Peckham Rye.

In 2015 the community raised over £75,000 with a crowdfunding campaign to fund a feasibility study. Now it is hoped work can start on the first section, the Stable Yards, where two rail tracks cross in central Peckham.

Peckham is four miles from central London with Walworth and Elephant & Castle to the north; New Cross to the east; East Dulwich to the south and Camberwell to the west. Estate agent Jason Davis, from the local branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, says it is no longer East Dulwich’s poor relation.

“We get young professional and family buyers. More buyers are working from home or are looking for local workspace.

“Our first-time buyers want flats they can live in for longer by extending into the side return or up into the loft. People like Peckham because it is ever changing and they like the sense that people who live here really care about the area.”

In spite of all the uncertainty currently affecting house sales, Davis says he took on a house in Avondale Rise, close to popular The Belham Primary School, on Thursday a couple of weeks ago, organised 10 viewings over the weekend and arranged a sale the following Tuesday for £1 million, just £50,000 short of the asking price.

The property scene

Peckham has fine, flat-fronted early Victorian homes of two to five storeys around Bellenden Road, with its village-style shops.

Holly Grove conservation area includes charming Choumert Square, a unique little mews of picture-postcard cottages where the owners are keen gardeners and open their gates to the public every year under the National Garden Scheme. A one-bedroom cottage here in need of modernisation is for sale for £525,000, while a two-bedroom cottage is on the market for £599,950.

Elsewhere in Peckham are terraces of later Victorian houses. The most expensive house currently for sale in the area is a four-bedroom property in Talfourd Road priced at £2.1 million. It has a large extended kitchen and dining room, a TV room and a first-floor living room.

Glengall Road conservation area is an enclave of 1840s Regency semi-detached villas close to Burgess Park. Along with nearby Trafalgar Avenue, also a conservation area, it is near Old Kent Road, which will benefit from the planned Bakerloo line extension.

There are also new-build flats and estates of social housing.

New-build homes

The Catcher Building in Rye Lane consists of two blocks containing a total of 29 studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats from developer Bmor.

Two-bedroom flats in the second phase, nearing completion in Highshore Road, start at £575,000, with three-bedroom flats at £735,000.

Sumner Road is a development of nine one- and two-bedroom flats and three-bedroom duplexes which is nearing completion. Prices range from £497,500 to £720,000. Contact KFH Land & New Homes for both developments on 020 3486 2250.

First-time buyers

Housing association Hexagon is building 22 shared-ownership homes in Rye Lane. The scheme is only just out of the ground — for more details call 020 8778 6699.

Rental homes

Young professional sharers enjoy living near Peckham’s cafés, bars and restaurants. A room in a house share starts at £700 a month, while one-bedroom flats rent from £1,100 a month, with two-bedroom flats from £1,300 a month.

Housing association L&Q has a two-bedroom flat in Samuel Jones Court in Diamond Street for an intermediate rent of £1,200 a month and a four-bedroom flat in Portway House in Old Kent Road for £2,100 a month, with a £500 reduction for the first month.

Pioneer Centre in Frobisher Place off St Mary’s Road is the conversion of a modernist health centre, home of The Peckham Experiment from 1926 to 1950, which aimed to boost social preventative medicine.

There is a pool and gym, and three two-bedroom flats are available to rent, one at £1,300 a month, the other two at £1,750 a month each.

Staying power

Local KFH estate agent Jason Davis has noticed couples and families are buying conversion flats that can be extended — an indication that people are keen to stay in Peckham.

Postcode

SE15, the Peckham postcode, also includes Nunhead.

Best roads

Lyndhurst Square is a garden square of Victorian Gothic semi-detached houses. Lyndhurst Way has the largest houses in the Holly Grove conservation area.

Up and coming

There are pockets of early Victorian flat-fronted houses to be found north of Queens Road close to Queens Road Peckham station, and this area is generally cheaper than the enclave around Bellenden Road.

Travel

There is no Tube in Peckham but its two trains stations are well-served by the Overground and trains.

Peckham Rye and Queens Road Peckham have Overground trains a few stops away from Canada Water — where commuters change for Canary Wharf — and Shoreditch High Street for the City.

There are trains from Peckham Rye to London Bridge taking 10 minutes; Victoria (12 minutes); Blackfriars (14 minutes), and half-hourly trains to St Pancras which take 24 minutes.

Trains from Queens Road Peckham go to London Bridge in eight minutes. The two stations are in Zone 2 and the annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,404.

Peckham is a busy bus hub with five useful commuter routes.

The No 12 goes to Oxford Circus via Elephant & Castle; No 36 to Queen’s Park via Victoria and Marble Arch; No 63 to King’s Cross via Blackfriars and Farringdon; No 78 to Shoreditch via Tower Hill and the No 171 to Holborn via Waterloo.

Council

Southwark council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,329.

Shops and restaurants

Peckham is a lot of fun. The main shopping street, Rye Lane, has lots of shops serving the large African community; local landmark Khan’s, a huge emporium selling a bit of everything; branches of Primark and Peacocks; and a shopping mall, the Aylesham Centre, with a large branch of Morrisons, where the community is now fighting redevelopment proposals including a 20-storey tower block.

Off Rye Lane there are two rooftop bars which look at each other from either side of the railway — Frank’s Café on top of Peckham Levels, the former multi-storey car park, and Bussey Rooftop Bar at the Bussey Building, now with winter opening hours. Around the corner in Peckham High Street, bright yellow Persepolis, a Persian store and café run by cookery writer Sally Butcher and her husband, is another Peckham favourite.

Off Rye Lane in Blenheim Grove there is a branch of the East Dulwich bakery, Brick House, and newly opened Levan, the latest offering from chef Nicholas Balfe from Brixton’s Salon, as well as branches of Honest Burger and long-standing Italian restaurant, Il Giardino.

A few steps away from Rye Lane, shoppers enter a parallel universe. Along Bellenden Road there is a delicatessen, General Store; an independent bookshop, Review; renowned Thai restaurant, The Begging Bowl; pizzeria, Made of Dough; café Anderson & Co; butcher Flock & Herd; and fine dining Italian restaurant Artusi.

There is another cluster of cafés and restaurants in Peckham Rye, with 2 Girls Café and bakery; Mr Bao in Rye Lane, for filled Taiwanese steamed buns; Bánh Bánh for Vietnamese food; Old Spike Roastery which roasts its own coffee and provides employment and training to homeless people; and Pedler, a popular neighbourhood restaurant where actor Jude Law has been spotted.

Open space

Peckham Rye Park and Common has 113 acres of grassland, an ornamental and water garden, a lake and woodland together with a children’s playground and an adventure playground. A refurbished café opened last summer.

Leisure and the arts

South London Gallery in Peckham Road is a leading contemporary art gallery with The Habit café, which is popular. It has recently opened a new gallery in a refurbished former sausage factory on the opposite site of the road.

Bold Tendencies is a summer arts programme held on the upper floors of the multi-storey car park.

The CLF Art Café in the Bussey Building puts on a wide variety of events described as “brand-new opera, imagined Greek classics, electronic contemporary music to experimental physical theatre”.

There are two council-owned swimming pools: at Peckham Pulse Leisure Centre in Melon Road and Dulwich Leisure Centre in Crystal Palace Road in East Dulwich.

All but two of Peckham’s state primary schools are rated “good” or better by the Ofsted education watchdog and there are some “outstanding” local comprehensive schools.

Primary

The “outstanding” primary schools are: John Donne in Wood’s Road and Angel Oak in Burcher Gale Grove.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” comprehensive schools are: St Thomas the Apostle RC (boys, ages 11 to 18 with girls in the sixth form) in Hollydale Road; Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich (ages 11 to 18) in Peckham Rye; Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich (ages 11 to18) in Homestall Road; Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Pepys Road in New Cross; and Sacred Heart RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Camberwell New Road, Camberwell.

Newlands Academy (boys, ages 11 to 16) in Stuart Road is rated “good”. The Charter School East Dulwich (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) opened in September 2016 in Southampton Way but moved to its new premises on the site of the East Dulwich Community Hospital in Jarvis Road in January; the school has not yet been inspected by Ofsted.

Private

There is only one private school in Peckham itself — The Villa (co-ed, ages two to seven) in Lyndhurst Grove —although the private schools in Dulwich aren’t far.

The Dulwich private schools are: 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 (boys, ages seven to 18 with a co-ed nursery and pre-school for ages 0 to seven) in Dulwich Common.