Living in Walworth: area guide to homes, schools and transport links
You can be forgiven for not realising that the ancient south London district of Walworth was once a place where wealthy London merchants flocked to live and where the great neoclassical architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837), no less, was hired to design the local church, St Peter’s in Liverpool Grove.
The year 1791 was a momentous one for Walworth and the history of science. Within a few months of each other two of Britain’s greatest scientists — Michael Faraday, whose experiments led to the understanding of electromagnetism, and Charles Babbage, the mathematician known as the father of the computer — were born less than half a mile from each other; Faraday to a humble family in Newington Butts and Babbage to a family of bankers in Walworth Road.
Walworth remembers them both. On the Elephant & Castle gyratory, the large metal box that disguises the electrical substation powering the Northern and Bakerloo lines is a memorial to Faraday. And there is a blue plaque on the building where Babbage’s family house once stood.
Estate agents including Mark O’Neill, assistant manager at the local branch of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, are firmly of the opinion that Walworth, one of London’s last neglected areas, is on the up.
O’Neill points to the attractive regeneration of the district’s two big council estates, the Heygate and the Aylesbury, as the turning point.
The £3 billion Elephant & Castle Partnership, which includes the now-demolished Heygate Estate and the shopping centre, is on target to build 5,000 new and replacement homes by 2025. The project will include providing the largest new park built in central London for 70 years.
On the Aylesbury Estate, a joint venture between housing association Notting Hill Housing and Southwark council will build 3,500 new homes between East Street and Burgess Park by 2032.
O’Neill says a lot of young first-time buyers are moving to Walworth because they can see the area’s potential and are attracted by its central location, with many walking or cycling to their jobs in the City or West End.
Walworth, measured from its famous East Street Market, is only two-and-a-half miles from Trafalgar Square and sits between Bankside to the north; Bermondsey to the east; Camberwell to the south, and Kennington and Vauxhall — and, thanks to the large bend in the Thames, Pimlico and Westminster — to the west.
The property scene
Along the main roads of Walworth and in Surrey Square in the middle of the Aylesbury Estate there are fine Georgian houses to be found, while Addington Square and Sutherland Square are two garden squares of early Victorian houses.
Three-bedroom houses in Sutherland Square now sell for £1 million-plus.
Pullens Buildings is an unusual area of tenement housing south of Kennington Park Road originally built for artisans who used the workshops attached to the back of the residential blocks.
Today the workshops house artists, designers and architects. Walworth also has new-build flats and right-to-buy council flats.
The most expensive period home for sale now is a five-bedroom listed Georgian house in New Kent Road, priced at £1,695,000.
What's new?
Developer Lendlease is building Elephant Park on the site of the former Heygate Estate. The latest phase, West Grove, has 593 studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in eight buildings ranging from five to 31 storeys. Prices start at £550,000. Call 020 3675 9955.
The Walworth Collection in Walworth Road is a development of 59 studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats which will be ready in December.
Prices of the remaining units start at £445,000 for a one-bedroom flat, £570,000 for a two-bedroom flat and £720,000 for a three-bedroom duplex. Contact Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward for more information on 020 3486 2250.
Harvard Gardens in East Street forms part of the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate. L&Q housing association is selling one-bedroom flats from £415,000, two-bedroom apartments from £540,000 and four-bedroom flats from £675,000. Visit harvard-gardens.co.uk or call 03330 033 640 for more.
Notting Hill Housing association will be redeveloping the former council rubbish dump site in Manor Place off Walworth Road. There will be 270 new homes, including 60 shared-ownership flats and 44 for social rent.
The listed former Victorian bath house and the nearby non-listed former coroner’s court are to be retained.
L&Q will have a tranche of shared-ownership flats to offer for sale at Elephant Park. The same housing association also has a number of shared-ownership flats at Harvard Gardens, starting at £167,000 for a 40 per cent share of a one-bedroom home with a market price of £417,500, and £151,250 for a 25 per cent share in a two-bedroom flat, market price £605,000. Call 0300 456 9997.
Help to Buy is available at Elephant Park, The Walworth Collection and Harvard Gardens.
Renting?
Caroline Duvergier, rentals manager at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says the quick commute into the City and the West End — along with rents that are cheaper than either Kennington or Clapham nearby — are the main reasons young renters are making their way to Walworth.
The monthly rent on a one-bedroom flat in Walworth is about £150 below Kennington levels, and £200 cheaper than in Clapham.
Staying power
It is too soon to tell if the many young newcomers to Walworth will stay and start families here.
Postcode
SE17 is the Walworth postcode although the biggest local park — Burgess Park, also Southwark’s largest at 140 acres — is in the SE5 Camberwell postcode.
Best roads
Addington Square and Sutherland Square.
Up and coming
KFH estate agent Mark O’Neill tips the relatively unknown streets of Victorian terrace houses south of East Street, tucked away between the market and the Aylesbury Estate. They were planned in the Arts & Crafts style by social reformer Octavia Hill, who went on to co-found the National Trust.#
Transport
Elephant & Castle is on the Northern and Bakerloo Underground lines, with services to the West End and the City.Thameslink trains run to Blackfriars, Farringdon and St Pancras.
The planned extension of the Bakerloo line proposes two new stations along the Old Kent Road. Elephant & Castle is in Zone 1 and an annual travelcard costs £1,296.
Many useful commuter bus services run along Walworth Road, although traffic jams can be a problem.
The No 12 goes to Oxford Circus; the No 35 to Shoreditch via Liverpool Street; the No 40 to Aldgate; the No 45 to King’s Cross via Blackfriars and Holborn; the No 68 to Euston via Waterloo; the No 148 to White City, handy for Westfield, via Victoria and Marble Arch; the No 171 to Holborn via Waterloo, and the No 176 to Tottenham Court Road via Waterloo and Leicester Square.
Council
Southwark council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2017/2018 is £1,256.82.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
East Street Market off Walworth Road is known locally as “The Lane” or “East Lane”. It’s a busy general market selling everything from clothing to jewellery, household goods, fruit and veg and much more, and it opens every day except Mondays.
Walworth Road, the area’s main shopping street, offers a branch of Marks & Spencer and a typical London mix of phone shops, corner stores, shoe shops, nail bars and barbers. G Baldwin & Co has been trading at the northern end of Walworth Road since 1844 and claims to be London’s oldest herbalist.
Louie Louie, halfway along Walworth Road, a new enterprise, is a café during the day and a small plates restaurant by night.
In Elephant Road on the Elephant Park development, The Artworks Elephant is a box park made of second-hand shipping containers.
There are bars, cafés and restaurants on the ground floor, including tiny French eatery The Frenchie Bistro, and it’s also a creative hub, with two floors of studios and a temporary council library.
Fowlds Café in Addington Square is a coffee shop at the front of an upholstery workshop. The Electric Elephant at the corner of Iliffe Yard and Crampton Street is a popular tucked-away café and gallery.
Open space
140-acre Burgess Park in Albany Road is Southwark council’s largest park. It was developed as a result of the Abercrombie Plan for open space in 1943 and replaced factories and streets badly damaged in the Blitz. It had an £8 million makeover in 2012.
There are two barbecue areas and a café, plus a BMX track and sports pitches, and Chumleigh Gardens — a series of world gardens arranged around former almshouses.
Leisure and the arts
Walworth’s large Latin American community holds an annual festival; this year Plaza Latina was held at the beginning of August in Nursery Row Park.
Classic and newer release films are currently being shown by Backyard Cinema at Mercato Metropolitano, a huge indoor food venue and Italian supermarket in Newington Causeway. The street is also home to the Southwark Playhouse, a leading fringe theatre.
The local council swimming pool and gym is at The Castle Centre in Elephant & Castle.
Schools
Walworth has a good choice of state schools with “outstanding” Ofsted ratings.
Primary schools
The primary schools are: St John’s Walworth in Larcom Street; John Ruskin in John Ruskin Street; Crampton in Iliffe Street; Keyworth in Faunce Street; and Surrey Square in Surrey Square.
Comprehensive
The “outstanding” comprehensive schools are: St Saviour’s and St Olave’s CofE (girls, ages 11 to 18) in New Kent Road; Sacred Heart RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Camberwell New Road; Notre Dame RC (girls, ages 11 to 16) in St George’s Road and Lilian Baylis Tech (co-ed, ages 11 to 19) in Kennington Lane, the last two both in Kennington. King’s College London Maths School (co-ed, ages 16 to 18) in Kennington Road is a selective science sixth form. Ark Globe (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Harper Road is an-all through school rated “good” by the education watchdog.
Private
The Dulwich private schools are a short bus ride away.