Uni project can you help?

[kkqd4555]

I am a university student currently studying what drives people to live in East Dulwich (in particular the ward of lordship lane). I am interested to see what the views of this forum's members are and would appreciate even the briefest reply. A particular question I am focusing on is the influence the education facilities (for children) may or may not have had. Whether it was housing prices, locality, community or a lifetimes upbringing please let me know! It would be useful to know your street name too, I hope you can help!

[Huguenot]

I reckon you'll find a vast array of different reasons based on the year that residents arrived. The relatively slow pace of urban regeneration in SE London meant that gentrification was slower to come to ED than places like Clapham, Balham and Brixton. The key restriction was transport facilities, the key driver was house prices elsewhere.

Even when I arrived in '99 there weren't many yuppies to be seen (in the true sense of the acronym not the eighties prejudice). There were signs of white collar families recently moved into the area, but nothing like the three wheel pram fest we have at the moment. Socially facilites were poor with a great many run down or closed shops, no gym, dirty swimming pool, Sainsbury was mostly blamed for the breakdown of LLane, the church on Goose Green was falling down.

From a pub perspective I was advised by longer term residents that my middle class dress sense and BBC accent would probably put me at risk in most of the local drinking dens except the EDT.

I moved because I could just about afford a flat here, and didn't have troubles with transport as I worked on the Northern Line from London Bridge. Previously lived in rented accommodation between Streatham and Balham.

The flat I got was in a very poor state of repair and I had to spend quite a lot of cash to make it habitable, similarly the house I bought 3 years later was semi-derelict even though it was already 2003, and even though it was adjacent to LLane. That's where I now live. You can PM me if you want to know the street name.

All in all it was a pretty depressing place!

So realistically I came because of house prices and transport, and in spite of everything else!

Over the last eight years the first noticeable sign was the growth in the young second time buyer family market, which resulted in gastro pubs, and the gastro pubs attracted trendy bars which in turn attracted young urbanites into rented accommodation. The Red Ken inspired transport regeneration has done a lot to influence this.

On the education front there's a pretty good range of facilities for primary age children, but there is virtually no provision for teenage boys - if that doesn't change young families will probably pe pressured out of the area by default.

If you skim the other threads you'll see somewhat of a fault line between three or four different social groups, and I'd probably do a good job of describing them, but not on a public forum!!! ;-)

[spadetownboy]

you might find kch and the maudsley have something to do with it.

[Michael Palaeologus]

I started off living in the area by default - I needed a place to live and a friend of a friend had a spare room. I purchased in the area (twice) because of the relative convenience of being close to the city centre, but because of the lack of tube, the relatively low property prices. The general upgrading of the area helped.

I also suspect that the cluster of hospitals draws in people.

[Jeremy]

I moved here because at the time property prices were fairly reasonable, and I knew it wasn't a bad area as I had a few friends round here. I will probably buy here again, because of the nice bars, shops and restaurants, and the fact that it's relatively safe and quiet.

Although saying that, the public transport is pretty bad... I frequently swear that I'll never again live in an area without a tube...

[kkqd4555]

I appreciate the responses so far. This doesn't help in terms of hard facts but the concept of the health care resources wasn't one I'd considered or read much about. It's good to hear from the men, but I would ask if any ladies might put a word in, any views? I'm risking being irritating but it's useful! Thanks again, Jacinta

[georgia]

Hi

We moved here at the recommendation of a friend and because at the time I worked near London Bridge so the 10 min train journey appealed. Also liked the number of bars / restaurants on Lordship Lane. We are only renting at the moment but are planning to buy this year. However not sure if we will stay in ED at the moment. The thing I do not like about the area is the areas around it.

[Clazza]

Hi, moved here 18 months ago. Liked the fact that it had a real village feel. Good pubs/bars, restaurants, parks, real shops like a bakers, butchers, now a fishmongers, market etc. Flats with gardens & outdoor space helped as well. A hairdressers, beauty therapist & gym within walking distance to make up for the food drink damage. Pretty much everything I wanted. I like the fact people say hello & smile at you, it's almost like being back in the North of England. Transport lacks a bit, no train after the 11.50pm & only the 176 running at night as a bus makes cabs an expensive option.

[Guest]

As I was born locally and will probably die locally (perish the thought), I can add a slightly different perspective. My family moved here from other parts of London during the early half of the 20th century when the area was undergoing a change from being a white collar middle class community into a slightly more downgraded lower middle/working class community. Poor public transport links in south east London have always been a big issue, and as the age of the car came into it's own, areas like ED were left wanting.. This is something which has not fully recovered even to this day, although as previously mentioned, the property prices have forced change in ED...I certainly remember the 1960's and 1970's were a time of relative optimism along LL, lots of tailors and ladies clothing shops, quite a few traditional steak houses including the "never on a sunday", which all seemed to sit comfortably alongside the likes of the slightly more masculine environement in places like the EDT Magdela and Forresters public houses. One of the reasons I have never felt the need to move is because the area has never really changed, until very recently.. LL was never anything special, the area was kind of a place which sat in between other places, and I have always been comfortable with that, I guess you could say it lacked the charisma of other areas, but it certainly has picked up a very varied personality for itself in recent years.. I would however consider moving to a better area now my stupid little terraced house is worth half a million, let someone else try the area out whilst I am sat nicely in my Spanish villa... ahhh ... heaven!

[Guest]

hello, we moved here 5 years ago because we couldn't afford a 3 bed where we lived before. In Greenwich we were seeing one or two houses per month in the areas we wanted to be in that we could afford - after a v depressing viewing we said" well X and Y have a house in east dulwich, if they can afford one we should be able to" drove over never having been here before, and that was it. Have only ever lived in SE london so know no better re tube etc. Re schools etc, think like most people we had not given them a second thought until that blue line showed up on the pregnancy test... (am female)

[all_star]

Congratulations katgod (mind you, I would be worried if you were male and managed to get the blue line to appear!)