Bovine Juice

The Alex is still a couple of months away (we've been sayng that for 18 months now). The train service to Penge is ok, rodneybewes. Last train from Vic to Penge East is 00:35 and they will be quarter hourly until midnight when they change the timetable soon.

Just to echo Olly's comments on Penge. Dead easy to get to centre (17 mins to Victoria from Penge East) or direct to Canary Wharf / Canada Water / Shoreditch from Penge West. Great for parks and open spaces too and people forget that half of Crystal Palace Park is in SE20 so effectively Penge, including the World Heritage dinos. Really exciting how it's changing at the moment and sooo much cheaper than ED (you can still get there on 176 if you want to keep in touch). South Norwood's not great for shops/pubs at the moment but that will improve and is great for travel up town or Croydon.

The Blenheim centre has been sold and the car park's current contractors have been bought out. The new owners will be installing a better payment system and possibly even free periods. It's all good anyway compared to the current shambles.

Not sure why anybody would want to go to Icelands but more importantly it has a brilliant Wilkos.

As a night time destination spot, East Dulwich is very very competitive, but if you are good, you could easily make a mint in Penge. There are very few good restaurants and the few that have opened are often fully booked. Penge has had an influx of younger professionals from ED, Forest Hill and CP, attracted by the cheaper house prices. Because Penge also has a couple of very good pubs now (Bridge House Tavern and Goldsmiths), it has more occasional night time border hoppers from Beckenham, CP and Sydenham than previously and many of them could be persuaded to mix their drinks with a meal too.

Penge's Blue Mountain Cafe is on Maple Road, Otta. Been there a few years, though originally it was called Loaf for some reason. I agree Penge is an ideal location for any restaurant owner wanting to expand or relocate. The area has changd a heck of a lot with lots of younger 20/30 somethings with young families now here and the two really good places (both Italians - Friends of Flavour and Sicilian Art Pizza) are mobbed every night. The only other options are curry places and loads of takeaways.

Agree with most of rjr's post, though couple of minor points. The High Street in Penge is scruffy, though the number of pound shops is always exaggerated (there is one). However all the signs are positive at the moment. The Goldsmiths has been open a year as an Antic pub and Antic have plans in for another (a pub/cafe/restaurant) in a current large High Street unit. Plus Late Knights are opening in the Alex pub soon - it's across the road from the amazing Alexandra Nurseries (plants, coffee and vintage place on Parish Lane), so that'll be a veritable pub crawl of decent boozers to go in. Plus I agree Kent House is lovely (it's my local station) but postcode aside, it's still Penge really - 2 minutes from High street.

Salsaboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > And amongst them are a number of economic migrants > desperate to get to the UK for all that it > offers. > We offer the English language and in some cases relatives. People coming here are not coming here for benefits. It's a myth.

Your son needs to learn that these are desperate human beings escaping a war zone...

LondonMix Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Also, circa 20% of London?s > housing stock is socially rented I believe so that > in and of itself will ensure socio-economic > diversity. > Shame the Tories are attempting to sell even that pish percentage off.

Nice though Shirley is, is it not closer to Croydon than Beckenham? Either way, it's a bit of a convoluted journey to get to central London, compared to Penge, Beckenham, etc. I'm loving Penge these days. Great new pubs, a theatre, good cafes and a real community vibe at last. The fact that many people living in Clock House are saying they are living in Penge rather than Beckenham shows the progress being made.

The Penge one is pretty small really, about the same size as the Penge Iceland in fact.

Most of the infants and primaries are pretty good in Penge these days. My son went to Alexandra Junior.

The Standard has always been pro-Tory. They hated Ken and during the last mayoral contest between him and Boris had a field day with lies, fibs and untruths all over their billboards every day to try to undermine his campaign. But it goes way back. Bob Maxwell, who was no saint obviously, set up the London Daily News to try to counter balance the right wing arguments with some pro-Labour stories during one election in the 80s.

My son went to St Olave's but his best mate went to Wilson's and both boys had a choice over which one to go to. There's very little between them academically and socially - both great schools. One thing we noticed is that Wilson's pushes the boys a lot more re homework, etc. St Olave's seems to think if you're there, you need very little pushing and will achieve top marks regardless courtesy of your own efforts and ambition. My son's a lazy sod and could have done with more hoofing up his bahookie and more homework from day 1. If your son is into footy Wilson's the better choice - St O's doesn't do footy really till the 6th form - but the journey to Wilson's can be quite long from our parts of South London (I live in Penge). Ultimately, your boy's done incredibly well and it won't make a lot of difference.

It's a brilliant pub. About 15 ales on most nights, with prices around ?2.25-2.55 a pint, I love it, especially if you can get a booth.

Sourdough is coming soon hopefully... ;) A bakers/tea shop is opening in the old teddy bear emporium.

Penge has really changed a lot in the last three or four years and feels like a place fast changing for the better. Some great pubs (one's owned by Antic) with another to hopefully come soon (run by Late Knights), a theatre, the brilliant Alexandra Nurseries (cafe/plant/vintage place), cafes incl a Blue Mountain, a great butcher's, fishmongers, a med food store (PFC), guitar shop, loads of practical shops (Boots, Superdrug, Wilkinsons, Sainsburys, Lidl, Homebase, etc). Plus the stuff that was always there, such as hundreds of Victorian houses and some nice parks, including of course, Crystal Palace park and brill transport links (18 mins to Victoria, Overground to Shoreditch, etc) Additionally a good social scene is spawning from Penge Tourist Board facebook group members, with a Film Club starting soon, good local art scene, open mic nights and a steadily increasing number of music gigs that suggest that could take off too. Check out http://pengetouristboard.co.uk/

The Bridge House Theatre by Penge West is a great place. Loads of pubs will have backrooms that offer hire functions. The Goldsmiths in Penge is doing odd music and comedy performances too, including this one: https://twitter.com/MadeinPenge/status/553661548259205120/photo/1

The Bridge House Theatre has been a huge success. I saw It's A Wonderful Life a couple of weeks ago and can see why it has been getting five star awards; it's a proper theatre, with West End performers, not an am dram effort.

Kent House is lovely, really. 5 mins from Penge High Street with proper shops you'll actually want to use (Wilkinsons, Boots, Sainos, Penge Food Centre, Homebase, Lidl, etc) and not too far from Beckenham High Street with some posher shops (M&S and Waitrose). Both areas have good pubs (Penge has Goldsmiths and Moon and Stars 5 mins from KH) and Penge has a theatre and Beck a cinema. KH is my local station, though I live in Penge and love the area. And it's amazing for transport. KH to Brixton 10 mins or Vic 20 mins or Brom 8 mins, loads of buses and tram and Overground both short walks away.

rodneybewes Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For the centre and the east I'd second > Townleygreen - the Jolly Woodman is fantastic and > El Molino, though a bit of a wallflower in > location, is great tapas and good atmosphere. > > Towards the west side you've got Penge and the > newly opened Cambridge for drinks, Friends of > Flavours for Italian and the Bridge House towards > Crystal Palace is a decent gastro-pub. Sunday > roast there and then a walk around the dinosaur > haunted park next door is not too shabby. > Beckenham Curry Club in Elmer's End is a decent > sit down and take away too. Late Knights brewery > is going to be opening the Alaxandra opposite the > nurseries soon as well. > > You're in a funny spot there. Walk a couple of > hundred yards East and you're in Kent. A couple of > hundred yards West and it feels like you're > properly in London. It's like being one of those > creatures that lives right on the shoreline. I agree with all the points raised here but just a minor correction - it's the Goldsmiths that has opened, not the Cambridge (which is in CP). Personally I'd say Penge is better for normal household shops (eg Wilkinsons and Homebase) and pubs, Beckenham is better for restaurants, hairdressers and cafes. A lot of Clock House residents go on the Penge Tourist Board facebook site for local Penge news, as Penge has a good vibe at the moment.

The Billet is vile. I could tell you a story about it off line, Otta, that would make you avoid the place. The Pawleyne is a bit hit and miss. I'd say the Maple Tree is the pick of the old school pubs.

The residential areas of Penge are flat but the Crystal Palace Park (aka Penge Common), which is of course Penge too, is a whole series of hills.

Know what you mean Otta. I've lived all over South East London (Lee, Lewisham, Hither Green, Bellingham, Bromley and now Penge) and go to ED, FH and CP a lot. Brockley and Nunhead I don't know at all and Clapham is another planet.