darcy

**** RosieH, is that better??? :)-D

Can I also say, that my comment about houses, was in no way meant to give off any notions of superiortiy, it was just to say, that while Lordship Lane is a great high street now, the roads I have seen off it are a real mix. It's not exactly Chiswick or Muswell Hill (from my limited recent knowledge of these areas but they tend to be an aspiration)and in reality the high street itself has much of what we have on ours, greasy spoons and shops selling towers of plastic boxes (I am sure I saw one recently) too. Sydenham is far from being anything like the areas I mention above too, but there are just some pockets which can give you a pleasant surprise, others are Hall Drive and some roads surrounding it or Jews Walk. And from what I have seen on this forum ED has problems too, and making assumptions about Syd, Sydders or Sydenham, whatever, because of its high street is a mistake.

Anyway, back to a calmer more rational post, does anyone know if this sort of community 'rivalry' is a new phenomena (for these times)? Do people have discussions like this on this forum or just like to make acerbic comments about other areas and people to make themselves feel better? Sorry guys but it just oozes anger, or maybe it's fear, maybe not of Sydenham, just life itself. Can't put my finger on it, but it's worrying....

I will keep that in mind Jeremy. I had never thought of the word Sydders being smug, I thought we had nothing to be smug about ;) Anyway, it's just easier to type!!

Wow, I have got you lot going haven't I? Ha, Ha, Ha.....It feels almost tribal, absolutely ridiculous!!! In case the rest of you are wondering, this is what I originally replied to in the first post, which was someone commenting on the Waitrose thread on SE26 Forum: "whilst those working-class fried chicken munchers over the hill will be popping to the local Waitrose to snack on a pot of organic houmous!" I'm afraid such an inaccurate comment had to be responded to with a reality check, could not resist....

I think you are showing your complete lack of knowledge of Sydenham Rosie H. The Thorpe Estate is a network of roads with beautiful Edwardian houses. I think you would struggle to find something like it in ED, which always seems like a real mix to me, with council flats, people who can/want to make an effort with their house and those who can't/don't. It's certainly not some middle class oasis. All I am saying is don't underestimate Sydenham, there is more to it than meets the eye and community spirit is one of them. Which counts for a lot when you live somewhere long-term. It's not a competition and there are many people over here who couldn't think of anything worse than having to deal with the smugness of ED. Let's face it there are a lot of people paying inflated prices for tiny flats over there, then having kids and thinking "oh shit it's not that great afterall".

Lousia, er, do fried chicken munchers like to: 1. visit a month-long classical music festival featuring (practically all of them) some of the best musicians in the country (many of whom actually live in Sydders)? At Sydenham International Music Festival, in case you haven't heard of it? 2. Visit over 25 resident artists' houses as part of the Sydenham Arts Festival and attend a multitude of literary and cultural events over a two/three-month period? 3. Live in houses worth ?500,000 plus on the Thorpe Estate, or ?1.5million plus Cator Road, to mention just a few?

I think Keef you will find it was 'the Crystal Palace at Sydenham'.

Ganapati, can you tell me where the ballet class is? I would like my three-year-old to start but wanted something fun and not too structured.

Have you heard of the Sydenham Forum? Here is a link: http://forum.sydenham.org.uk/

My daughter moved on from dropping the morning nap (at nine months unfortunately for us all) to ideally needing to sleep about 11am for a couple of hours (sometimes not possible because it clashed with a playgroup which hence meant lots of melt downs). She often however found it hard to make it to bedtime and often got very cranky around 5pm (fell asleep in her highchair once while having her dinner!!). I think (this was three years ago) that I started to put her to bed earlier for a while - 6ish, until I could get her to nap around 12.30 - 1pm, after lunch. I think it all naturally takes a bit of time and adjustment.

Presumably this dog is walked (if its owners are looking after it at all) on Peckham Rye common...a bit worrying!

Would someone mind telling me where St Aidens road is? I can't find it on Streemap. Thanks

For real evidence of how people are dropping their prices in ED look at Property Snake website - many down 20-30%. With such high prices they have further to fall.

The privately educated reference/certain middle class (I would say) is very interesting. I was in Dulwich Park a few months ago, and was spinning my three-year-old round on the round-about, when a little boy aged about five or six came over and ordered me to stop the roundabout so he could get on and continued to bark orders at me the whole time he was on it "stop going so fast" etc, while his parents looked on adoringly. I would never allow my kids to be that rude, and certainly would reprimand them. But maybe they are happy with this as it will mean he will fit brilliantly into some city banking team in the future. But won't be liked by many other people.

Those schools are in Dulwich Village not East Dulwich! Anyway, there is a large private school in Catford, on the south circ- St Dunstans and one in Sydenham - Sydenham Girls, Westwood Hill. It's not just the super rich who use private schools - I know people who have lived in very, very modest houses and used their spare cash to privately educate their kids.

Sorry to add some negativity to this thread but a female friend of mine in her mid-20s at the time was mugged in the heart of ED in a residential road, at knifepoint, about 10 years ago. It was a long time ago though...

Yes, I have been to the Hearne and the facilites for families are pretty good but the veggie option I had one lunchtime a few months ago (I think there was only one) was pretty poor. It isn't close to Lordship Lane either. Isn't that area known as Peckham Rye?

Ok Keef, the Dolphin might not be the most imaginatively designed pub inside, but it is very, very family friendly, which is ideal for this area. I haven't been inside the EDT, the Bishop etc with my daughter or a newborn baby. But do you see wall to wall Bugaboo et al pushchairs inside those places during the day? I wouldn't have thought so, outside maybe. And the garden is ideal in summer for whole family gatherings. The food in the Dolphin is also pretty good.

I think the EDT makeover seven or eight years ago was pretty influential because it was in such a prime location. It was very different when it was known as the East Dulwich Tavern, although the Blue Mountain cafe may have kickstarted it. If this is the case I would keep an eye on Sydenham as two key, similar things have happened here. The owners of the Darmtmouth Arms in Forest Hill took over and madeover the Doplhin at the bottom of Sydenham high street a year ago and Blue Mountain has recently opened a branch at the top. The owners of the EDT have also applied for planning permission to open a bar/restaurant here. The train station is central, so better for transport and there are a lot of parks and leafy roads, with great architecture.

If you are really really lucky O'Neills might be sniffing around ;-)

I have just copied this from the Sydenham forum Monday 5 November Family Funfair and Fireworks Display at Crystal Palace Park Gates open 5pm Funfair will be open from 5:00pm - 10:00pm Fireworks between 7.30 - 8pm Tickets purchased on the gate. Adults (14 and over) and unaccompanied children ?3.00, children ?2.00, under 5's free. Car Parking ?2.00

If you decide that the jump in mortgage payments is too risky and you want to save yourself a few thousand pounds, and make a good investment, maybe you should consider Sydenham. I have friends in Sydenham (zone 3) who cycle or run to and from work, and it's only 15mins longer on the bus than East Dulwich. The train service is a bit more frequent too (with more options), and only takes five mins longer (no need for timetables - if you turn up at the station you rarely have to wait more than 10 mins, frequently there is one due sooner when I arrive, so similar to living next to some tube lines but nicer than having to use the tube, you pretty much always get a seat in the rush hour too). In the last year Sydenham has gone from having just a small sprinkling of lifestyle shops (health food shop, bookshop/gallery and one decent cafe) and in the last 10 months a great gastro pub has opened and East Dulwich's Blue Mountain Cafe is opening up another branch there (due to open any day soon) and there is a lot more going on....so there are businesses out there who are already tapping in to its potential. You are only a short bus ride from ED if you want its vast going out options in the meantime...just an idea!

I thought the train links were pretty bad from Nunhead. Correct me if I am wrong but don't they only run half-hourly to Blackfriars Mon-Sat and to Victoria on Sundays? Which would make it seem even more isolated than it already looks!

Does anyone know when ED became so self-satisfied? It seems really recent to me - the last year maybe, unless I just didn't notice it before, I'm not sure. It used to be a nice place to hang out in the evenings or weekends without being so pretentious. Lordship Lane reminds me of a Victorian promenade, where people just want to be see and be seen these days.