Living near Lordship Lane estate

[Sam Toucan]

Hello there,

We're looking at a property down near Lordship Lane estate. Lovely house, but to be honest we're a little uncertain about living right next to the estate, and also on the main road. I checked police.co.uk and noticed that while there seems to be a number of anti-social behaviour problems reported, there's virtually no other crime. Also, the area didn't seem particularly better or worse than East Dulwich generally.

Does this match the experience of people who live in the area? Can anyone who lives around there tell me if they've had many problems? Including noise - my partner works shifts and gets pretty grumpy if she misses out on her sleep!

Thanks in advance,

Sam

[Michael Palaeologus]

I used to live close to the Estate (end of Ivanhoe Road) and in all the years that I was there (19 years) I didnt experience any problems from the Estate.

[computedshorty]

I think you may be talking of Lordship Lane Estate situated off Lordship Lane near Dulwich Common, not the Estate on Dog Kennel Hill.

[Michael Palaeologus]

In which case, Sorry. It may be akin to downtown Damascus, I have no idea.

[Bic Basher]

It's mainly quiet on the estate, but it does suffer from some anti-social behaviour issues, particularly in the summer. However I wouldn't let that put you off buying near the estate at all.

[Tanday]

We live near the estate and haven't had any problems. Seems to be a lot of ex council flats on the estate now rather than just council housing.

[Fliss]

I wondered if the OP's post was for real when I read it.....

[minder]

.... and me!

[ratty]

Why?

[GinaG3]

As estates go this is a generally a really good one. Can get a little more lively in the summer months as with a lot of places but there's next to no trouble here. We've been actually on the estate for 4 years, but know people that have been happily here for over 15 years with little if any complaint. I wouldn't let the estate put you off a property, especially as its not even on the estate itself, even if it was I still wouldn't.

[Jessie]

I thought it was a joke too.

[DJKillaQueen]

It's a fair question isn't it ;). After all, us estate dwellers are the lowest of the low, with a Frank Gallagher on every corner. You'd never find an ASBO case living in a terraced house would you....let alone owning their own house?

[????]

Er, asking about an area you are thinking of moving to is completely legit.What a load of worthy righteousness from the respondents to the OPs questions. You really don't think about an area you are moving to? Yeah, right. Worthy hypocrites.

[EDmummy]

Sam, you mention that your partner works shifts. The only downside of living very close to Lordship Lane and near this junction in particular are the emergency services (police and ambulance) roaring down the road with their lights flashing and sirens sounding. It is the sound of London but if your partner is a particularly bad sleeper and she has not already desensitised to these sounds she may find it difficult.

In contrast, a friend of mine lives near here and its the birds that wake her up (esp. Great Tits) around 3-4am in the summer.

[Jessie]

Worthy hypocrite. Love it. Probably to the former, hopefully not the latter though surely having some sort of real life/world relationship with me would be the only way to assert that?

[DJKillaQueen]

I accept that quids but why only focus on the local authority estate nearby? As the OP says..they felt the need to check with police websites on crime.....like criminals don't live in houses? The OP isn't asking about his/ her immediate neighbours.....or schools, ammenities etc. It's the assumption that an estate/ social housing is automatically an asb hotspot that irks me.

[LondonMix]

I have two friends who grew up on estates (one in Clapham Junction, the other in Brixton) and both described them as suffering from what most would classify as greater than usual anti-social behaviour and criminal activity- committed by the minority of course but affecting the majority. I've never had any personal negative experience with estates so can't say but given how notorious some estates are, I don't think its really that unfair for someone to find out if a particular estate is a normal one or a worrisome one. Most people who live in estates are decent, often hard working people. However, there can be a concentration of people that need help for a variety of reasons that have as a corollary family / social breakdown and the issues a community might face as a result.

If the OP assumed that all housing estates are terrible and therefore would never live near one I could understand some of the comments but the fact he's simply asking what its like (with the clear assumption it could be fine) means he's fairly open minded.

[Jessie]

I grew up on a (pretty rough) council estate so perhaps i have a chip on my shoulder - apologies to OP but it irks me name checking a particular estate and referring to a police website and yes, i'd be curious about the place i was moving to but wouldn't isolate a housing estate on a public forum

[Bic Basher]

It's fair to say that the LL Estate is not a sink estate. Like all council estates, it's going to be rough at the edges, but it's not your stereotypical inner city one.

[Lowlander]

Jessie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I grew up on a (pretty rough) council estate so

> perhaps i have a chip on my shoulder - apologies

> to OP but it irks me name checking a particular

> estate and referring to a police website and yes,

> i'd be curious about the place i was moving to but

> wouldn't isolate a housing estate on a public

> forum

To many people on the outside, estates can look fairly intimidating and barren. They also have a reputational problem, so it's a reasonable question to ask.

As for chips, count yourself luckly you didn't grow up in Somalia, Liverpool or Romania - all of which are frequently name checked in the same sentence as crime.

[Jessie]

Okay, thanks for that Lowlander. I will count myself lucky I did not grow up in Somalia, Liverpool or Romania. I don't know what I'd do without the good people of this forum to keep my chip in check.

[Lowlander]

Christ, I once went on holiday to Beirut (true story), and people ask me if I'm crazy.

I don't feel the need to berate them for it, it's not surprising, given the media's presentation.

To an outsider they can look fairly intimidating, and they do have a reputation, so it's a perfectly valid question.

[Jessie]

I'd love to go to Beirut. And yes, it's a valid question. Apologies from me and my chip again OP.

[Jeremy]

Some estates are problematic, others are fine. So a perfectly reasonable question.

[DJKillaQueen]

I did grow up in Liverpool, on a truly rough council estate (for the first 11 years of my life) until my parents bought a house, and jokes about scousers and crime are just not funny. The estate had some problems with burglary....it was also the 70's and people were extremely hard up......My brother still lives there on a housing estate and it has very few problems. Times have changed considerably over the past three decades.