Is Penge the new East Dulwich?

[luddite]

went to the delightful alexandras nursery yesterday wow ..lunch shopping and plants ...two hours of pure delight

highly recommend

[Otta]

It's not the new ED (thankfully), but it does have a feeling of change about it.

[Countrlass22]

Where abouts is new plant nursery?

I'd like visit it.

[Robert Poste's Child]

I don't want to live somewhere that sounds like a word from the Inbetweeners.

[spark67]

Went to that nursery a couple of years ago & it is rather nice, been and done a few errands around the rest of the area and not to keen, Have a friend who had to move out of the area a couple of years ago who was attacked in their home, so thats put me off a bit tbh. Hope it is improving though for people that live their.

[miga]

Robert Poste's Child Wrote:

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> I don't want to live somewhere that sounds like a

> word from the Inbetweeners.

You have the same thought every time you see it too? Wonder if any houses there are made of clunch.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Not sure I'd want to live in Gnaw-wood either, come to that.

[Louisa]

Penge was the aspirational step-up for the folk who lived in the slums surrounding Bermondsey and docks in the 1920s and 30s. It was a quiet suburban spot which technically was still part of Kent, with a strong rural heritage. Here we are less than a century later and Penge finds itself the inner city rough around the edges suburb needing some tlc, with Bermondsey now the pricey and unaffordable former slum. How times and places change.

Louisa.

[Jeremy]

And all in the space of a mere 80 years.

[miga]

.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Not sure you could call Penge inner city, even now! Still very much suburbia to me.

[Salsaboy]

I think you'll find that the locals pronounce it Ponjay - an affected French pronunciation.

[Bovine Juice]

It's not the new East Dulwich but it's changed a heck of a lot over the last 3 or 4 years. In that time it's gained

a very successful theatre and gastropub

Blue Mountain cafe

a plants and coffee spot (Alex Nurseries)

a vintage shop

a cycle shop

a micro brewery (Late Knights)

the Overground tube

and is about to gain an Antic pub and a Late Knights one

Add repeated features on Location Location Location and Homes under the Hammer and you'd not be surprised to hear that a) there's been an increase in house prices and b) an influx of new people from Shoreditch/Dulwich/CP, etc.

It's still rough round the edges and the High street, though it has plenty of great practical shops (Homebase, Wilkos, Boots, Superdrug, Sainsburys, Lidl, PEnge Food Centre, etc), still looks scrappy and dead after 6pm.

Best of all though it has a very friendly community vibe and having been there 18 years I'm loving how it's finally blossoming.

[Townleygreen]

There are some really fantastic houses - usually with big gardens - which are within 5-10 minutes walk of Penge. Their postal address is Beckenham, which might appeal to those who care about such things. This is the area bordered in the east by Kent House Road, the north by Lennard Road and the west and south by Kings Hall Road. Also jump across the railway and include Barnmead road (a private road).

And all these streets are served by 2 stations - Kent House (19 mins from Victoria) New Beckenham (25 mins from Charing Cross via London Bridge) plus you can access the Overground at Penge West or Sydenham via bus or walking.

[Seabag]

Ah Penge

The local folks of Penge are a joy to behold

Stout, tattooed, toothless and reticent. Sporting soverign ear rings and necklaces, giving you the "Penge stare"

"Wot you fakkin lookin'at?" one asked me once

"Erm...." was the best I could muster

It still has a street market of sorts (I think)and nice houses toward ClockHouse

And a Greggs and a Mc Donalds

[Parkdrive]

Seabag Wrote:

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> Ah Penge

>

> The local folks of Penge are a joy to behold

>

> Stout, tattooed, toothless and reticent. Sporting

> soverign ear rings and necklaces, giving you the

> "Penge stare"

>

> "Wot you fakkin lookin'at?" one asked me once

>

> "Erm...." was the best I could muster

>

> It still has a street market of sorts (I think)and

> nice houses toward ClockHouse

>

> And a Greggs and a Mc Donalds

Sounds just like Peckham, and parts of Bermondsey, ED, Eltham etc

[MrsMcC]

Certainly hope not, it's coming along nicely as it is with it's own personality.

[Parkdrive]

Penge and personality are certainly not words that go together, Penge is grim.

[Brendan]

I've heard it's very nice, but I've?never been there?myself.

[Earl Aelfheah]

ED is about as far out of London as I want to move (ideally, I'd choose to be a bit closer, but in ED you get 'nicer' for your money). It is just about comfortable cycling distance (i.e. under 30 minutes without breaking too much of a sweat). Once you start getting into zone 3 / 4, I kind of think that the benefits of being 'in town' significantly reduce - you may as well move out properly, somewhere on a fast train line and get more space and more greenery.

[Parkdrive]

Brendan Wrote:

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> I've heard it's very nice, but I've?never been

> there?myself.

Trying walking down the High Street and along Maple Road and you'll soon change your tune.

[MrsMcC]

Don't see what's wrong with either Parkdrive, the High Street might not be 'pretty' but it's practical with most things you need and I've never had a problem on it in the 8 years I've lived there. Maple Road is a nice street with two very good caf?s, The Blue Belle http://www.bluebellecafe.co.uk and a Blue Mountain also the second hand shop further down is always worth a look. Different strokes.....

[Otta]

Well I'm loving it. But then I'm the sort of bloke who walks in to The Crooked Billet and thinks "great".

I suspect I'm in a minority.

[Otta]

One thing bad that I will say is that the roads seem really dangerous. Had a very near miss with my little girl on the corner of Maple Road, and Penge Lane (which is a rat run under the railway line, which I have to cross with my kids every morning) feels like a fatal accident waiting to happen. Hate it.

[????]

Can't Penge just be the 'New Penge' or just 'Penge'? All this East Dulwich comparison sounds a bit desparate??