Is Penge the new East Dulwich?

[Earl Aelfheah]

ED is quite nice. I like living here, probably more than than I would living in Penge - but then if I were to move, I'm sure I would come to like Penge just as much after a little time. If you can, you should try and live somewhere you're happy and leave others to do the same. It's not a competition.

That said, Penge does have an Iceland, so it's 1 nil to Penge.

[adonirum]

Louisa

That's it!!!thanks, just couldn't bring it to mind.

I noticed when I was there at the back end of last year that the old Police station was being developed, just like the one in Crystal Palace Road in ED. Perhaps ED and Penge are intrinsically linked !!

You can, after all, go to L.L. and get the "one...seven...six...to.....Penge".

[Earl Aelfheah]

West Croydon is the new Penge apparently.

[Earl Aelfheah]

..and Bromley is last years Croydon.

West Norwood is so cutting edge, it started the day now and by lunch time was already then.

[Bovine Juice]

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

[Otta]

You beat me to it Bovine, Wilko's is bloody amazing, they sell everything!

[Seabag]

Wilko's is also in Bromley. I dislike Bromley

My neighbour likes Wilko's and Bromley

I dislike my neighbour

Penge is quite near West Croydon

I dislike West Croydon

Penge gets off lightly, it's a bit shit

[maxxi]

Seabag Wrote:

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> Wilko's is also in Bromley. I dislike Bromley

>

> My neighbour likes Wilko's and Bromley

>

> I dislike my neighbour

>

> Penge is quite near West Croydon

>

> I dislike West Croydon

>

> Penge gets off lightly, it's a bit shit

You really don't get Haikus do you?

[Sue]

Otta Wrote:

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> You beat me to it Bovine, Wilko's is bloody

> amazing, they sell everything!

I love Wilkos! Where is it? Is there a carpark?

[DovertheRoad]

Is Wilko's like a Budgens or is it more like CostCo? I've always wanted to try that big CostCo near Croydon and that big Wing Yip...

[adonirum]

Wilko's is the "upmarket" Poundstretcher,DtR, so perfect for ED and Penge.(I take it your question was serious and you were not being facetious).

They established themselves all around East Anglia and the East Midlands initially, then came south. Probably everyone knows that "Wilko's" is a rebranding of their original name "Wilkinson's".

Their H.Q. in Nottingham is on the edge of Sherwood Forest, a mass of concrete and metal emerging from the trees. True environmental vandalism.

[TheArtfulDogger]

Personally I think Penge would be a far better place if the big Golden Arches of Americanism moved away from the high street, nothing to do with the quality or type of product sold, simply because of the mind set of the drivers who have to park right outside to get their "healthy" happy meal, often blocking the path of other vehicles or even double parking just to get their fix of Mac.

It makes Penge feel grungy and the far too busy for my liking.

Still if the blow ins want to move away from the delights of East Dulwich then who am I to complain....

[maxxi]

Maybe Penge East is the new East Dulwich and Penge West is North Dulwich but Sydenham is surely not Dulwich Village so maybe Lower Sydenham is the new Lower Dulwich or is that New Beckenham? All, anyway, sneered at by those on Sydenham Hill or Beckenham Hill (both the new Forest Hill and Dog Kennel Hill respectively).

[Sue]

Sue Wrote:

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> Otta Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > You beat me to it Bovine, Wilko's is bloody

> > amazing, they sell everything!

>

> I love Wilkos! Where is it? Is there a carpark?

Hmmm. Having just spent some time googling, I discover there is indeed a carpark, at The Blenheimn Centre (?), where apparently almost everybody visiting it has been fined ?100 because of some bizarre system where you have to pay the parking fee by mobile, but get cut off before you can actually pay.

Great way to make money for the people owning the carpark, obviously.

Though apparently the Centre has just been sold, together presumably with the carpark.

Damn. I was so excited at the thought of a Wilko within reasonable travelling distance :))

[Seabag]

maxxi Wrote:

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

> Seabag Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Wilko's is also in Bromley. I dislike Bromley

> >

> > My neighbour likes Wilko's and Bromley

> >

> > I dislike my neighbour

> >

> > Penge is quite near West Croydon

> >

> > I dislike West Croydon

> >

> > Penge gets off lightly, it's a bit shit

>

> You really don't get Haikus do you?

770 2219

[Otta]

Sue Wrote:

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> Damn. I was so excited at the thought of a Wilko

> within reasonable travelling distance :))

The 176 is your friend.

[Bovine Juice]

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.

[Tarot]

I thing you,ve got rose goggles on Penge is shut all the good shops closed years ago.thefinal blow was Woolies going.

You can see ghostly windrushes and crisp packets blowing ab out these days,mind you if they open fifty restaurants throw in the hilarious hog roll stall it will be just like East Daulwich.

[JoeLeg]

Oh great, Tarot's gone off his meds again...

[Earl Aelfheah]

The truth is that the whole of London has gone completely loco. ED is nice enough and Penge probably is too (I don't know it that well). But these aren't notably beautiful, exciting, or remarkable places. The fact that small terraced houses sell for huge amounts of money here is absurd and deep down we all know it. I suspect that a lot of the naval gazing about what's 'great', or otherwise about our local areas, is the result of the inevitable dissonance caused by spending ridiculous sums to live in fairly unexceptional places. It's an attempt at rationalising what in many ways is an irrational situation.

[miga]

Bam! Exactly. Except it's the people that change areas, and the house price madness has been going for some time, and people who can afford more expensive houses usually also have more disposable income, creating a need for "nice" things in previously unexciting areas, and on it goes until the music stops...

[Jah Lush]

Last two posts - spot on.

[LondonMix]

Don't really agree.

I have a lot of friends that live in other parts of London, North and South of the river who think ED is great-- they always want to come here to hang out because they think there's much more to do. You should see what most of London outside of zone 1 is like. Besides the handful of quite famous and expensive neighborhoods (Richmond, Hampstead etc), ED stands out from most of London both for its high street, the nearby museums, and the nearby green spaces.

Whether the houses are worth what they are selling for is a different matter (most of London is over valued for various reasons) but ED is definitely not an average quality neighborhood even at first glance. The quality of the schools (private and state) only increase its appeal to families.

ED station isn't terribly useful but the reality is that most people who live in ED are within walking distance of either Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Forest Hill Station or Honor Oak (and for many some of these will be there closet station as ED station isn't central to ED). With the extension of the East London Line to all of these 5 years ago, I'd argue that the transport links here are some of the best south of the river excluding areas on the tube.

I bought ages ago before ED was trendy so I'm not trying to justify high prices or anything. These are simply the reasons why in an overpriced city, there is greater demand (and hence higher prices) to live in ED than many other places.

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> The truth is that the whole of London has gone

> completely loco. ED is nice enough and Penge

> probably is too (I don't know it that well). But

> these aren't notably beautiful, exciting, or

> remarkable places. The fact that small terraced

> houses sell for huge amounts of money here is

> absurd and deep down we all know it. I suspect

> that a lot of the naval gazing about what's

> 'great', or otherwise about our local areas, is

> the result of the inevitable dissonance caused by

> spending ridiculous sums to live in fairly

> unexceptional places. It's an attempt at

> rationalising what in many ways is an irrational

> situation.

[Otta]

Well I think rahrahrah is bang on. ED has created it's own myth, and Penge is doing exactly the same. They are both decent places. But there is nothing particularly special about either, and it could be argued that both are pretty dull.

That doesn't really bother me these days as I have a limited social life. But if I was 10 years younger I'd be desperate to be elsewhere.

[DulwichFox]

My house on Ulverscroft is one of 6 built in 1887...

The cost of the 6 houses was ?420. ?70. each... and the rent for each house was ?5. per year..

And East Dulwich was a lot more gentrified in 1887...

DulwichFox