Underhill road - what's it like?

[konradc101]

Hi all,

I'm close to purchasing a property on Underhill road near the cemetery (Langton Rise) and was wondering what it is like living in that part of ED. Is it difficult to commute from there to central London and are there many grocery shops near by?

[indiepanda]

I live on Underhill, not too far from there.

For central London your best bet is getting the 363 or 63 from Forest Hill Rd to Peckham Rye, and from there you have trains to London Bridge, Blackfriars or Victoria as well as the overground. Or you could walk to Honor Oak Park in about twenty minutes.

There are shops on Forest Hill Rd between the end of Peckham Rye up to the Cemetery, including a small Co-op.

You're a bit more of a trek down to Lordship Lane (getting on to a mile) but there's always the P13 to get you there.

[Penguin68]

There is a small parade of shops in Woodvale at the Langton rise junction - including an excellent butcher's (best in ED in my opinion), a small newsagent/ tobacconist and a 'corner shop' grocers where there is a (very limited) choice of fresh vedge.

The P13 (which now runs more frequently down Underhill) will take you to the main shops in Lordship Lane and thence East Dulwich station (to London Bridge) or (the other way) close to West Dulwich Station (Victoria). Walking down to Lordship Lane/London Road (i.e. broadly south-west) will get you to stops for the 176 and 185 buses, which you can also pick up from the Lordship Lane/ Whately Road end (Whately Road is the extension of Underhill into the Goose Green end of Lordship lane, as opposed to the London Road end.

The 12 runs along Barry Road. The 363 (N63 at night) will take you from Woodvale to Elephant and the tubes there, the 63 itself runs all the way to to Kings Cross, but only starts (day services) just passed the cemetery entrance in Forest Hill Road.

Honor Oak Park (or Forest Hill) are both within 20 minutes walk - and will get you onto a separate route (from East Dulwich Station) into London Bridge or the Orange Line (Overground).

The hilliness locally means that use of a bicycle will be, well, invigorating.

[fizzmoll]

I used to live there for a couple of years, with young children and biking into Soho on a daily basis. It's a fantastic area, very quiet, leafy and lovely. Village feeling. You are close to the horniman museum and park.

You are fairly far away from shops but it's not crazy. There is a newsagent on wood value for milk and last minute stuff. There is the horniman farmers market on saturdays. And forest hill road isn't a crazy way away, with a coop, post office, GP etc. We ended up doing ocado/sainsburys order for most of our food which was awesome.

For the biking, yes, you will have a bit of a challenge going up that hill on the way back from work. But it's not too bad! It's short and steep, so walking up the hill only takes a minute longer (if you can swallow your pride!). Would have been much worse if it was a long stretched out elevation.

When I wasn't biking, I found going on the P4 to brixton and then victoria line into London was the quickest route into Soho. But it's not a great commute.

Hope this helps. Yes, you are kind of far away from railway stations, but other than that the location is pretty amazing!

[Jeremy]

Yeah if you want to be close to the station and lots of shops/pubs/etc then it's not really ideal. But then again you probably know that already, and that drawback is probably reflected in the price. If you don't mind longer (hilly!) walks and hopping on the bus, then I'm sure it will work out just fine. Good luck!

[indiepanda]

Jeremy Wrote:

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

> Yeah if you want to be close to the station and

> lots of shops/pubs/etc then it's not really ideal.

> But then again you probably know that already, and

> that drawback is probably reflected in the price.

> If you don't mind longer (hilly!) walks and

> hopping on the bus, then I'm sure it will work out

> just fine. Good luck!

Definitely right about the drawback being reflected in the price. Being here rather than the end of Underhill by Crystal Palace Rd gave me an extra bedroom, larger back garden and off-road parking outside the house.

For the ten-ish minutes it takes to saunter down to Lordship Lane it was definitely worth it. Mostly I use the 63 for work anyway and now I am nearer the start of the route I get a window seat upstairs pretty much every day. Get most of my food delivered too...

[konradc101]

Thank you for your replies they were quite helpful. I didnt realsie there were shops on Forest Hill road and Woodvale. My only concern is getting to Lordship Lane as the P13 only runs every 15 minutes.

[Calsug]

I recently moved from Underhill Rd and was up by Overhill road so pretty far up, to be honest its not really a long walk down to Lordship lane and i quite liked being that far up as a lot quieter.

[Otta]

My sister lives right at the top[ of the road, and she tend to use Forest Hill for trains.

There's also a reasonably big Sainsbury's in Forest Hill.

[Pickle]

It's only a 10 min (brisk) walk down to Lordship Lane from the Langton Rise part of Underhill. Worth it for more space at less cost!

[ruffers]

konradc101 Wrote:

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

> Thank you for your replies they were quite

> helpful. I didnt realsie there were shops on

> Forest Hill road and Woodvale. My only concern is

> getting to Lordship Lane as the P13 only runs

> every 15 minutes.

I live near here, but comments about a bus every 15 minutes being a problem always make me smile. Compared to most of the country that's pretty darn frequent! Smart phone bus apps will help anyway, you shouldn't be waiting for long if you decide not to walk.

[Lazero]

I lived on Underhill, near Belvoir road, for 4 years and only moved away 6 months ago. The P13 was always very good at sticking to schedule. There are also lots of apps showing bus stop arrivals so you can time it and aren't waiting around at the stop for ages. Otherwise you can go through that passageway at the end of Langton rise and walk down Overhill to get to the bus stop with 176, 185 and 197.

There are lots of options for the commute, depending on where you need to get to. I travel to Farringdon - P13 to West Dulwich and the one direct train was the most pleasant (generally get a seat on the 0849) and fastest option. But if I needed to get in early (before 8.30am) the P13 can be too full to get on as it goes past a lot of schools. 63 all the way takes longer but you'd get a seat and save a fortune on the travelcard.

[LondonMix]

If you want to walk to the liveliest bit of Lordship Lane (where the cinema and shops etc are) then let its a mile so closer to 20 minutes walk.

Its about 20 min to Peckham Rye and the same to Honor Oak, which is manageable if your commute from there is straight forward.

[jane1]

Welcome to East Dulwich, you will love it here, we are a very friendly bunch....

[Nigello]

It is lovely around there. Depending on where you want to get to, I would recommend taking the 63/363 from Forest Hill Road as your gateway Peckham and the station and then to Old/New Kent Roads and Elephant and then Blackfriars etc. It is true that the transport in SE22 and around is not as good as it could be, but by walking and making use of TfL's app etc you'll get the hang of it.

[Dano]

The Forest Hill Road supermarket (aka "The Turkish shop" locally) is a gem. Huge variety of foods inside, and great range of fresh fruit and veg, herbs and flowers out the front. Much prefer it over the chain supermarket further down the road.

[dbboy]

And extremely friendly and helpful as well.

[bobbsy]

Its a realtively short walk to Lordship Lane, quick bus to Forest Hill for Rail and Overground lines. Lovely place to live. Would be nice if traffic actually stuck to 20mph, but I won't start off on that again.

[uncleglen]

The P13 is brilliant compared to what it used to be like!

[Bic Basher]

uncleglen Wrote:

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

> The P13 is brilliant compared to what it used to

> be like!

Indeed, especially since the longer double door buses have been slowly introduced on the route which make it less of a cattle truck experience.

[spark67]

We have lived here nearly nine years, just in-between Belvoir & Langton rise...thought about selling up and moving last year, but then realised we love it so much and decided to stay put. We have fab neighbours, and find it no problem getting anywhere by bus, often walk to lordship lane on a sunny summers day, or cut through cemetery to get to forest hill road.

Woodvale stores, the butchers and newsagent are alway used by us just around the corner. I often order magazines from the newsagent which he keeps back for me. ( he also sends parcels ) :)

[Penguin68]

Because of the way Underhill Road was developed (the name refers, by the way, to the former local manor owners and is not related to the topological Overhill Road) the land South of Barry Road was sold off in small plots, which means that the architectural design of houses normally covers only 2-3 groups of semi's. This gives a great variety to the street, and I believe adds to its charm. Most of the development took place from about 1860 - 1914 - newer builds reflect either war-damage infill or later sales and subdivisions. One house (which had a very sad past - and structural damage) was torn down and a modern replacement built in the last 15 years. Otherwise the only recent new-builds have been on former garage or builder's merchants sites (or as a replacement for post-war pre-fabs).

[JDR]

We moved here just over 4 years ago from Peckham (5 mins from station). It helps my husband cycles and I am required to drive for work but we enjoy the walk to either the 363/63 dependant on destination or often for nights out walk to Peckham. Children laughably said when we moved here that we'd moved to the "countryside". We hadn't looked closely t bus options before we moved but realised later we're in a sweet spot. 5 mins to 363,63,176,185. 10 mins to 12

[LondonMix]

I was recently on Forest Hill Rd which will be your nearest shopping street.

There is the CO-OP there for shopping (though I personally have had bad experiences with the quality the produce). The parade itself has more than I remembered from when I lived on that end of ED.

1. Tiny DIY store that also sells pet supplies

2. Dentist

3. GP surgery

4. Two pharmacies

5. Post Office

6. News Agents

7. Dry cleaners

8. Laundromat

9. 2 Spa / Beauty places

10. Hairdressers

11. Barbers

12. French caf?

13. Indian restaurant

14. Fish and Chip shop

15. New French Bistro

16. Italian place (Si Mangia)

17. Two pubs ? The Rose and the Herne. I haven?t been to either in ages so don?t know if they are any good but the Herne use to feel like a cr?che on the weekends. There was a very popular pub quiz there though.

[latinoqueen]

Lovely area, very up and coming. With a variety of shops and park. Train station is a pain but 363/63 running every few minutes! Not far walk on a nice day to lordship lane.