Living in Streatham: area guide to homes, schools and transport

It went from posh to poor with Britain’s worst high street. Now Streatham is making a comeback as a popular alternative to Clapham, Brixton and Dulwich...
Happy days: children enjoy the sandpit at Benson’s Funfair on Streatham Common. Images: Daniel Lynch.
Anthea Masey27 January 2017

The owners of the Pratts & Payne pub in Streatham, south London, clearly have a sense of humour. The “Payne” refers to Cynthia Payne, Streatham’s notorious “Madam Cyn”.

Her sex parties at 32 Ambleside Avenue, reputedly attended by lawyers, doctors and vicars, came to the attention of police, who raided the house in 1978 and again in 1986. Her subsequent trials attracted huge media interest. After the first, she spent four months in Holloway prison for running a brothel. At the second trial she was acquitted of controlling prostitutes. Still going strong but no longer hosting parties, Payne, 82, is a popular after-dinner speaker.

For those with long memories, Pratts was a John Lewis store that closed its doors 25 years ago. Eventually knocked down and replaced by branches of Lidl, Argos and Peacocks, Pratts is much-mourned and locals blame its closure for the later decline in the fortunes of the town centre.

Streatham is five miles from central London and is bisected by the busy A23, which runs along Streatham High Road, named Britain’s worst high street more than a decade ago.

Since then, millions of pounds have been spent on regeneration schemes, reducing many old buildings to rubble.

Caesars nightclub, famous for its enormous four-horse Roman chariot sculpture above the entrance, has been demolished, along with all but the façade of the old Megabowl building.

After years of delay, the joint venture between Tesco and the local council, known as the Streatham Hub, delivered a Tesco superstore, more than 200 new homes and a replacement swimming pool and skating rink close to Streatham Common. Meanwhile, smart developer London Square has planning permission for 243 flats, shops and a 120-seat theatre.

There has also been gentrification as the middle classes priced out of Clapham and Balham — and in more recent years, Brixton — migrate to Streatham in search of big family homes.


What there is to buy in Streatham
Streatham has a mix of Victorian, Edwardian and later interwar houses, detached, semi-detached and terraces. There are also large blocks of Thirties flats in the Streatham Hill area, mainly along the High Road. Pullman Court is a landmark modernist block, designed in 1936 by Sir Frederick Gibberd.



Estate agent Gabriel Cunningham, of the local branch of Dexters, says prices have risen significantly in the past 18 months and with a number of new-build developments, price per square foot has risen to between £600 to £700 and up to £800 in some instances. Older house prices are typically slightly lower, in the region of £500 to £600 a square foot.

It is worth researching Streatham’s many conservation areas. The Telford Park conservation area west of Streatham Hill has exceptional late Victorian houses in the Queen Anne revival style in roads such as Telford Avenue, Kirkstall Road and Killieser Avenue. They were built around a tennis club that is the second oldest in London after Wimbledon.

Streatham has a mix of Victorian, Edwardian and later interwar houses 


The Leigham Court Estate conservation area to the east of Streatham Hill is an early example of social housing. It was built between 1889 and 1928 by the Artizans’, Labourers’ and General Dwellings Company. Known locally as ‘the ABCD roads’, the main roads on the estate of Arts and Crafts flats, maisonettes and houses are Amesbury Avenue, Barcombe Avenue, Cricklade Avenue and Downton Avenue. The estate is a mix of social rented and owner-occupied homes.

Streatham Park, between Tooting Bec Road and Mitcham Lane, is the area made famous by the Thrales, a family of brewers - as well as Johnson and Reynolds, they entertained philosopher Edmund Burke and actor David Garrick. Protected by two conservation areas, one in Wandsworth – the Streatham Park conservation area - the other in Lambeth - the Garrads Road conservation area – there is a mix of large Victorian, Edwardian and inter-war houses close to Tooting Bec Common.

South of Streatham Common, the Streatham Lodge conservation area has roads of detached, semi-detached Edwardian and inter-war houses in roads such as Baldry Gardens, Heybridge Avenue and Hilldown Road

Travel: Streatham has overground services to Victoria, St Pancras & London Bridge. There are also 14 bus routes.


Travel: The busy A23 London to Brighton Road runs through Streatham.



There is no Tube station. The railway stops are Streatham Hill, with trains to Victoria in about 18 minutes; Streatham, with Thameslink trains to St Pancras and services to London Bridge taking about half an hour, and Streatham Common, with services to Victoria in about 18 minutes. All stations are in Zone 3 and an annual travelcard costs £1,508.



Fourteen bus routes run through central Streatham, including the 159 to Westminster, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch; the 133 to London Bridge and Liverpool Street, and the 57 to Kingston upon Thame



The area attracts: Gabriel Cunningham, of Dexters estate agents, says buyers are coming from the firm’s sister offices in Battersea, Clapham, Fulham and Putney and from central and east London. There are even investment buyers from the Far East.


Staying power: People can afford to upsize locally from flats to houses, although some families swap Streatham life for the home counties.



What there is to rent in Streatham
The rental market is busy, with the area popular with young professional tenants and investors. One-bedroom flats are achieving a rental yield of about five per cent.


Postcodes: SW16 is the Streatham postcode, although parts of Streatham Hill fall into the SW2, the Brixton postcode.


Best roads: the large houses on the Telford Park estate.



Up and coming: moving south along the A23 is Norbury, where there are roads of affordable Twenties terrace houses.

Family homes on Gleneldon Road

What’s new
The South London Press is one of London’s leading local newspapers. For journalists, it is a well-known staging post on their way to a job on the Evening Standard or a national newspaper and for years, its building in Leigham Court Road in Streatham has been a local landmark. Now the building, to be known as The Print House (City & Urban, 020 7613 0975), is being converted into 35 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats by Formation Group with shops on the ground floor. Prices start at £399,950 for a one-bedroom flat, due to be completed by the end of the year.



Round the corner in Streatham High Road, former office building Norwich House (City & Urban, 020 7613 0975 and Foxtons, 020 7973 2020), which has shops on the ground floor, is being converted into 98 studios, one- and two- bedroom flats, with prices starting at £250,000 for a studio, £275,000 for a one-bedroom flat and £385,000 for a two bedroom flat.



180-182 Gleneagle Road (Newbourne Homes, 020 7794 4792) is a development of six flats, partly new-build and partly built behind the facade of an existing double-fronted house, designed to blend in with the surrounding Victorian terraces - two one-bedroom flats remain. Prices start at £299,000.

Images: Daniel Lynch.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants
Streatham High Road has been regenerated since the “worst street” jibe, but there is still not much to excite the dedicated shopper, with offerings from Lidl, Argos, Peacocks and New Look. 

Most of the independent highlights are found at the Streatham Hill or northern end of this long shopping street. Close to the junction with Leigham Court Road, Perfect Blend is an all-day brasserie, The Hamlet is a cocktail bar and restaurant, Fish Tale is an award-winning fishmonger and deli, almost next door to fish and chip shop Kennedy’s. There are two delicatessens - Korona, a long-established Polish deli, and more traditional Thompson’s Deli. Boyce da Roca is a stylish addition to the coffee bar scene and Hood is a new restaurant specialising in locally sourced ingredients. 

Further down the road, Indigo Tree is good for gifts, Brooks & Gao is another coffee shop and Beyrouths is a large Middle Eastern restaurant. Wholemeal Café in Shrubbery Road is a long-standing vegetarian restaurant and Le Tour de France in Sunnyhill Road is a French deli. The Filling Station is a newish café and for vinyl records there is Turnstyle Records, both opposite Streatham station. Café Barcelona opposite Streatham Common is a newly opened Spanish café which also puts on music events.

The Earl Ferrers in Ellora Road and the Railway in Greyhound Lane are two gastro pubs, with the Railway hosting a farmers’ market on the second and fourth Saturday of the month. There are also farmers’ 
 

Open space
Those living at the northern end of Streatham head to Tooting Bec Common and the lido, England’s biggest freshwater swimming pool. Those at the southern end head for Streatham Common and The Rookery, a landscaped park with a café and views to the Surrey countryside.

Leisure and the arts
Streatham Festival, an annual arts event in July featuring dance, theatre, music and comedy, goes from strength to strength, and there is a June food festival. The Odeon is the local multiplex cinema. A new swimming pool, gym, exercise studios and ice rink have been built on one site in Streatham High Road. The Hideaway is a leading London jazz venue.

Three facts about Streatham

What do Ken Livingstone and Naomi Campbell have in common?
They both grew up in Streatham.



How did Streatham make retail history?
The very first supermarket in the country was opened in Streatham High Road in 1951. It was a branch of the long-disappeared Premier Supermarkets, owned by Express Dairies.



Who had a library full of portraits of guests painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds?
Henry and Hester Thrale were famous 18th century hosts at their country mansion Streatham Park. The lexicographer Samuel Johnson practically lived with them and their library had twelve portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds of famous guests they had entertained. Fanny Burney called them the ‘Streatham Worthies’. There are even roads the area – Thrale Road and Doctor Johnson Avenue – named after them.

What the locals recommend on Twitter

@eighttimestable The beautiful Rookery; Streatham Common; the best squid @RiceRepublic_st; the annual @StreathamFood Festival and Food Tour

@ilovestreatham fab coffee shops, cafe Barcelona, perfect blend, Boyce da roca, nostro costa to namer but a few!

@SuperSian89 best pub @WhiteLionLondon, best breakfast @hideaway_cafe, best food @manorarms, best charity @spireslondon

Schools

Primary
Streatham has a good choice of popular state primary schools and secondary schools. All the primary schools are judged to be “good” or better, with St Andrew’s RC in Polworth Road judged to be “outstanding”. Streatham Wells, which unusually these days doesn’t have a uniform, in Palace Road; Sunnyhill in Sunnyhill Road; Hitherfield in Hitherfield Road and Julian’s in Leigham Court Road are all popular choices with local parents.

Comprehensive
The local comprehensive Dunraven (co-ed, ages 4 to 18) in Leigham Court Road is judged to be “outstanding”, and in 2013 it opened a primary school in Mount Nod Road. Bishop Thomas Grant RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Belltrees Grove is also judged to be “outstanding”.

Private
There are two private primary schools: The White House Preparatory School and Woodentops Kindergarten and Nursery (co-ed, ages six months to 11) in Thornton Road and Oleander Preparatory (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Brixton Hill. Streatham & Clapham High (girls, ages three to 18) is a private all-through girls’ school with the junior school in Wavertree Road and the senior school in Abbotswood Road. There is a private Waldorf school (co-ed, ages three to 14) in Riggindale Road.

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