General
East Dulwich is a classic Victorian suburb situated 6 miles from central London and located between Camberwell, Forest Hill and Peckham. It is made up of a plethora of different-sized Victorian properties comprising 2, 3 (and sometimes 4) bedroomed terraced roads directly off the main thoroughfare of Lordship Lane, as well as the grander double-fronted mansions of Underhill Road. East Dulwich stretches up to the border of the beautiful Dulwich Park and down as far as the green expanse of Peckham Rye. In recent years Lordship Lane has undergone a massive “trend” injection and is now full of popular bars, restaurants and shops buzzing with activity. The area has borne some famous people such as C S Forester, Boris Karloff and Enid Blyton. In the future the East London line looks likely to come to East Dulwich, improving what are already great transport links into central London.

Property
The area stretches from the edges of Dulwich Village to Peckham Rye with its enormous Georgian villas, and from Forest Hill in the south to Camberwell (King’s College Hospital). The properties are largely Victorian, street after street of 2+-bedroom terraced houses which have benefited from the gentrification and fairly recent popularity of East Dulwich as an “in” place to live.

Lordship Lane, which runs from Dulwich Common down to Peckham Rye, is the focal point of the community with excellent shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Roads running off to the east and west of Lordship Lane are made up of solid Victorian houses mainly 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms, such as Goodrich, Bawdale, Hansler, Shawbury and Crystal Palace Road. Barry Road, stretching from Dulwich Library and The Plough (an old Victorian pub which keeps changing its name even though buses stop at The Plough) to Peckham Rye forms a central point for what is really a huge Victorian housing estate such as existed all over London, in particular in places like Fulham and Wandsworth (to mention some that have now become very smart).

On Northcross Road with its cluster of shops and cafes (and popular Saturday market), there are flats above some of the shops which are ideal as rental investments or for first time buyers. Further along, the road becomes Upland Road with more of a mixture of flats and larger 3 and 4 bedroom houses with good sized gardens. Smaller properties, commonly known as half houses, can be found in Heber Road, Pellatt Road, Zenoria Street and Tintagel Crescent. They usually have 2 bedrooms and 2 reception rooms, a first floor bathroom and private garden. They are slightly more expensive than some of the garden flats in the area but still represent good value for money.

To the west side of Lordship Lane are Elsie Road, Derwent Grove, Ashbourne Grove and Matham Grove (to name but a few), these popular streets consist of a mixture of semi-detached and terraced Victorian houses comprising 3 to 4 bedrooms with good reception space.

There also a number of recent modern developments in the area, comprising houses and flats which are especially in and around the Dog Kennel Hill area which is especially good for the station. Another pocket of roads are those around East Dulwich Grove, which links the area with Dulwich Village, namely Trossachs, Tarbert and Glengarry, which are perfectly placed for Alleyn’s School and only a short walk from the Village.

Shops
Gentrification in East Dulwich has brought a new look to its streets. Lordship Lane and Northcross Road are overflowing with shops which are thronged with people at weekends. These are the main shopping streets in SE22. Every service is catered for. There is the enormous Sainsbury’s at the bottom of Dog Kennel Hill, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is a Somerfields Market Fresh and some smaller green grocers on Lordship Lane. Rumour has it that Iceland is soon to be a Marks and Spencer Food. Lordship Lane has the usual high street banks and building societies, a couple of bakeries also serving sandwiches at lunchtime, and William Rose, a top butcher providing free-range and organic British meat and game, and sausages made on the premises, with queues often out onto the street! Moxons Fishmongers - fantastic wet fish shop selling organic fruit and vegetables. White Stuff (casual clothing) is now open where glaziers used to be. The East Dulwich Deli is full of delicious meats, cheeses and other groceries including a good selection of wines. There is a choice of hairdressers and barbers, some great grocer shops including Budgens Express which is 24-hour, an organic grocer called SMBS Foods, Health Matters health shop and a fantastic cheese shop called The Cheese Block, which sells every cheese you could possibly think of! There is a good choice of florists including Spray Rose, which now operates online too. There is every kind of building supplier available -- timber merchants, roofing, electrical supplies, bathrooms and plumbing, hardware, tiles and plaster arts. Chemists, newsagents, opticians and off licences are in abundance too, including the newly opened Green and Blue, a wine bar and a shop combined. There is a fantastic shoe shop called John Barnett to cater for the whole family and shoe repairers close by for aftercare!! Soup Dragon has some great children’s fashions and toys. Upstairs is the Family Natural Health Care Centre which hold yoga and pilates classes amongst others. Hope and Greenwood on Northcross Road is a traditional sweet shop selling things that you haven’t seen since you were a child, dispensing them from old fashioned jars. Other shops on this road include Dr Boo, a great shop selling clothes, footware and a good range of beauty ptoducts, The Drum, a new coffee shop and The Never Ending Story Bookshop and Stella B selling a wide range of fabulous shoes and boots. There are a great array of gift shops including Eds, sister shop to The Dulwich Trader (see West Dulwich) and Tomlinsons (see Dulwich Village), Grace and Favor, Moo Too, Willow, Celestial and a new contemporary jeweller, Nina Christie. Also some great design and interiors shops including Anterior Trading, Karavan, Linwood and Searle, Mrs Robinsons (which now has a clothing boutique too) and Roullier White,  The Dulwich Music Shop has moved from West Dulwich to Upland Road recently with a huge collection of musical instruments and music. Laundrettes, dry cleaners, locksmiths and even funeral directors make it an area that covers everything! There is even a street market on Northcross Road every Friday and Saturday with a wide range of quality items on sale. GG Sparkes, organic butchers of Blackheath, now has a stall on the market too.

Restaurants and Bars
Lordship Lane at night has a multiplicity of restaurants, pubs and bars. The area is overflowing with choice. The Palmerston has it all. It’s a quality gastro-pub serving set lunches and excellent evening meals. It still retains the “pub” feel, but with the added bonus of fantastic food so booking is essential. Franklins is a great modern British restaurant. It serves a simple menu with well-sourced ingredients, excellent service and a good wine list. Le Chardon is a very French experience situated in a former butcher’s shop. It has great décor and a fantastic atmosphere -- a place to relax, have a glass of wine or two and enjoy a fantastic meal. The Sea Cow is an upmarket fish and chip shop with long tables and benches either side. There is a wide variety of fish and a great wine list too. The East Dulwich Tavern is an impressive landmark pub at the beginning of Lordship Lane and overlooks Goose Green with Cafe Nero opposite. Famous as a comedy venue, it now has a restaurant with a bar upstairs. The bar and lounge space look more like something you’d find in Soho or Hoxton Square. The dining room is vast, but full of Victorian charm. The Green, on East Dulwich Road is a popular neighbourhood restaurant which also has jazz nights and art shows. It has a lovely patio area at the front, next to Goose Green. Springers Wine Bar on East Dulwich Grove is a well-established local favourite and has been in existence since 1985. It now also has a takeaway lunch menu. There are an assortment of Indian, Chinese and Thai restaurants on offer including Sema Thai restaurant, Thai Corner Café that now also does good value set lunches,Chopsticks, Surma (Indian), Tandoori Nights, and The Curry Cabin to name but a few. There are also numerous cafes too. All Fired Up is a ceramics café that hosts childrens parties too, the Blue Mountain Cafe, which is fabulous, offering great breakfasts, lunches and supper, and Mon P’tit Chou, a French style café. East Dulwich also has its fair share of pubs and bars these days, with a crop of recent additions. The Bishop (ex-The Foresters Arms) has been recently refurbished, big glass coffee tables and patterned wallpaper, the food and service is great with a good range of bitters. The Black Cherry Bar offers stylish décor with dark wooden floors, roses and candlelight. It serves an eclectic range of drinks, delicious food and is a good staple for trendy, upcoming East Dulwich. Inside 72 is another new bar which has great music and is perfect to sit and watch the bustle of Lordship Lane go by. It is quirky and original and serves quality bar food and a Sunday roast. It attracts an arty, unpretentious crowd and serves an enlightened choice of drinks. Liquorish is a modern, airy, spacious bar with a great variety of drinks and cocktails and a really exciting menu. The service and atmosphere is friendly with a diverse clientele, more like that of a pub. Almost next door is the Gourment Burger Bar. The Magdala has also been recently refurbished. It is a spacious pub with a dining room and a garden and now serves a great selection of food, including a fab pizza.

Schools
As with all parts of London, catchment areas cross boundaries and, included in this list, therefore, are schools where the catchment areas include West Norwood and Tulse hill. In addition as children from the area use the nearby Dulwich Schools, these have also been included:

State primaries: Dog Kennel Hill School, Dulwich Infant School, Dulwich Hamlet Junior School, Goodrich Community School, Goose Green Primary School, Heber Primary School, St. Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, St. John’s and St. Clements CofE Primary School. State secondaries: Kingsdale Secondary School (now with 6th form), The Charter School (New Labour flagship school), Waverley School.

Fee paying schools in the proximity include: Herne Hill School, Rosemead Prep School, Oakfield Prep, Dulwich College, Dulwich College Prep School, Alleyns Junior School, Alleyns, James Allen Prep School, James, Allen Girls Schol, Sydenham Girls School.
For details of school results (SATS, GCSEs and A level) together with addresses and map visit schools in Southwark and schools in Lambeth. A list of all schools in Dulwich can be found on www.dulwich.co.uk/schools.html

Other
Dulwich Leisure Centre on East Dulwich Road has many classes to choose from, as well as a well-equipped gym and a swimming pool. It also has a crèche. If you overdo it there you can hotfoot it to The Vale Practice close by for all types of health care including osteopathy, acupuncture, homeopathy and massage. Dulwich Park is a beautiful park in easy reach of Lordship Lane. It has a fantastic café in the middle of it serving great doorstep sandwiches and kids meals, even wine! There is a boating lake with pedal boats available for hire during the summer, a very well equipped childrens’ playground and various bicycles for hire throughout the year via London Recumbents. The park hosts events during the summer months, the biggest being the Craft Fair in July. Dulwich Hospital on East Dulwich Grove is going to be demolished this year to make way for the new Community Hospital. The Melbourne Grove Health Practice will relocate there in 2007. The Dulwich Festival is an annual arts festival held in various locations throughout Dulwich and East Dulwich. It started in 1993, aims to make a broad variety of artistic events easily available to the whole Dulwich community and celebrates a range of local talent, both professional and amateur. Run as an independent charity by a small group of volunteers, the Festival is tremendously indebted to the generosity of its sponsors and to the hard work of volunteers. A great website that gives a mine of local information is www.lordshiplane.co.uk.

Transport
Train services run southbound to Streatham, Selhurst and East Croydon and northbound to London Bridge via Peckham Rye (12 minutes roughly every 10 minutes during peak times and 20 minutes thereafter). Change at Peckham Rye for northbound services to Victoria, Elephant and Castle and Blackfriars, and southbound services to Nunhead, Lewisham and Orpington. For details of train services go to journeycheck.

Tube connections are London Bridge (Northern – direct train service from East Dulwich station), Elephant and Castle (Northern/Bakerloo – train from East Dulwich station, change at Peckham Rye, buses 40 or 176), Victoria (Victoria/District/Circle – train from East Dulwich station, change at Peckham Rye, bus 185), Brixton (Victoria – Bus 37). Buses include 12 (to Dulwich Library and Oxford Circus via Trafalgar Square), 37 and N37 (to Peckham and Putney via Clapham Junction), 40 (to Dulwich Library and Aldgate/Blackwall), 176 and N176 (to Penge and Oxford Circus via Waterloo), 185 (to Victoria via Camberwell and Blackwall Tunnel via Greenwich), 484 (Lewisham and Camberwell Green), P13 (Surrey Quays and Streatham). A great website re: buses is www.londonbuses.co.uk . Mobility buses are 861 (Peckham and Waterloo), 937 (Bromley and Orpington), 972 Bromley Common and Elephant and Castle), 973 (Catford and London Bridge) and P15 (Herne Hill and West Norwood).