I came across this article about our Forest Hill in the local rag News Shopper that according to the Sunday Times 'Forest Hill is one of London's 'best places to live'. https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/24183...aces-live/

I am sorry to say been an resident of the area for nearly 40 years have seen it deteriorate rapidly. Was the Sunday Times totally blindfolded when they came here stating that the area as excellent transport links what world are they living in? with only a mainline rail (Southern) just going from one mainline London station London Bridge to Victoria and if you need to get to beyond Norwood Junction down or East Croydon or the South Coast you have to change and South Norwood is not the best station for people with disabilities due to the design, also the bus timetable been cut and a limited number of designations. The £6m wasted by this corrupt present London Mayor on renaming the Overground could of been spend on improving the local bus network. I have not seen a police officer patrolling the area for many years and feel unsafe after dark. They need to have a base in the town centre in one of the many empty shops that exist such as the former Boots, Paddy Power, Max Made Me, For your Eyes Only or convert the Old Capitol into a full size station as it has cellars that could be converted to holding cells. Who can guess which business will close next?

So lets break this down.

What do you see has deteriorated rapidly in Forest Hill?

Transport links, oh the Overground that gets you to Shoreditch and Hoxton, in about a third of the time it did before that existed?

And from London Bridge and Victoria the destinations are endless.

Agree it's a pain changing at Norwood Junction, but by the end of the year that is likely to change. And you can always go to West Croydon and proceed on the tram from there.

Yes the Mayor may have changed the frequency of some routes, 12, P12 but other routes exist.

South Norwood station - where actually is that, or do you mean Norwood Junction or South Croydon?

Agreed renaming lines on the Overground is a waste of money, but that's the Mayors vanity project.

Having no central Police station or hub was replaced by PCSO's, who have no power, I'd prefer to see real police on the streets as a deterrent and a response when contacted, hence why there are so many phone and car thefts, the criminals know nothing will happen so its become open season, but that's across the whole of London. But on the converse side that's probably why there are so many unmarked Police cars that respond to incidents.

In my mind where Forest Hill is located with easy access to central London, Shoreditch, Croydon, Bromley, the south Coast and all the greenery around Forest Hill we're "lucky" to live here.

This post was last modified: 18-03-2024 05:24 PM by samuelsen.

The main thing I miss about FH is it used to be a bustling shopping area. The shops of London Road and Dartmouth Road were better in the 80s.

Yes, we have some independents, decent coffee shops, pubs etc, but Dartmouth Road continues to be a retail desert bar for Sainsbury's and Superdrug and the loss of The Capitol was a blow for those on a low income who enjoyed a pint or the unlimited tea and coffee all day.

Where we do excel at are transport links. The Overground really has been a game changer for connectivity. Being able to reach the Elizabeth line and the fast trains in 20 minutes really has improved commuting, although I agree that connections to East Croydon on Southern are poor. Hopefully they'll be reintroduced in December if Michael is correct.

Horniman Museum and Gardens continue to bring people from across London to Forest Hill. School parties that come on the train from East London have never been higher, along with local schools in Lewisham and Southwark while parents bring their kids here at the weekend.

We moved here in 2011,
what drew us here was good housing stock at (then) affordable prices and the proximity to my other half's job as well as the Overground.
I'd lived in West London my entire life (the clue is in my name) but we could'nt afford to purchase a home there.
Here's my admission..I actually never really LIKED living here until 2020 during the first lockdown.
My dentist was still in Notting Hill, my Chiropodist,my hairdresser.
I missed having everything on my doorstep and being able to get a bus to work and indeed to everywhere I wanted or needed to be.
During lockdown I went on long walks, I grew to love and appreciate having all this greenery on my doorstep, I grew to appreciate hearing birds singing rather than the beeping of traffic lights changing and rumble of traffic.
I grew to appreciate the local shops.
I now really like living here, and it has much friendlier neighbours and locals than where I lived before (Where it was a very transitory community.)
The only thing I still find hard to get my head round is being so dependent on the one train line and two train routes to get anywhere central, Or having to brave very tortourious bus journeys (often full and very slow) and then a change to go to anywhere in West London.
I wish we still had a 'proper chemist' less nail bars and estate agents.
I wish The Capitol would reopen as an affordable venue for all,
And Finally I wish there was more interaction on this Forum (Like on the East Dulwich or Sydenham ones).
Its a strange thing how many people have no idea where Forest Hill is...
When people ask me where I live and I tell them they always say "wheres that?"
So I explain its near Peckham or East Dulwich or Crystal Palace and then they seem to grasp its whereabouts.
I think as far as London goes its a nice place to live, especially for those with families.

This post was last modified: 21-03-2024 12:12 AM by nottinghillbilly.

Re the Mayor and the name change of the Overground lines. There were six lines covering large parts of London, north, south, east and west. All had the same name. Imagine you're a tourist and you're told you need to get the Overground. Which part? Or the overground which is not the same as the Overground...? And every day I see notices about "Part Closure of the Overground". Which part? Is it the part I need? Rebranding means that they can say Part Closure of the Liberty Line or whatever and I don't need to worry. Basically it's a solution to a problem that was caused by expanding a network but not labelling it properly as they did so.

And the cost is tiny compared to the millions Johnson spaffed on water cannons that were illegal, the Garden Bridge that nobody wanted, the Routemaster buses that failed H&S, the pod travel across the river that nobody uses.... The man was a cash burning fool.

Well it's clear where your political loyalties lie.

Khan has been an absolute failure as a Mayor, in fact London does not need a Mayor, much the same as Lewisham does not need a Mayor.

As was demonstrated by the last Mayor who decided to quit Lewisham to follow his own political career as an MP in Bristol, so much for caring about Lewisham residents, he used Lewisham to climb the greasy political pole.

It is additional administration that as Council Tax payers, we are then forced to pay for. I resent the ridiculous salaries GLA and TfL managers, directors and executives get paid and we all have to pay for, disgraceful. None of them deserve a salary in excess of £50K

If we are to continue to have a Mayor, we need someone with fresh ideas and a new approach to save London from the mess Khan has created.

And as a further point, we need to get new local councillors who actually care about the residents concerns and worries, who they supposedly represent, rather than being focussed on local politics.

This post was last modified: 21-04-2024 05:43 PM by samuelsen.

Well it's clear where your political loyalties lie.

Khan has been an absolute failure as a Mayor, in fact London does not need a Mayor, much the same as Lewisham does not need a Mayor. As was demonstrated by the last Mayor who decided to quit Lewisham to follow his own political career as an MP in Bristol, so much for caring about Lewisham residents, he used Lewisham to climb the greasy political pole.

It is additional administration that as Council Tax payers, we are then forced to pay for. I resent the ridiculous salaries GLA and TfL managers, directors and executives get paid and we all have to pay for, disgraceful. None of them deserve a salary in excess of £50K

If we are to continue to have a Mayor, we need someone with fresh ideas and a new approach to save London from the mess Khan has created.

London has become so unsafe with kids behaving like gangsters, stabbings out of control and the police are totally ineffective. Thieves know their are no consequences and run amok, day by day, week by week, month by month London becomes more and more lawless.

And as a further point, we need to get new local councillors who actually care about the residents concerns and worries, who they supposedly represent, rather than them being focussed on local politics.

I remember when London didn't have a mayor, London wasn't such a good city. There was no voice for London on the national stage or international stage. As a major world city and a major part of the UK economy it is ridiculous that we should not have a mayor and a team speaking up for the whole city.

The abolition of the GLC deliberately left a gap in political representation for Londoners with 32 competing boroughs without any coordination on transport, housing, pollution, etc. Those were the years when Edinburgh was the place to be for New Years Eve, there was almost no investment in commuter buses, trains, bikes, and there was remarkably little commercial or residential building compared to what the city has seen since 2004.
The people who are elected as mayor might not be to everybody's liking (that's the problem with a popularity contest / vote against the party of government).

As for climbing the greasy pole, I remember a previous candidate for London mayor going on to become PM and I've lost count of the number of unsuccessful candidates for London mayor to got appointed to the Lords (now there's a questionable use of public money).

I would also be amazed if you could get good senior executives for an organisation the size of TfL who would be paid less than £50k (less than a tube train driver).

Good summary from Michael.

And Khan has not been an "absolute failure as a Mayor", although Tory politicians ceaselessly attack him on those grounds using baseless and meaningless word-salad accusations borne of the huge void that represents their policies for London.

There is no attack on motorists in London - there is no charge-per-mile proposals in hand. 95% of vehicles in London are ULEZ compliant and are unaffected by ULEZ in any form.

Universal success across the board in all policy matters eludes the best of our politicians but any significant failure in any one candidate's portfolio (should there be one) does not make for a platform to propose the eradication of the role.

What is the "mess that Khan created"? Please inform us.

"London has become so unsafe with kids behaving like gangsters, stabbings out of control and the police are totally ineffective. Thieves know their are no consequences and run amok, day by day, week by week, month by month London becomes more and more lawless."

"London has become so unsafe with kids behaving like gangsters, stabbings out of control and the police are totally ineffective. Thieves know their are no consequences and run amok, day by day, week by week, month by month London becomes more and more lawless."
I think I have heard people say that in ever decade I have lived in London and of course there is some truth. But it is also true that the homicide rate in London has halved in the last 20 years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_London).

Birmingham and Manchester have higher homicide rates as does Glasgow, Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, Montreal, Boston, etc
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ci...icide_rate)
Basically you are less likely to be murdered in London than virtually any other major city.

Perhaps 'safer streets', 'well behaved youth', 'reasonable police' just doesn't make good headlines. The headlines are made when this isn't the case.

Here's some interesting figures from across the England and Wales / UK.

Murder rates in 1980 and 2019 are about the same, but in 1980 you were twice as likely to be killed by a lawless out of control drunk driver, today you are more likely to be murdered than killed by a drunk driver. The point is that although drink driving was illegal in 1980 'everybody did it' - there is no better definition of 'no consequences and run amok' than the behaviour of motorists in the 1970s, 1980s, etc. People today are so much more sensible and law abiding with their motor vehicles and their levels of intoxication.

"I think I have heard people say that in ever decade I have lived in London and of course there is some truth. But it is also true that the homicide rate in London has halved in the last 20 years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_London)."

There are facts and there are wikipedia links that have no reality to them.

For heavens sake just look at the lawlessness happening in this city right now, thefts are out of control, the police are useless and do nothing, just look at hit and runs - no attendance, look at vehicle theft, no action, soon it will be down to the individual to deal with.

But the Mayor quit his job in Lewisham to become an MP, Boris, I believe was an MP and became Mayor. I am not making political statements or backing any party, my comments are observations from what I see and it's not far off when leaving London to live somewhere else becomes more and more attractive.

With Khan as Mayor, London has gone to the dogs, what used to be a fantastic city has become a lawless and expensive place to live.

'For heavens sake just look at... ' is not a meaningful argument against statistics collected from a variety of reputable sources. You are welcome to produce better statistics from better sources if you wish - if not then I'm just going to assume that the case I made is correct and that your are more interested in political point scoring than facts.

I shall take my leave from this diatribe.

Perhaps as this is supposed to be about Forest Hill it should focus on that.