I've lived in HOP / FH for the last 5 years or so. I work in the City / Canary Wharf and moved here in anticipation of the ELL. In the last year I have seen a disproportionate number of my colleagues move to the area for the same reasons.

A good friend of mine has just had an offer accepted on a house. He's been looking for the last month and has been seeing properties going within a day of going on the market and in excess of asking prices. This is all being driven by the ELL.

I've been using the ELL to get to Canary Wharf this week and even with the change at New Cross Gate, it has taken less than 30 minutes. I'm expecting to be able to do it in 20 - 25 minutes when the line is fully working. There are very few (if any) areas that provide this kind of connectivity to the City (Shoreditch High Street) AND Canary Wharf and, as we all know, HOP (and FH to an extent) are brilliant places to live with excellent parks, shops, restaurants and housing stock. Who knows what will happen with house prices generally, but I would be stunned if HOP / FH house prices do not significantly outperform most other areas in London in the next 12 months or so as the area is seriously undervalued.

I used to work in Canary Wharf before the ELL closed and I have to say changing in Canada Water wasn't a nice experience. Most days I had to let pass 3/4 trains before being able to squeeze in and in a few occasion I had to go back to London Bridge on the Jubilee line.

I think the main asset for Forest Hill is the connections to London Bridge and Charing Cross and those are not going to change with the ELLX, in fact they have got worse.

Sorry all this pessimistic rant to say that if the prices are going up in Forest Hill I think it is because the area in general is getting nicer (new cafes, new gym, etc.) and not because the ELLX.

Also what is the obsession with house prices? If my flat goes up in value I might think "great now I can buy a house", just to discover one second later that also houses have gone up in price. I think it's better prices stay low so first time buyers have a chance!

Has anyone come across any estate agent references to 'Honor Oak Village' or similar yet?

It will happen, believe me.

So the line officially Opened today right? Did anyone take it from HOP?

We took the train this morning on a free day pass courtesy of TFL. It was fantastic and took 17 minutes from HOP to Shoreditch High Street. We explored an area of London we hadn't visited before, walking along Regents Canal to Victoria Park.

As someone who works near Bond Street, I now have the option of changing to the Jubilee Line at London Bridge or Canada Water, meaning they'll be a train every 5 minutes or so that I can get in the morning from HOP. We moved here in 2002 and have been looking forward to this day for many years. I for one hope it does bring some change and further investment to the area.

17min no way!!

Cool. Hopefully moving back to my house this coming Sat. after 3 months of building works so I can't wait to use the new line!!

I managed HOP to Canary Wharf in about 17 minutes this morning. Got a seat, the train wasn't crowded and didn't have to let any trains go at Canada Water.

Excellent.

I tried the famous Ridley Road market at Dalston on the ELL, very cheap, less than 30 mins door to door got the cheapest and one of the best cups of coffee in London cost 70p
the market is best on fridays and saturdays and only 2 mins from dalston station

Cool man nice idea. I've got a couple of mates up dalston / hackney way will have to check that out

we should start a new thread with "things to do from HOP on the ELL"

personally brick lane and columbia flower Market have to up near the top?

Excellent idea Southlondn, I'll start one on Beyond SE23 now!

You could take the train to Forest Hill from where it is only a short walk to the Horniman Museum and gardens.

Seriously though, with trains every few minutes, we should start to use the train between our stations more often. Next year, rather than getting an annual ticket from FH to London terminals, I might get it from Crystal Palace so that I can pop down to CP or Sydenham whenever I want. For the moment I shall have to make do with HOP, NXG, and 'Artley' (listen to ELL on train announcements to find out where Artley is located).