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Lawrie Park Avenue, Sydenham 2015

Sydenham area guide

Explore SE26 with Time Out's guide to Sydenham's restaurants, bars, pubs and things to do

Written by
Danielle Goldstein
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Sydenham used to be dismissed as a bit sleepy and suburban, but the addition of the Overground, and rising house prices in Zone 2, have tied it securely into central London. Locals no longer have to trek up to Forest Hill or Crystal Palace for a drink or a decent coffee; low-key cafés and independent shops have begun to congregate along Kirkdale (inevitably being rebranded ‘Kirkdale Village’ with a council-led facelift in the offing). Upper Sydenham, leading down from Sydenham Hill, benefits from having pretty Sydenham Wells Park as its focus, with big houses mixed in with estates. Other desirable addresses include Lawrie Park (pictured above, its vista once painted by Camille Pissarro) and the Edwardian conservation area of the 'Thorpes' next to Mayow Park.

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La Petite Bouchee

La Petite Bouchee

This Sydenham Well's Park venue is certainly a little different from your typical French brasserie in London. The reason? The dining room is the interior of a...

Restaurants in Sydenham

Friends of Flavours

Friends of Flavours

There's a firm focus on authenticity at this Italian restaurant in Penge, with regional dishes from across the boot on a menu that looks like it could be good...

Things to do in Sydenham

Kirkdale Bookshop

Kirkdale Bookshop

Bookshop and gallery of nearly half a century’s standing, selling new and second-hand books as well as greeting cards and gifts

Crystal Palace Museum

Crystal Palace Museum

Thw Crystal Palace Museum tells the story of the Hyde Park and Sydenham Crystal Palaces.Tells the story of the Hyde Park and Sydenham Crystal Palaces.

Bars and pubs in Sydenham

Dolphin

Dolphin

  • 3 out of 5 stars

It’s worth coming here for the garden alone, a formal criss-cross of box, privet and gravel around a central water sculpture, edged by apple trees. The pub’s...

Dartmouth Arms

Dartmouth Arms

  • 3 out of 5 stars

For many years a community boozer, the Dartmouth Arms underwent a refurbishment which stripped away years of aesthetic apathy and created a gastropub on a...