Herne Hill: A village in the heart of the capital

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A trendy South London neighbourhood sandwiched between Brixton and Camberwell feels like a village despite it being less than a 30-minute train ride from Central London.

People living and working in Herne Hill love that the area has the cosmopolitan feel of other areas of the capital while keeping its community spirit.

Properties in the suburban neighbourhood, famous for Brockwell Park and its array of high-end boozers, sold for £833,993 on average last year according to Rightmove.

Average house prices in the area have almost doubled in the past 10 years as buyers rushed to get a piece of its inner-city suburban charm.

Tania Pais, 38, a freelance actress and presenter, who also works at book shop Herne Hill Books, in Railton Road, moved to the area in 2021 with her partner after a previous stint there two years earlier.

Ms Pais, originally from Portugal, said she was drawn by the area’s village-like feel and good connections to the centre of London.

She said: “We looked at places in Camberwell, too, but we ultimately chose here.

I think it has a very neighbourly feel to it. The street where we live we have a chain mail, an online chain email for everyone. It makes you feel like you know people.

“We lived in Canary Wharf for three years and we barely talked to anyone. We come from Portugal and we lived in the same place our whole lives [before coming to London] and we had that neighbourly feel, stuff like that. I think Herne Hill has all that.”

Ms Pais said another benefit of the area was its closeness to nature. She and her partner love taking their dog for walks in Sunray Gardens, but she added that she tended to avoid Brockwell Park because of the “weird dogs and weirder owners”.

She said: “Although it’s South London and it doesn’t have the same connections as north of the river, we live between Herne Hill station and North Dulwich station.

“We are also 10 minutes from Brixton station, which has the Tube. It does not take any longer to get to Central London than if we were north of the river and there’s nature and parks.”

Next door in Lulu’s, a cafe, wine bar and deli, Jodie Hartless, 26, was restocking shelves and chatting to executive chef Lasse Petersen, 40.

Ms Hartless moved to Herne Hill from outside London when she was 19, and immediately fell in love with its laid-back atmosphere.

She said: “I love Herne Hill, particularly the park and the Sunday market. It feels like it’s a village. It’s well-connected and I would rather not be near a Tube.

“I think it would be a lot busier if it had the Tube. I think the nice thing about Herne Hill is that it does not feel like you’re in London but you are.”

Ms Hartless said Umana Yana, a Caribbean restaurant by Brockwell Park, was one of her favourite places locally, particularly for its “delicious” roti.

But she added that the area lacked a good breakfast place like many neighbouring areas.

A quick stroll away in clothing and homeware shop Lark, store supervisor Bella Longman was busy unpacking boxes from a massive delivery the shop had just received.

The 32-year-old lives in Streatham but said she would move to Herne Hill at a drop of the hat if she was rich enough.

She said: “If I won the lottery, I would live here. It’s so much more expensive than Streatham, but it’s much chiller.

“I got married here. Sometimes I come for the market that’s outside the station on Sundays, just milling about and buying bits. There’s all different stuff.

“Sometimes I come to Brockwell Park. It’s villagey but it’s also cosmopolitan like London (in general), which I love. There’s a few really nice pubs: the Half Moon and the Commercial to name a couple.”

What’s not to like then? The transport could for one thing be better, according to Mrs Longman. She said: “I walk here because the bus is so unreliable. If there was a more reliable bus that would be nice.”

Another gripe is the lack of eating and shopping options in the village-sized high street.

“There’s no Greggs,” she said. “There are quite a few empty shops and I would like to see some businesses fill them. It’s missing anything that’s not a bakery and there’s no options if you wanted noodles or something.”

Ms Pais added: “It sounds stupid but it would be good if there was a Boots where we could get toothpaste that does not cost your eyes. There’s a Superdrug in East Dulwich but around here there’s nothing like that. Another thing I would like is for something to be open after 4pm on a Sunday so you can get nice bread.”

Pictured top: Bella Longman (Picture: Robert Firth)