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Penge is mentioned in the Domesday Book but a settlement can be traced back much earlier than that. It is first mentioned in a document of 957 AD by King Eadwig, a Saxon King. Penge is one of the few places in London with an original celtic name. The settlement developed initially in the Green Lane area and, over the centuries, spread outwards.

There is a Welsh and Cornish element in the word Penge which means ‘top or edge of the wood’, the wood being the Great North Wood. The wood was dense and covered much of Penge, Anerley and Norwood. Wild boar roamed freely. Penge Common was a vestige of this and sloped down Anerley Hill and in and around Beckenham Road which became Penge High Street. The population peaked at 60 in 1725.

Over the centuries Penge has, at various times, been geographically part of Kent or Surrey or the County of London. Local artists were to draw and paint idyllic views of the countryside. Perhaps the continually shifting boundaries has given rise to the idea that Penge ‘is a state of mind’!

Penge remained in the parish of Battersea until 1866 and there are still boundary signs showing this. Until 1850 church-goers had to walk to Battersea to attend church on Sunday. The Crooked Billet, possibly the oldest site in Penge dating back to 1601, faced onto Pengegreene. Coaches probably stopped here for a change of horses on their way to Dover.

Pre-Crystal Palace

Few houses were built here in the first half of the nineteenth century. There were just 270 inhabitants in 1841.The elegant White House (1840) is one of the earliest built in rural Penge and is now a nationally listed Grade 11 building, as is the house next door, No 50. Imagine a few houses surrounded by meadows, farms and fields and you get the picture of Penge before 1840. The Royal Watermen’s Almshouses were built around this time, as was the Royal Naval Asylum.

St John’s Church came a little later in 1849/50 to solve the problem of the onerous seven mile walk to church for local people. By 1850 the Common had been sold off piecemeal and the poor who relied on it for their survival, suffered.

The Croydon canal and then the railways bought commerce to and from Penge. Easy transport opened up Penge’s rural delights for Londoners wanting to escape the polluted air of the metropolis. They might spend an afternoon at the Anerley Tea Gardens or have a stroll on what was left of Penge Common. All this changed dramatically with the transfer of Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace from Hyde Park to the grounds of Penge Place in 1854.

Post-Crystal Palace

The date 1854 is a pivotal year for Penge. The transfer of the Crystal Palace resulted in a rapid building programme in and around Penge. From just 270 inhabitants in 1841, the population grew to 1,119 in 1851, largely owing to the building of the Almshouses. By 1901 it was 22,465. Villas were built for the wealthy, houses diminishing in size the further down the hill they were built. Ira Aldridge, the celebrated Afro-American actor bought a house in Hamlet Road, invested in several others, and got married in St John the Evangelist church, on Penge High Street, in 1865. Other distinguished people followed. Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro came in 1870, escaping the Franco Prussian war. Walter de la Mare arrived in 1899 and stayed twenty-five years, writing some of his best work.

The Crystal Palace brought prosperity to Penge even though Penge’s image was tarnished a little when Harriet Staunton was murdered in 1878 in Forbes Road. The crime scandalised polite society and made national headlines.

Penge Vestry was built in 1878 and became Anerley Town Hall in 1900. The Vestry conducted public business for the area and was highly regarded. Penge had its own Police Station built in 1872 on the advice of the Vestry (until 1878 lacking its own public building) concerned with the drunken behaviour of the residents. Interesting that the architecture of both buildings has a kind of similarity.

Though heavily-bombed during the second world war, Penge recovered and has its own Festival of Britain Certificate of Merit for the post-war building, Queen Adelaide Court. The former Groves estate was demolished and a new-build estate created with high rise tower blocks.

Seven Penge Parks evoke the remains of Penge Common, some opening in the 1890s with great fanfare. The Penge Empire was built in 1915 with a plethora of great stars appearing there over the years: Marie Lloyd, Gracie Fields, Max Miller, Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray, Noel Gordon… Great department stores like Bryce Grants, Duponts, the Co-op and Rogers flourished. Penge had its own Urban District Council from 1900 to 1965 when it was absorbed into the London Borough of Bromley.

Penge has the Edge

In 2018 Penge is a thriving and vibrant place to live. The area is now part of Greater London and in the borough of Bromley with a population of about 18,000. Rich in heritage and history as this website shows, it has a diverse mix of inhabitants with a colony of artists of all kinds.

There is an eclectic range of architecture from early, middle and late Victorian styles through to the uncompromising brutalism of the sixties and the re-imagined Groves development. The charming Alexandra Estate (1866/68) is much sought after as a residential area. Alexandra Nurseries, situated in the Estate House, is an award-winning garden centre. Schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted.

There are not so many pubs, perhaps, as attracted people down from the Crystal Palace in the old days, but a growing range of quality gastro pubs in addition to the more traditional establishments. Quality stores abound – Designer Drapes, Wilkinsons, Pengetout – and the town has its own virtual community in the Penge Tourist Board. An excellent new library has opened in Green Lane.

Drama, poetry and entertainment was always an aspect of Penge as clippings from older newspapers show. This tradition continues at the Bridge House Theatre and also in local pubs and public halls as well as on Penge Days. There are newly-formed groups such as SE20Art, Penge Poets and Penge Sounds. The annual Penge Festival, soon to celebrate its 46th anniversary, has a wide range of activities over three weeks in June.

New improvements are being made to the town centre with an imaginative building plan and the refurbishment of Empire and Arpley squares.

For heritage and history Penge must be one of the most vibrant areas of Bromley. As its name implies, Penge has the edge as an up and coming and desirable place to live.

For further reading and for a defence of Penge in  The Times  newspaper of June, 2017, see: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stop-sniggering-at-us-say-the-peeved-of-penge-m9mmpmwnh

Peter Abbot,   The Book of Penge, Anerley and Crystal Palace  (London: Halsgrove, 2002) David R. Johnson,  Around Crystal Palace and Penge  (Stroud: The History Press, 2012) Doris Pullen,  Penge  (London:    Lodgemark Press, 1978) Martin Spence,  The Making of a London Suburb   (Monmouth: Merlin Press, 2007)

To be added: Penge Legends .

More about Penge

Welcome to penge se20. a developing multi-cultural commuter suburb in south east london.

In the past, Penge may have suffered from a bit of an image problem, but discerning businesses and people looking for a great place to live are discovering Penge as a town of surprises – and Penge is changing day by day, with fantastic future development potential.  On the one hand Penge is an urban town with a rich historic heritage and inner city identity, but is also an archetypal commuter suburb, with excellent travel links, an increasing range of leisure and shopping opportunities, great open green spaces and a thriving social scene.

In this section of the website, you can find about Penge’s parks and green spaces , the history and heritage of Penge, and local places of interest .

• Community Groups
• Places of Worship
• Penge Property
• Transport Links
• Eating & Drinking
• General Services
• Hair & Beauty
• Health & Wellbeing
• Professional Services
• Shopping & Retail
• Estate Agents in Penge
• Dentists in Penge
• Doctors in Penge
• Cafe and Restaurants
• Chinese Takeaways Penge
• Parks & Green Spaces
• Places of interest
• History of Penge
• Penge Pictures
• Indian Takeways Penge
• Pubs in Penge
• Dry Cleaners
• Minicabs in Penge
• Hairdressers in Penge
• Solicitors in Penge
• Locksmith in Penge
• What’s on in Penge
• About Penge SE20 BID
• PENGE SE20 BID APP

Contact us - [email protected]

All materials contained on this website are for information purposes only and may be revised at any time. The locations and people included within the photographic content are covered by a Privacy statement and photographers credit

© Copyright 2024 | Penge Traders Association and Bromley Council Site design - Nugget Design

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The South London neighbourhood with such a strong community 'people line the streets every time there's a funeral'

MyLondon spoke to business owners, a layman, and a local, all of whom said they love the sense of community there

• 06:00, 17 FEB 2023

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When you think of quiet corners of London with lots of green space, wealthy neighbourhoods like Richmond, Barnes and Greenwich spring to mind. But sandwiched between Crystal Palace , Croydon , and Beckenham , it's Penge that's been named one of the best places to buy in 2023.

This leafy corner of South London is becoming hugely popular due to its affordability, great transport links, and spirit of the residents. As part of our London 365 project, MyLondon went out to Penge to see what it's got to offer and it was clear that the community spirit is the beating heart of the neighbourhood.

From coming together to save local businesses in the pandemic to lining the streets for funerals, it's becoming increasingly popular with young professionals and families. We spoke to Ebru Casey, 43, owner of the Little Things Cafe by Penge East station who says she "loves" living here.

READ MORE: The leafy South London neighbourhood named the best place to buy a home in 2023

She moved with her family to nearby Forest Hill from Florida two years ago and wanted to live in South East London for its good schools. Over the last two years she’s noticed that young families and professionals with small kids are moving to Penge since they realised it's only 15 minutes away from Victoria Station which is really helpful for people who work in the City.

But if there’s one thing she loves about the area it’s that the "community spirit is really good". "It feels like a little village where everyone knows everyone," she said. The local spirit is in fact so strong that there’s a 12,000 member - strong Facebook group called ‘Penge Tourist Board’ celebrating local businesses and crafts.

In short, Ebru’s business would not have survived without the Penge community supporting it throughout the pandemic. “When I opened the cafe it was the middle of the pandemic and they came in here with open arms so that I could survive,” she said.

Rashik Trivedi, 60, has owned the Premier food and wine shop opposite Ebru’s cafe for 42 years. He said the area has ‘gone through its ups and downs’ since he began running the shop, with the worst time being during The Great Recession from 2007-2009, and the pandemic but community spirit held everything together and they helped each other get by.

He said: “Everything was shut and I was open. Everyone was worried and the community came together because I think people realised that what they've been doing throughout their life is just basically just not enjoying life, instead working more, but have now realised there’s more to life.”

He added: "[The local community] gets together to help small businesses, and we run the local so they realised you don’t have to queue up. My oldest customer’s been shopping here for 42 years."

But having been in the area for so long, Rashik says it has its downsides. His main concern is the condition of the streets as nowadays only bins are collected, whereas before they’d be changed and the streets would be swept.

Rashik says he also has an issue with people fly tipping outside his shop. He also has concerns with the attitudes of today’s generation of kids.

He said: “They're not really in the old school unlike when I grew up and I find it a bit weird. Nowadays there's no politeness - it’s gone out the window. Their manners are worse, they've become very selfish."

One of the most controversial points of Penge is the high street transformation where there are plans to build a sky-scraper - something that feels hugely out of line with the area’s relatively low-rise aesthetic.

But despite the tensions, Rashik doesn’t particularly oppose, saying: "It's not going to affect any of the architecture side of Penge because there's quite a few buildings which are quite tall anyway."

He added that crime has always been relatively low in the area, although he saw a small rise during the recession but he thoughtfully concluded that it’s ‘understandable’ as some people are less fortunate than others.

Much like Ebru and Rashik, Bukky James, 39, is a business owner. She owns My Party Store on the high street but lives in Charlton.

She too loves the strong sense of community - which ‘definitely’ helped keep her business afloat. Bukky said: “My favourite part of Penge is definitely the community and the way the community supports local businesses.

“We've moved in and we've had loads of customers just come in, and buy something to support local businesses. We've even had them come in and just wish us well, and give us ideas on where to advertise.”

Bukky insists that it’s not a sense of community like you get in other tight-knit areas of the capital. "[I've] never been in an area where the community spirit is just so vibrant and supportive," she said. "It’s just an amazing place for business and community."

She also loves the area because it feels like one of ‘the safest areas in London', adding: "You sometimes see kids being kids but it’s nothing bad." Bukky added she’s never once felt unsafe as a lone woman in the area.

Ian Baldwin, 68, is churchwarden at Holy Trinity with St John's Penge and has lived in the area for most of his life. He said: "[Penge is] re-establishing in some ways because it's a transient place people often move in, raise children and then need to move away from secondary school."

He thinks people would stay for longer in the area if there were better secondary schools , as right now "your closest one is Beckenham which is about two miles away". He also welcomes the influx of young professionals into the area because "we need a turnover of people".

"I've noticed in my street that when older people move out, either to go into care or sadly die, it's quite often young professionals who move in,” he said. He also thinks the reasons so many young professionals help the community is because ‘it’s part of their philosophy’.

He said: “They would rather go buy from a local deli than go into a big supermarket and that's probably because they've got a little bit more money than the older folk who are living off their pensions and watching the pennies more.”

Ian, like many others, has concerns about the redevelopment on the high street as it will bring in ‘250 families with no infrastructure such as doctors or dentists, which are really hard to get into round here’.

"It needs to be in proportion," he said. “There's nothing around here that is 18 storeys high, the closest you get to that is an old again 1960s which is about 10 storeys and yet everything else is low so this is going to absolutely dwarf the High Street."

John ‘Curly’ Jeffery, 80, who has lived in the area for 55 years, says his favourite aspect of the area is the ‘pubs’. His friends say everyone knows Curly in the area because ‘he’s a clown’.

He too loves the sense of community there, he ‘has a lot of good friends in the area,’ and added that it’s not unheard of to see people ‘lining the streets’ when there’s a funeral. Curly has no issue with Penge being ‘yuppified’ because ‘it's better for the area’.

Although he accepts it means prices will rocket, he added: "You’ll still have the cheap places, so there’ll be half and half, and it gives the younger generation an opportunity to work with these people."

But having lived and socialised in the area longer than most, he acknowledges Penge isn’t without its faults. He said if the famous Maple Road Market reopened (which runs quarterly, says one local) it would ‘strengthen the sense of community even more’.

He added that although he’d prefer it if the police station reopened, Penge feels very safe, and he wouldn’t even go to Croydon’ because it’s so dangerous.

London 365 #48 - Penge

MyLondon visited Penge as part of our London 365 project, where our reporters will be visiting a different part of our great city every day in 2023.

Ever wondered what it's like to live in the part of London furthest from a Tube station? Or in the shadow of one of the world's busiest airports? How is gentrification impacting some of London's neighbourhoods hardest hit by the cost of living crisis?

From Brent to Bromley, Hillingdon to Havering, and everywhere in between, the MyLondon team will explore the biggest issues facing Londoners, while celebrating every part of the capital this year.

Where should we go next? Email [email protected] . To see all the other neighbourhoods we have visited in 2023, click here .

What do you think about Penge? Let us know in the comments here .

Want stories like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up to our FREE newsletters here .

Travelodge launches huge sale on London rooms from £34 a night

The town 2 hours from London everyone struggles to pronounce named one of the UK's best places to live

Best West End shows for 2023 booking now with London theatre ticket deals from £16

• Most Recent

• Tue. Apr 16th, 2024

Save Penge High Street!

Say NO to a 16 storey tower block in the heart of our Victorian high street, housing 750+ new residents with no new infrastructure!

Stop the blocks

If nothing is done, this proposal will be agreed in the next 6 months, and the nightmare will begin..

If you don’t want Hadley to win, we need to take action as a community NOW . Here’s how:

1. Spread the word!

Join these Facebook groups and let everyone know what’s happening:

• Stop Penge Tower Blocks
• Penge Tourist Board
• In and around Penge
• Anerley and Penge
• Penge & Surrounding Areas
• Anti Penge Tourist Board
• Beckenham Appreciation Group
• Crystal Palace Local

Also, if you have a community WhatsApp group, send them a link to this website and let them know.

If you have a printer, download one of our posters and put it in your window! There are two to choose from – you decide which one you like:

• Poster 1 – easy to read, simple message, black and white
• Poster 2- Colour, with more information.

Tell your neighbours and friends . Although Hadley have put out a fair amount of publicity, many people don’t know exactly what’s planned – in particular, the fact that the plans include an 18 storey tower block.

2. Email all Bromley Councillors

We vote for these people – let them know that you are concerned and ask them to consider your interests when making decisions regarding the proposal.

This list can be copied and pasted into the ‘To’ field so you can message all of them at once. They need to be aware of your views and they will take this feedback directly to the developer.

3. Sign our petition

Sign our petition – that way, we can keep you informed as to when the planning application has been lodged.

4. Formally object

Be ready to formally object as soon as the application is made . When this happens, we will read all the documentation and advise you of the grounds for a valid objection.

Note: There is no point in writing to Ellie Reeves , our local MP as she has no jurisdiction regarding local planning.

5. Contact Hadley for more information

My experience of Hadley is that they are fairly approachable and if you have questions regarding the development, their publicity contact Mabel Ogundayo: [email protected] may be able to assist.

Here are some other suggestions:

• We urgently need help from individuals with expertise in planning law . If you are that person OR you know someone who is willing to help, please contact us HERE .
• We need YOU! We need your views, your backing, your voice, your involvement to make it clear to Hadley what WE WANT from this development, what is acceptable to us and what isn’t. Come to meetings, spread the word to neighbours about meetings, sign petitions, join our mailing list HERE .
• (Don’t bother to) Join Penge Forum . Local Penge councillors recommend all of us who want to work together to get our views desires and needs across to Hadley sign up to Penge Forum. This can operate as our formal community voice to the developer and other interested parties. Join Penge Forum here. ( Update: At the moment Penge Forum is inactive,although it may be revived soon.)
• Help us publicise this website – post a link to us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• We need to spread the word to local businesses especially those trading on Penge High Street. If you run a local business, spread the word to other businesses. Hadley needs to take account of the existing pressures on local businesses and how they will be negatively impacted by issues including lack of parking (this is an issue that can be used as an objection in the planning process). Contact us if you are a local business owner and want to help contact us . ( Update: Penge businesses think that the increased number of people will result in more £££, and some of them support the plans. Hence, contacting local businesses is a waste of time.)

Prepare to be scared – PTB Halloween Trail returns and a look back at 2021 events

• 2nd October 2021

After an awful eighteen months of lockdowns and social restrictions, we will return to some semblance of normality on October 30th with the annual PTB Halloween Trail.  Taking in shops, cafes and pubs on or just off Penge High Street, the event is an opportunity for our littluns to dress up, get some fresh air and gather a sugar coated haul.  Map:

Summer 2021 also saw the return of a number of fabulous events in Penge and Cator.  These are just a few:

• Penge Day, with the amazing Dinosaurs walking amongst us, live music and stalls, plus a SE20 Street Art Trail and Heritage Trail
• Pengefest, a German style beer festival with oompah band, beer and sausages, and stalls
• Paws in the Park, a dog show family event with competitions and stalls
• Penge Festival, including the Penge Fete on Royston Fields
• Live music at the Bowl in CP Park, numerous pop, rock, dance and classical gigs
• Performances and plays at the Bridge House Theatre
• Maple Road market, a small for now, market returned to its historic home, with monthly stalls

Next up, after the Halloween Trail, will be Pengemas in early December.

Tagged: Halloween , Penge

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