Watch Herne Hill Culture Code: Between eternally-edgy Brixton and ever-so-civilised Dulwich, Herne Hill has a vibe all of its own


Watch Herne Hill Body Code: Fancy seeing a future Olympic champion? Of is boxing more your thing? Then check out this edition

EVERYONE knows someone who lives in Herne Hill. You go there, see friends, have a lovely time and come home feeling slightly envious and obscurely resentful. Then you realise that SE24 isn’t a location – it’s a lifestyle. And suddenly you want to live it.

Objectors to Herne Hill (there are some) complain that, like most of South London, it has no Tube. So what? Neither does Stoke Newington or Crouch End and both are popular (for different reasons). Herne Hill is a combination of the two. It’s got Crouch family-friendliness and Stokey style. And it’s only ten mainline minutes from Victoria.

I fall straight from the station into Pullen’s café. Here I meet Stella Duffy, a long-time local and one of several writers who come here to crank out stories between coffees.

“South London has always had a rough reputation,” says Duffy, who shares her Victorian terrace house with Shelley Silas, also a writer. “We tried North London but found it suffocating. We both work from home, so we needed a big space. Here we have parks and air and space and, yes, the odd shooting.”

Duffy, most famous for her crime novels, finds this inspiring rather than intimidating.

“This bit of London is surprisingly unwritten, and there’s so much to write about. So many different cultures and classes call Herne Hill home.” They certainly do. Sandwiched between urban Brixton and urbane Dulwich, Herne Hill is surprisingly large. It runs down Railton Road (front line in the 1981 Brixton riots), along Half Moon Lane out to Brockwell Park, and up to Ruskin Park.

When I wrote about Herne Hill three years ago, I mentioned a tenth-floor former council flat for sale at £99,950. It sold that day. Now it would fetch four times that. Not that anyone with views across Brockwell Park and out to Crystal Palace would sell. A friend lives right across the road in a cleverly converted basement. He, too, bought for five figures and could sell for £250,000plus. Walk to the Poet’s Corner area and watch prices take a hike. Visit the coveted North Dulwich Triangle and watch your whole salary vanish.

“We took a punt on Herne Hill and it’s paid off,” says Duffy. “But we’re not in it for the money – it’s about community.” A local newsagent advertises breast-feeding groups, guerrilla gardening and children’s yoga.

Brockwell Park is everyone’s back garden. Barbecue smoke curls into the trees. Walkers of dogs and buggy-pushers trot along and t’ai-chi types tie themselves in knots. The lido in the park hosts pool parties and film screenings; try not to shiver and it could be LA. For picnic fare visit the Blackbird Bakery. Before you know it, you’re one of those people that lives in Herne Hill. And your friends are jealous of you.

Catch the latest episode of our web TV series on London neighbourhoods at timesonline.co.uk/coolinyourcode

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