Living in Deptford

Deptford has a longer history than most of London. It was the site of a royal dockyard founded under Henry VIII, and the London and Greenwich Railway, the capital's first, ran its earliest trains between Deptford and Spa Road in 1836. Traces of that past are everywhere, from St Paul's, one of London's finest baroque churches, to the riverside site of the old dockyard, now being redeveloped.

Today the area is best known for its high street and its creative scene. Deptford High Street is a traditional, unpretentious market street, with a street market on several days a week, pie-and-mash and cheap everyday shopping alongside newer cafés and restaurants. Deptford Market Yard, in restored railway arches by the station, adds small independent food and drink businesses. Creekside is home to Trinity Laban, whose dance building is an award-winning modern landmark, and studios and galleries cluster nearby.

The housing mix is broad: Victorian terraces, large post-war estates, including the riverside Pepys estate, and growing numbers of new-build flats close to the river and the station. The streets vary quickly, and some parts feel rundown, while others are quiet and residential. Greenwich, with its park and river, is a short walk east.

Deptford station has Southeastern trains to London Bridge in around ten minutes and on to Cannon Street and Charing Cross, and Deptford Bridge on the DLR runs to Canary Wharf, Bank and Lewisham. There is no tube, and evening trains are less frequent. Deptford suits people who want character, a real market street and a creative community close to Greenwich and the City, at rents below its more polished neighbour.