I have recently noticed an increase in street drinkers around Dartmouth Road, London Road.
This morning as I was leaving for work there was a man sat outside the Barclays Bank drinking from a can, As I passed he asked for 50p,
when I ignored him he shouted after me really aggressively
"You can't spare 50p you F****** Bitch"
Then there were two more blokes drinking on the wall outside the station.
Then this evening, around 11.15pm returning from work (yes..I work long hours) walking down London road on the Sainsburys s side, I encountered 3 men staggering around with cans and a blue carrier bag that looked like it contained more cans.
And lastly a lone oldish man drinking from a can and looking the worse for wear stinking of pee.
altogether it made me feel a bit down on the area, and a a bit uncomfortable too.

I think it's part of a greater trend, pubs are much more expensive than BYO so whilst the weather allows, there are those that will drink outside.

Special mention to the Catford Bridge 3, they seem to be there 365 days of the year.

Well there's a hostel and drink / drugs misuse drop-in on Dartmouth Road isn't there?

I think this sees to the steady stream of street drinkers from the pools down to the centre who seem to congregate around the Paddy Power / Barclays.

What can be done... aside from campaigning to push the problem on to another area?

These incidents should be reported to the Safer Neighbourhood Team so maybe then the police will start to do something about them.

I'm in Dartmouth Road a lot and I can vouch for the fact that this problem has very little to do with the drop-in centre. From my observations I find that this place and most of the people who use it are very discreet.

In my opinion the problem's cause is much further down the road, nearer the Kirkdale end.

If you see problems and anti-social behaviour you can let the local police know by calling 101.

I will mention this issue this evening at the Safer Neighbourhood Team Ward Panel meeting.

I have noticed an increase. I was approached 6 times over the weekend for money. One of the men was really aggressive to my partner when we were having lunch outside the Sylvan Post. I don't even like walking up that road on my own anymore.

I have called SNT and will be reporting it once they call me back!!

This post was last modified: 28-08-2014 01:20 PM by Mondella.

I was in Forest Hill yesterday and several people asked me for spare change.

Yes I was sitting outside with my girlfriend this last Saturday afternoon at the Post office pub near the betting shop and a homeless looking man walked by and he publicly threatened that he wanted to fight me. He was grabbing his fist and shouting "I want to kick his a***". I didn't do anything! I was just sitting there enjoying my beer!

Me and my girlfriend lived in Peckham and Camberwell for 2 - 3 years and moved to Forest Hill to get away from the rough neighborhoods and street crime. Never have I experienced this kind of confrontation in Peckham and Camberwell.

I understand in Forest Hill we have what is called the Safer Neighborhood Team. Where are they??? Why isn't the SNT taking care of this??? People are getting put off and will stop going out to the nice shops and pubs!

Thanks Michael for response.
As previously mentioned by other posters there is also noticeably more aggressive begging occurring.
I actually feel a lot less comfortable walking around the area now than I ever have in the 3years I've lived here, due to this.
I was especially taken aback by seeing so much street drinking earlier in the week when it was cold and teeming down with rain.

I spoke to the Forest Hill police yesterday about this issue and was provided with the following information:

If you want to see something done about this I would urge forum members to report such incidents (however trivial) via 101 so that the police can build up a picture of where and when these incidents are taking place, so that they can be on the scene at future occurrences.

In other information from the Forest Hill police panel, the reported crime statistics in Forest Hill ward (and Perry Vale) are really quite low over the last few months. Of course every crime is one too many, but the numbers of burglaries and drugs offences are significantly lower than previous years. A lots of this is almost certainly down to the police catching and prosecuting a few individuals, who can each create their own little crime waves.
you can view recent crime statistics for Forest Hill at http://www.police.uk/metropolitan/00AZGL/crime/
for Perry Vale at http://www.police.uk/metropolitan/00AZGS/crime/
and for Crofton Park at http://www.police.uk/metropolitan/00AZGH/crime/
One thing that is clear from the statistics is that anti-social behaviour is the main type of crime reported, so please don't feel that aggressive begging or street drinking are not worth reporting.

The police do read SE23.com, but they cannot act on reports via the forum from anonymous posters. As well as reporting incidents by phoning 101, you can email the police at:
ForestHill.snt@met.police.uk
PerryVale.snt@met.police.uk
CroftonPark.snt@met.police.uk