Londondrz, it will take a lot longer if you are pushing a buggy as you would need to go round under the railway bridge. I personally would not opt to do that as you will be exposing your child to unnecessary levels of pollution. The Sainsbury's car park wins and is probably a comparable distance.

I agree, but it is inaccessible. I was there this morning and it's empty. Vehicles need to be able to turn left into Manor Mount from Honor Oak Road.

It is not inaccessible. 'Inaccessible' means it is impossible to access it, which is clearly not the case.

It does feel awkward to get to, but in reality you are probably only adding a few minutes driving time from any direction. The problem for me is that I lived in FH for years without knowing where the Sainsburys car park was.

This post was last modified: 18-05-2016 11:55 AM by rshdunlop.

lacb, I have two kids. I have done that journey as we used to go to The All In One. It takes me 4 minutes from Waldenshaw Road to The All In One. That is if one of the little dears didnt drop Teddy, have a massive strop or throw their drinks bottle onto the pavement.

Yes there is pollution but are you suggesting you do the journey every day? We live in London, there is lots of pollution. A 2 minute walk from the corner by the cab office round under the bridge and up to the station is not going to kill anyone unless they live there. Walking along the Dartmouth road you are exposed to just as much pollution but people with kids still do it.

RHS, it is signposted but you need to look for them. I did take this up with the store manager a few years ago and pointed out that the signs for parking where waaaay up a pole on the London Road but nada!

It is actually a council car park so probably something the council should take up with TfL re signs.

Re pollution: my point is specifically about the pavement passing under the railway bridge. I avoid this if I can when travelling solo though I have 2 kids too. It is not nice: South Circular, enclosed space, proximity to road, lots of diesel fumes from goods vehicles. Dartmouth Road it is not. I concede that there is pollution elsewhere too but my point was a comparative one - would rather walk down from Sainsburys than all the way round from Perry Vale via bridge for this reason.

My figure of 6 minutes to walk from the carpark around to WHSmiths can be verified on google maps. And seems about right to me.
It is surprising but we forget how the road curves.

To get from start of Waldenshaw Rd to the All-in-one in 4 minutes via the S. circ is possible if you run all the way and somehow both crossing lights are in your favour. That must have been fun.

I am leaving this discussion but will just say. It is not that difficult in the grand scheme of things. Very much a 1st World problem.

[/quote]It does feel awkward to get to, but in reality you are probably only adding a few minutes driving time from any direction.[/quote]

From North of London Road, it can easily be 15 minutes because you have to queue on Honor Oak Rd or Devonshire Rd (if you are brave enough to attempt the right turn) to get into London Road. Easier to go to Bell Green or Dog Kennel Hill. If nothing changes, expect a 'High Street' of payday lenders, off licences, betting shops, nail bars, charity shops, and not a lot else.

That's a bit 'doom and gloom' when the last ten years have seen the proliferation of coffee shops, significant investment in the local pubs, some trendy new restaurants, boutiques, delis, a haberdashery shop, sweet shops and even a butcher. And more coming soon.

If you can get to Bell Green quicker then you can get to the Perry Vale car park and walk into the town centre quicker than that.

When I go to Bromley town centre I don't really care that I have a 7 minute walk from the car park to get to M&S, or that parking costs me at least £1.20, what matters is that it has the shops I want.

If people want to shop in Forest Hill (because it has shops, cafes, and nail bars that they want to visit) then they will find a place to park. But it would be nice if our hidden car parks were more clearly indicated (unlike this).

I went into a couple of shops on Dartmouth Road today to see their reaction to my idea.

The thing is, lot's of people are aware that Forest Hill's got stuff that they want but, as you say, very few of them know that there are 2 good carparks within easy walking distance (notwithstanding the buggy and wheelchair argument).

I say - and I'll put up the first £100 for printing - that every shopfront in the town should display a well designed A4 or A5 sticker in its window saying
2 HOURS FREE PARKING NEARBY - with details showing the carparks at Perry Vale and Sainsburys.

This, I believe would not only bring more people into the town centre, and allow them to feel more relaxed than when they're parked on a 30min restricted bay, but it would undoubtedly attract more solid businesses to open-up here (please trust me on this one).

Great idea Anotherjohn.

I suspect £100 would go a long way towards covering the costs of the printing. (100 A3 posters costs about £60 not including any design costs).

Any poster that is designed needs to mention that Perry Vale is only free for 30 minutes. Both car parks are free every Sunday.
And in both car parks you MUST display a ticket otherwise you get a penalty notice, even if you are parking for less than 30 minutes (except on a Sunday).

The posters could even have space for arrows pointing the way to the car park (creating a trail through the high street for cars and pedestrians). There could even be space for shop keepers to fill in: "This shop is __ minutes walk from Piercefield Road car park"

I think this would be a great initiative for the FHTA.

Thanks Michael.

From what I understand, the Perry Vale car park is underused so do you think it would be worth FHSoc & FHTA putting pressure on Lewisham - as part of a town centre regeneration/promotion scheme - to get them to extend their free parking period to 2 hours?

I seriously think that every business in Forest Hill could benefit from this because there will be customers of other traders with time to float around and take notice of places that they never knew about; and many of these customers will be coming in from neighbouring areas.

So come on FHTA, get one of our brilliant artists to knock-up a quick design and get this thing going asap - especially as we're just about to benefit Dartmouth Road's highway improvements.

This post was last modified: 20-05-2016 06:39 PM by Anotherjohn.

I think the idea of the posters is brilliant.

As a regular user of the Perryvale car park when visiting FH central, I'd love two hours free parking. I think it's reasonable to pay for anything above that so the car park isn't hogged all day by commuters, which it used to be.

I've noticed it's getting busier in PV car park, though it's rarely full, unless there's an event on at the Crystal Ballroom or whatever that place is called these days. Then it's jam packed. Which is MUCH better than the dangerous illegal parking their visitors used to do opposite the subway. They now have someone holding a sign directing people to the car park.

Yep! Brilliant idea from Anotherjohn, he mentioned it to me the other day.

Right, I'm on the case now and I'll have a chat with the rest of the FHTA exec to get this done

Perry Vale car park would benefit from another ticket machine at the other end, and larger clearer signage explaining the parking fees.

I think the leaflets/posters are a good idea. I usually prefer the Sainsburys car park because it feels closer (although pulling out onto the south circular from David's Road afterwards is a nightmare)

I had this issue in Sydenham the other day, was planning to pop into a couple of shops but couldn't find a parking space on the local roads and I couldn't remember if there was a car park anywhere so I gave up!

I doubt they'll put another ticket machine in Perryvale now they have RingGo. It's a very large car park to only have one machine.

Sydenham also has a free car park - it's in Girton Road, the turn between the Co-Op and the pet store. You can usually get a spot during the week but it's quite busy at the weekend. It's another of those 'hidden' car parks - there are signs but not enough.

This post was last modified: 22-05-2016 08:03 AM by rshdunlop.

I did some timed walking around the town centre yesterday.

Midway along Dartmouth Road from WH Smiths to swimming pools - 2 minutes.

WH Smiths to Perry Vale car park entrance - 1 minute 30.

London Road exit of Sainsburys car park to station traffic lights - 1 minute.

The Perry Vale car park seems unloved to me and is in need of a facelift. Not the kind of car park you want to return to after dark.

PV carpark has just had its lines repainted and an infestation of Japanese knotweed removed. I use it late at night and as female don't feel at all unsafe. There are commuters and evening revellers picking up their cars until quite late. The only problem I have is with the Forest Hill Cars drivers who insist on urinating against the fences. Uncouth and unhygienic. Their office is just a few minutes walk away, the lazy b****rs.