Tabbycat I quite often walk along Beadnell on my way to Forest Hill. Seems fine - very quiet (which can be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view). The wider area (Forest Hill and Honor Oak) has a lot going for it.

The Crystal Palace was referred to as being in Sydenham (although it was really in Penge, but we claim it). When it was built the area became known as Crystal Palace. The woods in Sydenham Hill became known as Forest Hill. Anerley in SE20 is the postcode district for Penge but I still think of it as Anerley. Sydenham was once in Kent, now it's part of London. The original Brockley was actually in Crofton Park. Things change.

I refer to the area around most tube stations by the station name in general. If the people in Honor Oak call the area Honor Oak then I'd say it's Honor Oak (Sorry Brian/Eagle). It has it's own tube station, high street and to an extent, architecture. It's borders are a tad blurred like every area in London, local authorities split many areas.

I think if Lewisham had their way they would rebrand the whole borough Lewisham (despite what many officers in the council think). I think it's important to have a local identity, a sense of place. Forest Hill is a great area but if I lived in Honor Oak (I did look) did I'd feel slightly disconnected with it.

Tabbycat, to help answer your question: while I don't live on Beadnell Road itself, I live close by on an adjacent road and often walk up and down the road to and from Honor Oak (which is less than a ten min walk away). It seems like a really nice road, there are some attractive period properties houses on it, most of which seem to have been done up and while you have the commercial properties opposite, it's very quiet as it's not a through road. A father and son were playing football across the road when I walked past the other day as there's literally no traffic!

I find it's a great place to live location wise as you're sandwiched between Forest Hill which has more amenities (and will have the pools come 2012) and the quieter ‘villagey’ feel of Honor Oak so my opinion is that you get the best of both worlds.

On another note I did raise an eyebrow as the forum seemed to quickly descend into yet another argument/discussion about the so called divide between FH and HO! About the apparent have and have nots of SE23! All of it seems to be based on hearsay and I don't think it's overly helpful to people wishing to move to the area. Overall SE23 is a great place to live whether you live in FH or HO; like anywhere there are pro's and con's of both places.

It says this in the wiki entry too, but I'm not sure that is right.
The original Forest Hill was the area carved out by Honor Oak Rd, and that was beyond the bounds of Sydenham Common.

But sure, the area we now think of as central Forest Hill, was nicked from Sydenham.

I wondered about that, too. Surely Crofton Park is a nineteenth century name? Whilst according to Duncan's History of the Borough of Lewisham, 'Brocle' or 'Brockele' is first mentioned in the fourteenth. It was known as a 'manor' and was partly in Lewisham and partly in Deptford.

The following gives a good background:

http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lewisham/a...orest-hill