My boyfriend and I moved to Forest Hill about 3 weeks ago, and have loved everything about it. Until Saturday night. We left The Hob in the early hours on Saturday morning, walking towards Dartmouth Road and were verbally assaulted by two young men who told us that they didn't want foreigners in their country and that we should f*** off back to South Africa. When he replied and told them to leave us alone, one of them physically attacked him, punching him repeatedly in the head. They only ran off when I started screaming and putting them off him. We have both lived in the UK for 17 years and have never had anything like this happen before and are still in shock. This happened outside the laundromat on the corner, in full view of the station. It all happened so quickly - neither if us remember what they looked like - but they ran off in the direction of Honor Oak Park. I have reported it to the police - but there isn't much they can do without a good description of the men.

I am truly sorry to hear about what happened to you as I am sure will be everyone who posts here. Having lived in Forest Hill for over 25 years I have always found it an essentially peaceful and welcoming place, as I am sure you have found until this incident. I very much hope you will regard it as a 'one-off' and that it won't make you think about moving away. Please don't let some (probably drunken) yobs affect your view on all the good aspects of the area.

Sorry to hear about this. There is lots of CCTV around Forest Hill town centre and it is well lit, so I would hope the police might be able to get some clue to the identity of the individuals from these cameras.

I hope your boyfriend is okay and that the police treat this incident with the seriousness it deserves.

Dear Jovanderbank,
I'm sorry to read about your assault.

My bf and I have lived in FH 4 years now, and we really love it.
Come to think of it, 2 drunkards were abusive towards us once in a pub, but the landlord was incredibly supportive and it literally blew off in no time at all.
Racism... intolerance... homophobia... they can appear anywhere in London, sadly.
I feel that sharing our stories on this forum helps.
Do not let this affect you.
Everybody is welcome in FH, and I hope to meet you soon in the Hob!

Dear Jovenderbank, sorry to hear about your experience, it is however very rare to hear about this so hopefully you will soon feel more comfortable about living here. As Michael said, there is a lot of cctv in that area, ( I think right near Smiths) so some evidence might be uncovered soon.

thanks for all your kind messages. The police are coming round tomorrow evening to take statements, so hopefully they will be able to do something about it. We do love absolutely everything else about the area.

As a fellow Forest Hillian and Saffa I am really sorry to hear about this. Cowards like that need to get a life.

So sorry to hear about that awful assault. It sounds like you were both very unlucky to come accross those abusive people.

I wish I could give you hope on the CCTV front but my understanding is that those cameras are just for the traffic.... but I do hope I am wrong and hope the police catch the perpetrators as soon as possible.

Best wishes.

So sorry to hear about this I hope you are both ok. I have lived in FH for 15 years and have never came across anything like this. Hope it doesn't put you off the area as I have always found FH and HOP to be really friendly. So sad this happened to you both especially when you are new to the area. x Pauline

I would urge you to ask the police about CCTV which both Michael and Roz suggested as there is some around that area

I'm also so sorry to hear this and hope you are getting some support from friends and family.

I've lived here since 2001 and (fingers crossed) have never experienced anything like this directly.

Generally I've found Forest Hill to be safer than many other areas of South London.

All the best and hope you continue to enjoy living here.

Thats terrible news... so sorry you had that experience... I know how hard it can be to shake something like that. Still so much ignorance in the world.

Welcome to the area, and I hope you can put it behind you before too long.

Hi Jovanderbank, We moved to the area 4 years ago from a more fashionable part of London. I can assure you it's not reflective of the area. I've never seen any trouble late at night. My Wife's also a Saffa, and the only person who's ever screamed at her to "go back to South Africa" outside the Hob is me. In all seriousness, she's actually commented about how friendly people in the area are, compared to other parts of London.

You can tell how rare things like this are around here, cos otherwise this forum would be flooded with posts like this!
Hope you both get over this quickly and the ******** get caught.

What sort of pleasure do these morans get from doing this sort of thing, they must have really warped minds.

Hope you and your BF get over this and is does not deter you from living in UK/London/FH as please rest assured, we are not all like this scum

Very worying worst incident I have heard of. Hope it is a one of.

To echo the comments here, how awful for you especially so soon after moving here. I don't go out in the evenings so much nowadays but I've never seen anything like this but as others have said these things can happen in London. I hope the police take this very seriously.

Thank you for sharing and I hope you both recover quickly.