Upper Sydenham
Lewisham 028 · 4 sub-areas · 7,084 residents
Lewisham 028 is a residential neighbourhood in the London Borough of Lewisham, home to around 7,100 people. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for about £1,770 a month — noticeably below what you'd pay in much of inner south-east London. Nearly half of residents work from home, and the nearest mainline rail station is under 700 metres away.
Upper Sydenham is a commuter neighbourhood within Lewisham — train into London runs in around 9 minutes, and the rhythm of weekday mornings is shaped by it. A high share of adults are degree-educated, which often shows up in the kind of jobs people commute to.
Overview
What's it like to live in Upper Sydenham?
4 parks and 7 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; food and drink within walking distance is workable but not dense — around 13 restaurants and 3 pubs in five minutes; Crime sits around the national average — neither a notable concern nor a notable selling point; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents sit firmly in the upper bracket nationally, with a typical home letting at around £1,810 a month; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 4 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Upper Sydenham in Lewisham
Living in Upper Sydenham
This part of Lewisham sits on the right side of the fare zones for anyone who works in central London — the public-transport journey into the city takes around eight minutes, which is quicker than many areas far closer to Zone 1 on the map. That connectivity is baked into the rents, but prices are still meaningfully lower than neighbouring boroughs like Southwark or Lambeth.
On the cost side, you're looking at around £1,810 a month at the median across all flat sizes. A one-bed comes in at roughly £1,440, a two-bed at around £1,770, and a three-bed at about £2,030. Rents rose around 2.6% over the past year — moderate by London standards. Council tax for a Band D property runs to about £2,237 a year. For buyers, the median sale price is just over £482,000, which means the typical deposit takes around six years to save on a local salary.
The neighbourhood skews younger-middle: around a quarter of residents are aged 18–34, and another quarter are in the 35–49 bracket. There's a solid share of families too — about 18% of households are couples with children. Owner-occupation sits at nearly 45%, with social housing making up a notable 32% of tenures and private renting around 22%. Just over half of residents hold a degree-level qualification, which is well above the national average.
Greenspace is genuinely accessible here — around 73% of residents are within a walkable distance of green space, with the nearest park or open area averaging just over 200 metres away. For anyone weighing up south-east London options, this sits as a practical middle ground: not the cheapest corner of the borough, but very well connected and with more green space than you might expect at this price point. See the streets and sub-areas below for more detail on how prices vary across the neighbourhood.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Lewisham 028 a nice place to live?
- It's a practical, well-connected part of south-east London with genuine green space nearby and a fast rail link into central London. It's not the most polished neighbourhood in the borough, sitting at deprivation decile 4, but rents are competitive for the commute times on offer and the community is genuinely mixed. Worth a look if connectivity and value matter more than postcode prestige.
- What is the rent in Lewisham 028?
- A one-bedroom flat runs around £1,440 a month, a two-bed about £1,770, and a three-bed roughly £2,030. These are estimates scaled from borough-level ONS data using local sale prices. Rents rose about 2.6% over the past year — moderate by London standards.
- Is Lewisham 028 safe?
- The recorded crime rate is around 81 incidents per 1,000 residents annually, which is roughly in line with the UK national average. That's a better picture than many assume for this part of Lewisham. Anti-social behaviour and theft are the main categories driving the local rate. The area sits in deprivation decile 4, so it's in the more deprived half of England, and crime does vary street by street.
- What's the commute from Lewisham 028 to central London?
- Around eight minutes by public transport from the nearest mainline rail station, which is roughly 670 metres away on foot — about an eight-minute walk. That makes it one of the quicker commutes available at this price point in south-east London. Nearly 45% of residents work from home, so many don't need to commute at all.
- Who lives in Lewisham 028?
- A mixed community — around a quarter are aged 18–34, another quarter are 35–49, and about 18% of households are couples with children. Owner-occupation sits at nearly 45%, social housing at 32%, and private renting at around 22%. Over half of residents hold a degree, and the area is ethnically diverse, with about 67% born in the UK.
- What schools are near Lewisham 028?
- There are 95 schools within 2km, so options aren't scarce. Around 36% of nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — well below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 1,700 metres away. If schools are a key factor, it's worth checking individual Ofsted reports rather than relying on the overall picture.
- How far is the nearest park in Lewisham 028?
- Green space is genuinely accessible here — the nearest park or open green area is on average just over 200 metres away, and around 73% of residents are within walkable distance of green space. That's a stronger green-space picture than many comparable parts of inner south-east London.