Honest Opinion on moving to Honor Oak

Hi all,

I’m considering buying a house in Honor Oak and was wondering what the crime situation was like? Honest answers only please

The same as anywhere else in London

Compare where you’re coming from to here if you want some stats - | UK Crime Statistics
It’s zone 3 London so plenty of crime but great people and great community too.

Stats-wise, it falls just below the average levels of crime for suburban London, but tbh feels very safe the majority of the time, and I’ve lived in the area 30+ years.

This covers the Met’s crime stats for part of Honor Oak, while this covers the remaining area.

Crime is everywhere in London and I feel no less safe here than I did when living in Chelsea and Notting Hill.

You can be the victim of crime anywhere. Twenty years ago, I was held up at Knifepoint in a busy part of central Edinburgh at rush hour when it was still light outside.

That said, I’ve never ever felt unsafe in the slightest in and around Honor Oak Park. Neither does my wife, and she goes out for runs before and\or after work. This is one of the safest areas I think I’ve lived in, and I’ve lived in Edinburgh and Cardiff in the past.

Is there something which has made you think there’s much of a crime problem round here?

We’ve been here for eight years and like it a lot - if we moved house we’d stay in the area.

We have been burgled once - later we realised this was due to a faulty window. We were burgled twice in Camden within a much more secure set up.

I routinely exercise early in the morning and walk home late at night and as a woman solo at those times feel entirely safe.

It’s a lot safer (in my opinion) than my previous neighbourhoods of Camden, Brixton, Herne Hill and West Norwood, and only marginally less safe than my previous neighbourhood of Belsize Park.

We live between Forest Hill and HOP after living in SW London for several years (Balham, Wandsworth Common). The crime here is no different to there. But as a mid-30s female, I think it’s pretty safe. I’ve had two kids here, exercise in the dark here and have sold and bought within 0.1 mile in SE23 recently which is testimony to the area. The community spirit is the thing I like the most. Feels less ‘faceless London’ than other areas.

I really like Honor Oak Park, have lived since 2007. I think it is safer than many areas. But one cannot state any area in London is 100pc safe. There are some burglaries (not suffered one) and some occasional begging. It’s a really good area, but it is London…

Nothing is guarenteed, but Honor Oak certainly feels safer to me than many other parts of London, including where I was born and brought up in Shepherd’s Bush on the other side of town.

We’ve been here sinxe 2005 and always felt comfortable. There have of course been instances of crime mentioned on forums etc, and you can review the stats, but the fear of crime I find here is smaller than other places.

Good luck with your house, if you move here I am sure you will feel safe.

In having lived there for six years, I’ve only had one ‘incident’ where I came home late at night and had already unlocked one bolt and a guy came up to me saying he’s been stabbed. I had heard about a lady being mugged close by previous days, so that was in my mind and thankfully I still had another bolt to unlock, so key back in my pocket, told him I don’t have a phone on me, so go to main road (20m) away and flag someone down and I’ll come help. He just wandered off in the other direction. That was roughly two years ago.

I lived all over London before moving here and experienced crime everywhere I lived. A low point was being mugged at 2.30pm in Kensington.

We’ve been in Honor Oak Park for 10 years now and we’ve never had any problems whatsoever. I agree with @Pea that it has a “neighbourhood” feel that you don’t really get in London - everyone we know who’s moved here has said the same. It’s also much greener than most of London.

I hope you make the right choice!

I’ve lived in various parts of Forest Hill for 70 years and the only time I was threatened with a knife was in the mid 1960’s and I was last burgled in 1994 so I’d say it’s pretty safe around here… There was a recentish occasion when my neighbour spotted a couple of youngsters on our lawn looking at the house so she shouted at them and they scarpered with her screaming “stop thief” after them as they ran down the road. I’d like to have seen that.

I’ve lived here with my family for 12 years and had no crime issues at all. Not even a bike stolen! (3 times living in Dalston) My kids used to frequently leave the car window open without us realising and nobody even nicked the parking change.

We live in the Ebsworth area near HOP station and have always felt very safe. It’s very friendly with lots of street whatsapp groups and a neighbourly feel. Ebsworth street party is lovely.

I have lived in Forest Hill all my life (56 years), I have lived at 2 address in Gabriel St, Whatman Rd, 2 addresses in Ebsworth and now Church Rise. I feel so safe here, just such a lovely area.
Lately we have had someone trying the doors on our cars, spotted on our cameras, but they were locked and the person left.

Like Pea we live between HOP and FH. Really love how HO has come on in recent years. Such a lot of choice of places to eat within walkning distance. And I wasn’t keen on the small Sainsbury’s to start with but it’s really useful to pick up food on your way home from the train. As a woman I feel very safe.