Dulwich Village
(Picture: Shutterstock / Jono Photography)With Boris and Carrie Johnson set to vacate Downing Street in September, speculation has turned to where the Prime Minister will move next.
The couple put their Camberwell townhouse on sale for £1.6 million earlier this month — £400,000 more than they paid for it three years ago. Earlier this week, removal vans were spotted outside Downing Street. Now, they are reportedly looking for a new property in Dulwich Village.
So what will the couple find if they do move to this well-heeled south London neighbourhood?
Where is Dulwich Village?
Six miles south-east of central London, Dulwich Village is a leafy, affluent suburb in the borough of Southwark.
Straddling Herne Hill to the north and Crystal Palace to the south, Forest Hill lies to the east and West Norwood and Tulse Hill to the west.
The village and many properties within it are owned by the Dulwich Estate, a charity that has managed the neighbourhood since 1619, when it was established by the Elizabethan and Jacobean actor Edward Alleyn, who earned his reputation playing Tamburlaine the Great in Christopher Marlowe’s play.
Famous for
Known for its green spaces and cultural attractions, the area is home to Dulwich Picture Gallery, the world’s first purpose-built public art gallery. Founded in 1811 and designed by Regency architect John Soane, the gallery contains works by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Poussin, Canaletto, Rubens and Murillo, amongst others.
Rembrandt’s portrait of Jacob De Gheyn III has been stolen from the gallery four times since 1966, whilst in 2019, an intruder tried to steal two Rembrandt paintings from an exhibition before being stopped by the police.
Dulwich Park was created in 1890 and was regularly visited by Queen Mary. Today, it covers 29 acres, and contains a boating lake and the Grade II-listed Queen Mary Gate, as well as dry, winter and vegetable gardens.
Notable locals over the years have included the actor Iain Glen, Libertines singer Carl Barat and the late Ronnie Corbett.
In the late 1980s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher bought a five-bedroom new build Barrat house opposite Dulwich Park, so there is a precedent should the Johnsons end up moving there.
What’s the appeal of Dulwich Village?
According to a report by the Dulwich Society, Thatcher was persuaded to buy the house because it was close to the Dulwich & Sydenham Golf Club for her husband Denis to play at, and received a hefty discount on the house price from the developer.
Nowadays the village atmosphere is likely to most appeal to home buyers in this Labour stronghold.
Robin Chatwin from the local branch of Savills says: “It’s actually a very, very small area, but it’s hugely popular. The schools are world renowned; you’ve got Dulwich Park. It’s a place where once people are there, they want to stay.”
The boutique shops and restaurants on the high street are also a draw, explains Chatwin.
Property
“You get a nice, eclectic mix of architecture in Dulwich Village,” says Chatwin. Towards Herne Hill and West Dulwich, you’ll find Victorian and Edwardian houses, some of which have been converted into two and three-bedroom flats.
At the top end of Dulwich Village, there are a handful of older Georgian properties with large gardens, many of which are owned by the Dulwich Estate. These, says Chatwin, can trade in excess of £10 million.
On private roads around the village, there are detached Fifties houses, and estates and houses built by local builder, Wates, in the Sixties.
There is also an enclave of German factory-built, energy-efficient Huf Haus homes, constructed 20 years ago on the site of an old wood yard, now called Woodyard Lane.
Popular streets include College Road, by the sports grounds, the high street itself, Alleyn Road, Alleyn Park and Hambledon Place, where Thatcher’s home was located.
“People go there because the plot sizes are good,” says Chatwin. “In a lot of the houses, you end up with a good garden. They’re quite wide plots, because some of them were built slightly later.”
What it costs
That village atmosphere does not come cheap. According to research from Savills, the average sale price in the last financial year was £1,437,000, with houses averaging £1,659,000 and flats at £555,200. Property prices have risen by 81.2 per cent in the last decade, and Chatwin says houses will regularly fetch £1,000 per square foot.
By contrast, the average property price in London in March this year was £523,666 — almost three times less than that of Dulwich Village.
The average room rental price, meanwhile, is £1,768 – more than double the London average of £815 per month.
Schools
The concentration of good schools is one of the main drivers to the area for buyers. “We get lots of people moving from the SW11 or SW18 area when their children are going to secondary school. It could be Dulwich College, Alleyn’s School or Streatham High. You are spoilt for choice.”
For primaries, Dulwich Hamlet Junior School and Dulwich Village Church of England Infants’ School are both rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted – although there are five other schools within a mile with the same rating.
Dulwich College, Alleyn’s School and James Allen’s Girls’ School (known locally as JAGS) are independent schools which are all beneficiaries of the Dulwich Estate. The Charter School North Dulwich and Turney Primary and Secondary Special School are both comprehensives which are rated as “Outstanding”.
