Sidcup East

Sidcup East comprises the town centre and surrounding residential areas with substantial parkland (Sidcup Place) to the south. Originally a hamlet at the top of Sidcup Hill, by the early 19th century it had grown into a village, and, with the coming of the railway in 1865, Sidcup developed rapidly into a small compact town dwarfing its parent village of Foots Cray. Until the middle of the 19th century Sidcup was known as East Chislehurst. The boundary between Chislehurst and Foots Cray ran along the southern side of the present High Street. The original church of St John the Evangelist was built in 1844 to provide for the worship of the burgeoning village. The town grew from the railway station to the High Street with large houses employing servants. Artisan housing developed to the east of Station Road. There were also large properties north of the high street. Nearly all of these houses have gone to be replaced by small terraces or blocks of flats. The biggest housing development took place in the inter war years when semi-detached owner occupied premises spread over the fields, woods and nurseries north from the High Street to Faraday Avenue.

Today land is at a premium and houses and bungalows are squeezed into any available space, usually by sub-dividing a garden. To the older generation of Sidcupians, now sadly few in number, the town was still known as "the village". Sidcup is a commuter suburb of outer London. The station is one of the busiest and most crowded in the south east. There are minor engineering works to be found hidden in leafy residential areas and a good deal of office space available, but essentially Sidcup is residential. From the air Sidcup appears to be well wooded with Sidcup Place to the south, Lamorbey Park to the north and the sweep of Foots Cray Meadows to the east. To many Sidcup is a pleasant place in which to live being so near to the centre of London but also close to the Kent countryside. The Green Belt has saved Sidcup from further housing excess.

The High Street, alas, is no longer thriving. Competition from the shopping centres at Bexleyheath, Bromley and Eltham, and from large supermarkets outside the town has reduced the local trade. An attempt to stem this loss has been the establishment of a Safeways in the middle of the town. Time will tell if this will bring more trade to the other shops. There is a niche for some quality shops, be they butchers or green grocers or specialist. Sidcup as a shopping area will not die without a fight. But there is now only an Oxfam bookshop, no haberdashery, no fishmonger (except for a street seller twice a week), no electrical shop, no ironmonger. But there are several clusters of shops away from the High Street and some of these provide local custom and attract shoppers from further away by their service and reputation. The corner shop is not dead in Sidcup. The bus services are reasonably good, despite the complaints of residents, but road traffic is great and hampered by a narrow High Street which precludes one way traffic to ease the congestion. Recent parking and traffic restrictions have angered many residents near to the shopping area.

Article prepared by John Mercer

New Area Representative is Rita Benwell

Bexley Civic Society