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How SE5 became London's coolest postcode
Three years ago, desperately searching for a one-bed flat, a friend sent across a link to a studio. It was reasonably priced, not just a double bedroom with a microwave inside, and, surreally, had a pool in the shared garden. I was sold. “Where is it?” I asked my friend. “Peckham” came the reply.
A year later, I was giving up my dream flat (and its pool). Why? I’d fallen in love with the next-door neighbour: Camberwell.
My boyfriend, back in London after three years in New York, had been looking to move to Islington, but after a year of dates in my neck of the woods, had also been converted by its quiet streets. We’ve been living in SE5 ever since.
Camberwell, devoid of a tube station, has long slipped under the London radar. Its leafiness and village feel might have you thinking it’s a long way from central London. The view of the Shard will correct you – this is Zone 2, with Waterloo barely two miles away.
Though dismissed for years as a backwater, blighted by crime (a reputation that wasn’t helped by Withnail & I’s infamous Camberwell Carrot), beneath that now fading image lies a gem. The exciting mix of people, ties to the arts, and lower rents have made the area a hub for the city’s young creatives and their work, and a flurry of new restaurants and cafes, have joined the already stellar roster of local hangouts.
Where the rest of London is suffering with closing pubs and soulless, millionaire communities, SE5’s light is shining brighter than ever. Here’s six reasons why it’s London’s coolest postcode.
Community feeling
In 1279, the first Camberwell Fair happened in ‘God’s Acre’ (presumably the grounds of St. Giles Church). It continued yearly in various locations until it was shut down in 1855 by authorities, in a cloud of moral outrage. “For these three days the residents of Camberwell were compelled to witness disgusting and demoralizing scenes in which they were powerless to prevent,” reads the Victorian literature on the subject.
Since then, however, the fair has been revived and it now happens every August on Camberwell Green, with more local artists, if a little bit less debauchery.
Markets and fairs are intrinsically tied to Camberwell and its close-knit community. The Green is a hub of activity, with Camberwell Farmers’ Market happening every Saturday, and a Sunday market lures locals to Myatt’s Fields (named for Joseph Myatt, who reputedly grew ‘the best strawberries in London’ in the garden he leased there in the 1800s). The park continues the green-fingered tradition by making its own honey, available to buy in the Little Cat Cafe, and running a gardening club.
Destination dining
SE5’s multicultural population means all manner of delicious cuisine can be sampled. Silk Road serves Xinjiang-style noodles, fiery broths and spice-crusted lamb skewers that have been lauded far and wide. But the place keeps its local, family-run feel.
FM Mangal, on the opposite side of the street, is a Turkish restaurant known for its rich, smoky barbeque. Having started life as Angel Mangal in North London in the 1990s, the owner reopened the restaurant in SE5.
Vietnamese Van Hing, open since 2015, and Ethiopian Zeret Kitchen, open since 1993, both draw visitors from all over London.
Recent culinary arrivals include The Pigeon Hole, a cafe-cum-furniture shop, and Theo’s Pizzeria, while the Camberwell Arms offers one of the best Sunday roasts in London.
Pub culture
Though the focus at the Camberwell Arms is more on food than pints, it heads up a sterling roster of local boozers.
Stormbird, easily the coolest drinking hole in Camberwell, throngs with a hip young local set every weekend. The drinks menu, with rhubarb and custard sours and peanut butter and jelly liquor, is expansive.
The Crooked Well is made of fancier stuff, with its Farrow and Ball colours and enormous array of gins, while The Hermit’s Cave and The Sun are cosy options for traditionalists.
While clubs are thin on the ground here, The Tiger stays open to 3:30am on Fridays and Saturdays, and jazz concerts are occasionally held in the crypts of St. Giles Church.
It's London's baking capital
Though most would describe their home turf as comforting, Camberwell goes one step further, lining its streets with baked goods. Just opened More Flour To The People! boasts sourdough as ‘the heart’ of their bakery and cafe. Another newcomer, Kurdish lunch-spot Nandine, stuffs seeded bagels with spiced sausage and serves slabs of incredible baklava paired with delicate wildflower tea.
On Grove Lane you’ll find the Hill Bakery, opened in 2013 by Adam Newey, a former Telegraph Travel journalist. Inside there’s London levain, camberllou, rye, as well as fine olive oils and artisanal cheeses to slap on top.
Greek-Cypriot Sophocles Bakery makes flaky spinach and feta pasties on the main street, and there’s West Indian comfort food at The Bread of Life, in the form of vibrantly spiced patties and warm banana cake.
Creative spirit
Camberwell’s artistic heritage dates back to John Ruskin. The Victorian art critic moved to Denmark Hill in the 1840s but left when the railway arrived, claiming it ruined his view.
His departure didn’t deter the arts from taking root. In 1887 the Free Library and Art Gallery moved from Battersea to Camberwell, signalling the start of a decade of arts-focused building as the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards funded the creation of the South London Gallery and the Camberwell School of Art (now Camberwell College of Arts, part of the University of the Arts London).
Camberwell remains a hub for London’s creative community. Anish Kapoor, the Turner Prize winning sculptor, has a studio on Farmers Road, while Vanguard Court is home to silversmiths, ceramicists and a stone mason.
Where other libraries are closing down across the city, Camberwell’s new, modern library opened in 2015, designed by architect John McAslan and built by Balfour Beatty as part of an £11m regeneration scheme for the Camberwell area.
Most recently, a new mural for the parish made its debut on the railway bridge on Camberwell New Road. Painted by Lionel Stanhope, an artist known for similar murals throughout south London, as part of a new Camberwell identity project, SE5 Forum, it’s colours were chosen by Sacred Heart School.
And it has its own carrot
Fans of Bruce Robinson’s cult 1980s movie Withnail and I will no doubt remember the ‘Camberwell Carrot’, a joint that “can utilise up to 12 skins” and “requires a craftsman” to roll. Alas, you won’t be able to buy one at the Saturday farmer’s market, but keep your eyes peeled for Camberwell’s other namesake: the Nymphalis Antiopa or ‘Camberwell Beauty’ butterfly.
The first recorded sighting of this brown butterfly was on Coldharbour Lane in 1748, and while the real fluttery insects can’t be found in Camberwell anymore, they remain a symbol of the parish.
Spot one adorning the entrance of Burgess Park, and on the side of the Lynn AC Boxing Club building (Britain’s oldest amateur club).
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