Telling us where you are in Forest Hill
Forest Hill station (London Overground's Windrush line and Southern) has its main entrance on the South Circular and a side entrance on Perry Vale, so say which. The shops sit around London Road and Dartmouth Road. Up the hill, the Horniman Museum has a clock tower and a totem pole by the entrance. Once you name the entrance and the road, the price is agreed and the way in is explained.
What the homes are like, and what that means for the lock
Lewisham Council calls Forest Hill a typical 19th century suburb that grew after the railway arrived in 1839. Its conservation area appraisal describes large villas for city workers, often semi detached, and many have since been converted into flats. Later blocks of flats replaced older buildings on Honor Oak Road and Devonshire Road. The 2010 appraisal counted about a third of the buildings in the conservation area as shops with homes above, mostly near the station.
Villas often keep a timber front door with a nightlatch and a mortice lock, plus a door to each flat inside. Flats above shops tend to share a street door. The later blocks tend to have uPVC or composite doors, where a worn gearbox is a common fault.
Replacing a door in the conservation area
The council designated the Forest Hill conservation area in 1976 and has made an Article 4 direction for it. Under it, a house used as a single home needs planning permission to change a door visible from a public place, and flats and subdivided houses must apply to replace one. The council publishes a map, so check your street. A new lock is not a new door, so ask the council before you pay for a new one.
Common jobs
- Timber front doors on the villas, with worn nightlatches and mortice locks.
- Lock changes between tenancies in converted villas.
- Shared street doors to the flats above the London Road shops.
- uPVC doors in the later blocks whose handle will not lift.
Questions people ask
I live in a converted villa. Who owns the main front door? Usually the freeholder. Ask them first, and we can help with your own flat door.
Does a lock change need council permission? A new lock leaves the door in place. For a new door, check with the council first.
Nearby
We also cover Catford and Brockley.
All areas