Telling us where you are in Herne Hill
Say you are at Herne Hill station on Railton Road, opened in 1862, by Brockwell Park, at Brockwell Lido, the 1937 open air pool facing Dulwich Road, or at the Half Moon on Half Moon Lane, built in 1896. The velodrome is a shallow concrete bowl, not a steep modern track, and is another landmark people know. A road name with any of those is enough for a fixed price before anyone travels.
What the homes are like, and what that means for the lock
After the railway came, terraced streets grew up that now characterise the area. There are estates too: Delawyk Crescent has a Radburn layout that separates cars and people, the Hurst Street Estate has two pentagon plan tower blocks, and the Casino Estate was built by Camberwell Borough Council after the First World War. Southwark says the Stradella Road conservation area is a mix of continuous terraces and semi detached houses, largely unchanged since the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Terraced houses usually have a timber door with a nightlatch and a mortice lock, or a replacement uPVC door where the gearbox can fail. See uPVC door lock problems. In the tower blocks, flat doors are usually fire doors.
Planning rules on front doors
Southwark designated Stradella Road as a conservation area in 2000. On the Lambeth side, the Herne Hill conservation area was first designated in December 2007, around the junction with Half Moon Lane. In a conservation area, changes to a front door can need permission, so check with the council before you order a new one. A new lock is not a new door.
Common jobs
- Terraced houses with worn nightlatches and mortice locks.
- Lockouts opened without damage where possible.
- uPVC doors whose handle no longer throws the locks.
- Flat doors in the estate blocks, and lock changes after a lost key.
Questions people ask
Is Herne Hill in Lambeth or Southwark? Both: the boundary between Lambeth and Southwark runs through it. Give the road and the nearest landmark.
I am locked out. What should I do first? See locked out: what to do, then call.
Nearby
We also cover Dulwich, Camberwell and Crystal Palace.
All areas