New Eltham

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New Eltham
Kent

Shops in Footscray Road, New Eltham
Location
Grid reference: TQ440730
Location: 51°26’16"N, -0°4’13"E
Data
Post town: London
Postcode: SE9
Dialling code: 020
Local Government
Council: Greenwich
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Eltham

New Eltham is a commuter suburb in Kent, which first developed out of its neighbour, Eltham. New Eltham lies to the south of Eltham, and both are now deep in the metropolitan conurbation, contiguous with the towns around.

The crossroads around the railway station are the hub of the area, with the library, post office and other shops along Footscray and Avery Hill Roads providing the area's amenities.

Neighbouring to the south-west at the end of Green Lane is Chislehurst, with Eltham and Sidcup at either ends of Footscray Road.

History

New Eltham grew up as a suburb of farmland to the south of Eltham in and around the small hamlet and crossroads of Pope's Street.

The railway station was opened in 1878 as "Pope Street", and acted as a catalyst for growth. Less than a decade later in 1886, the station officially became known as "New Eltham". The redevelopment of land into housing had spread southwards from Eltham, the Pope Street area being rechristened as a new extension. On the main building of Wyborne School (Footscray Road) there is a sign, clearly identifying it as "Pope Street" School, built in 1904.

As part of the Cold War Civil defence, a rectangular windowless blockhouse was built in 1954 behind New Eltham library. It served as the Woolwich Borough Control and when Woolwich merged with Greenwich in 1965 it took over the role as the Greenwich Borough Control. The control was part of the South East London Group reporting to the Regional Group War HQ at Chislehurst and later to Pear Tree House. Further information about the bunker can be found in the Subterranea Britannica, see the Outside links section below.

Until the mid 1970s New Eltham had three butchers, two greengrocers, three grocers, two toy shops, a cobbler, two barbers, a radio and television repair shop, a clothing and material store, timber yard, cycle sales and repairs, two motor spares, hardware store, two dairies and a fishmongers. What is now the Co-operative supermarket was actually composed of smaller separate-purpose shops (all Co-ops). From the station end, was a greengrocers, a chemist, butchers then the co-op grocery store. There was a fishmongers that later became a fish and chip shop (and still is as of 2008). Behind this, in what is now the car park was the Co-op dairy, the other (Unigate) was in Green Lane near Fiveways in what is now a small business park.

In 1974 the bridge (crossing the railway line) at Avery Hill Road was widened to allow buses to cross it. This replaced a narrow iron bridge which only had a separate path on one side for pedestrians.

There has not been any major developments or sprawl in the area. Extra housing has been built where factories were closed and demolished, notably in Hainault Street and more recently on the site of the Stanley factory at the junction of Avery Hill and Lannoy Road.

Sport and recreation

New Eltham Joggers is a running club based in the area. They claim to be the friendliest group of runners in the South East, and take part in many events wearing their distinctive green shirts. They have a website where full details of upcoming events and training are available. See Outside links below.

New Eltham Operatic Society is a member of the National Operatic and Dramatic Association. As well as organising regular social events, they present one major production each year in April and one Autumn Concert, generally in September. See Outside links section below for a link to the society website for further details.

Footscray RUFC is located on Footscray Road - a rugby club that proudly follows rugby traditions. The club is better known for its reputation off the pitch rather than its playing prowess. The Footscray 7s is a highly competitive annual Rugby 7s tournament held at the club on the first Saturday in May. The tournament attracts entries from across the country.

Newpark FC play in the South London Alliance. Several other local football clubs and the Football League side Charlton Athletic have their training ground in New Eltham, down Sparrows Lane.

RACS Cricket Club is based in the area.

New Eltham also consists of two football teams of the same name in different competitive leagues, one of those play in the London & Kent Borders League and are based at the STC Ground on Ivor Grove on Sunday mornings. The team has two published authors, Andrew Muckle and Daniel Harrison, who both live in New Eltham, wrote Don't Drink the Water a travel diary charting their exploits whilst Inter-railing around Western Europe. The other New Eltham play in the Woolwich & Eltham League, based at the London girls' football club on Southwood Road who play on a Sunday morning.

Amenities

Near the Railway station is the Library, the Co-operative Food Store, a cluster of small shops and restaurants and the Post Office. Larger chain stores may be found in nearby Eltham High Street and the larger shopping areas of Bromley and Bluewater are a short drive away.

Railway stations

Frequent services from New Eltham railway station operate to London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross & Cannon Street terminals in Central London. Journey times average around 20 minutes. Connections are also made with Lewisham Station (10 minutes) where Docklands Light Railway services operate to the Docklands commercial district.

The following stations are adjacent stops on the line to Charing Cross and Cannon Street stations in London known locally as the Dartford Loop:

The following stations are adjacent stops on the line to Charing Cross and Cannon Street stations in London known locally as the Bexleyheath Line.

Outside links

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