Be frank : would you say that city safe ?

[soazig]

Bonjour !
I'm a french mother writing from France.
My daughter wants to go to england, preferably London as an au pairgirl
She just got a proposal through an agency to be aupair in Sydenham.

she needs to stay in your country to improve her ....terrible....accent because although she writes and reads it quite well , her accent is very...french.
so I have several questions
Is your city a safe one ? I read the 2 last topics and they give me the impression that your city is quite violent and dangerous
Is it far away from London center ?
how long does it take to get there ?
are there many buses or trains every day, in the evening, at night , on sunday ?
is it dangerous to walk from the station to different parts of the city specially when it is dark ?
Do you know if there are language schools for au pair girls ?

So that's it, if you can answer me it will be great.
Soazig

[Voyageur]

45 + views and nobody's replied yet? Come on Sydenhamites! I don't even live in Sydenham burt I will have a go.

Bonjour Soazig

Is your city a safe one ? I read the 2 last topics and they give me the impression that your city is quite violent and dangerous
Sydenham is part of South East London, it is relatively safe as far as I am aware. Plenty of quiet residential roads and a busy high street.

Is it far away from London center ?
how long does it take to get there ?

8 -9 miles I think? I am sure someone will correct me. About 25 mins on a train? [edited to add: 6.8 miles Sydenham Station to Charing Cross Station - 2 hrs 18 minutes to walk (!)]
are there many buses or trains every day, in the evening, at night , on sunday ?
Plently of buses and trains, plus part of the tube (called the overground) that runs every few minutes. Trains run until quite late but night buses throughout the night.
is it dangerous to walk from the station to different parts of the city specially when it is dark ?
If you take sensible precautions then you are generally fine.
Do you know if there are language schools for au pair girls ?
I know there is a language school in Crystal Palace (a 10 minute bus ride from Sydenham) http://www.selectenglish.co.uk/locationlondon.php Not sure about Sydenham...

[leenewham]

Hi Soazig.

Yes, I'd say it's safe. I've never felt unsafe anywhere in London. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Overall crime has gone down over the last 10 years in the uk. Crime between youths has gone up. On forums such as these any crimes such as the ones you have read about will be far more visible than they were 10, 20, 30 years ago.

The best thing is to stay alert and be careful. Waving an iphone around which will give out a lot of light while walking down a dim sign street is inviting thieves, although even then you will have to be unlucky to get attacked.

Having just become a dad I can understand your concerns. But I've walked down Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris in the middle of a riot with people throwing bins through shop windows and no-one bothered me (even though I was wearing an England t-shirt…well, it was during the world cup). I'm sure your daughter will be fine. Sydenham is a nice area, well placed for getting into central london via the overground (30ish minutes to get into central London).

I wish your daughter well. As long as she is understandable I think accents are great, especially French. I'm sure she will find much to like here from the Arts Festival (she must go to the plays in the Dolphin, they are fantastic, West End standard), to places to eat like Trattoria, Ghurkas, The Dolphin, Blue Mountain Cafe, Sugahill, The Dolphin and Possibly the Greyhound (if it's open).

Looks like Sydenham is going European. We are taking on an German inturn who seems very nice and incredibly enthusiastic. It's telling that no design colleges got back to us in the UK or that we haven't had any really enthusiastic British students got in touch. I guess we must have full employment here!

Lee

[Manwithaview1]

Sydenham has been the Germanic suburb of London for quite a while.

Here are some pictures of Sydenham Hill and Sydenham









Sydenham is very green as well with plenty of parks and woods around.

Crime has fallen by about half in the UK 1994-2008 but has risen a little. Plus we have a new-ish French bakery in Kirkdale

[iandavenport]

Soazig

As the parent of three kids 21,18,15 and a long time resident of Sydenham I may be able to add a few points
Safety - Sydenham is no more dangerous than most of the outer London suburbs- as mentioned before there is a bit of violence between teenage boys through out London, but most of it is gang related between themselves, so should not affect your daughter
You comment on the two crime stories on here - don't forget people only post up news - if I started a thread "Peaceful on my road today", i doubt many would read it, apart maybe from curiosity.

Transport is great, the last train down from London is after 12:30, there is a night bus that comes straight into the town- must admit I have never caught it but my kids do, its slow, but quicker than walking.
Cant help on language schools, but central london is less than 30 minutes away , and there is quite a large French community in Sydenham, so she might be able to find something suitable through them.
tell her she can enjoy Sydenham as a way of being in London, but quieter than the city centre.

[Manwithaview1]

There is a language school in Beckenham, King's I think, which is just one bus ride away

http://www.kingscolleges.com/colleges/kings-london

[stuart]

Here is a view of Sydenham by one of your countrymen painted when he left Paris during the Franco Prussian war to live nearby. Its from the end of the road I live in and is quite recognisable today. The church at the end is St Barts, Westwood Hill. To see it now, go here: http://www.sydenham.org.uk/se26_lawrie_park_avenue.html



Better still, she can see the real thing and probably the best collections of French Impression outside Paris only 30 mins by train at The National Gallery, Courtauld Institute and many other fine galleries. Which are free!

As above transport is good. My daughters use the 176 bus (every 15 minutes through the night) from Central London when they go clubbing and feel quite safe on it. At 3am in the morning you walk quickly and assertively as you would in any capital city. Once acclimatised and friends with girls of the same age I'm sure your daughter will be very comfortable.

You won't get anything better without having to pay much more ...

Stuart

[stuart]

I forgot to add that London is the 7th largest French city:

There are now over 300,000 French people living in London - which means that the city has a larger French population than Lille! Most of the newcomers are young professionals - but what is attracting them to the British capital?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn ... age2.shtml

However, I would rather be living in Paris - only my French accent is incomprehensible

Stuart

[Manwithaview1]

I forgot to add that London is the 7th largest French city:

There are now over 300,000 French people living in London - which means that the city has a larger French population than Lille! Most of the newcomers are young professionals - but what is attracting them to the British capital?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn ... age2.shtml

However, I would rather be living in Paris - only my French accent is incomprehensible

Stuart

Many of the French community are based near South Kensington

[Tim Lund]

Sydenham - c'est bien agréable. La seule fois dans ma vie qu'on m'a attaqué avec un couteau était à Paris, en 1986. Mon conseil principal serait de ne pas venir ici par la Gare de Lyon.

[soazig]

Thanks a lot for all yours answers.
I hope the french community is not too big, because she needs to improve her accent in english
maybe she can improve her german too, it would be great
I was worried because we are from the province, we live in Brittanny. Actually, writing this post, I'm looking at the ocean only 10 yards away !!!

The last comment in french is very true. Last time I went to London I found people so nice and smily there.
to go back home I had to stay some hours in Paris....what a change !! they don't know anymore how to smile and be friendly there.
I think she'll be in Sydenham soon and may be I'll visit it too

thanks a lot again
Soazig (frances in britton)

[alywin]

I hope the french community is not too big, because she needs to improve her accent in english

N'ayez pas peur, Soazig! La communauté française se trouve au centre de Londres (surtout South Kensington), pas en banlieue!

Si votre fille n'est pas au fait avec la vie urbaine, comme vous le suggérez, il se peut qu'elle pourrait avoir des problèmes à s'adapter aux conditions à Londres, comme à n'importe quelle cité. Je suis sure (excusez-moi, les accents ne me sont pas tous disponibles!) que les parents de la famille chez laquelle elle habitera, et l'agence, pourront lui donner plus de conseils à cet égard. Et cela dépendra aussi d'ou elle habitera - j'ai l'impression que les familles qui ont des au pairs n'habitent pas normalement les lieux insalubres .

Quant aux cours d'anglais, oui, il y a le King's School (je crois que c'est le nom), ou elle serait avec beaucoup d'autres ados étrangers, ou alternativement il y a Bromley Adult Education qui donne des cours à Penge (http://www.bromleyadulteducation.ac.uk/ ... bpageid=20) - vous ne dites pas si votre fille est encore mineure ou non.

Lorsque vous disposez de plus de détails, n'hésitez pas à m'envoyer un message privé si vous avez besoin de plus d'infos

[MiniFox]

Hello Frances
How lovely to read a post on our forum that isnt about the pros and cons of our high street!

I've lived in Sydenham for 10 years and in London for 8 years before that. London is of course a major city with the same crime issues of any other major European city. However, I have been fortunate in that I have never experienced any kind of crime whilst living here and never felt unsafe in this city nor in this town. Yes, there are crime posts on the board and yes that isnt nice, but I think it's a reflection of a big city and wherever lots of people live together. It's really awful for anyone affected by such things, but I think it's because these occurances are thankfully not part of everyone's everyday expectations that they ARE posted on the forum to warn people to be vigilant. I've never been especially vigilant (although wouldnt advise anyone to follow my example!)

Sydenham is very green and has a wealth of transport connections every day of the week, which is why we chose to live here. It is quite easy to get across London very quickly and it is very accessible for both Gatwick and City which are both within 40 minutes' journey by train. It's about the same journey time to St Pancras for the Eurostar. London Bridge is 17minutes away, Canary Wharf 25 minutes away and Victoria Station is 35 minutes, all by direct trains.
There are trains leaving town after midnight plus night buses. There are 4 train stations within 20 minutes' walk of my home (the closest is 5 minutes away with trains very frequently.)
You can explore transport links using http://www.tfl.gov.uk/
This board shows real arrivals and departures to and from the station which gives a feel for just how busy the station is and how well served/ connected it is:
http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/SYD

It is not the quaintest of picture-postcard spots in London, but nor is it unpleasant. We are really fond of the parks and the history and the views (it's quite hilly in places). It's not an enclave of any kind of class or culture - it's quite diverse and I like that a lot.