Kidbrooke

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Kidbrooke is a district in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is about 7.5 miles southeast of Charing Cross. The name comes from the Kyd Brook, which passes through the area.

Historically, the area was rural and lightly populated. A church existed by the 12th century but declined by the 15th century. It stayed mostly countryside until the railway arrived in 1895, which helped new development. After World War II, housing and roads expanded, including the building of Rochester Way.

Much housing was built in the 1920s and 1930s, notably the Kidbrooke Park Estate. A large Royal Air Force base, RAF Kidbrooke, occupied land around the railway line. In 1965 the government released most of the land for housing.

The Ferrier Estate was built from 1968 as a major housing project but later became one of London’s largest deprived council estates. It was demolished in 2012 and is being redeveloped as Kidbrooke Village, a new community with about 5,300 homes designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.

South of the old Ferrier Estate is Sutcliffe Park, which has a lake and serves as flood protection. Rochester Way runs along the old route of Kidbrooke Lane and was later replaced by a dual carriageway that is part of the A2.

Today, a few former RAF buildings still exist near the station and are used for storage and conservation work, including the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre opened in 2019. Thomas Tallis School sits nearby on land from the old base.

Kidbrooke railway station provides Southeastern services to London Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Dartford and Slade Green. Bus routes 132, 178, 286, 335, 386 and B16 connect Kidbrooke with surrounding areas. The A2 gives quick access to central London and major roads.

Notable residents include comedian Jim Davidson, designer Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen, and singer Sandie Shaw. The band Still Corners also has ties to Kidbrooke.