This neighbourhood area falls roughly within the boundaries of Watling Street in the south, Erith Road to the west, Colyers Lane in the north and Northern Road and Perry’s Street in the east. It is central Bexleyheath’s neighbour directly to its east and the locale is serviced by Barnehurst train station; trains leave to London Cannon Street twice every hour and take approximately forty minutes to arrive during the morning peak hours. The housing range is diverse – from council built flat blocks (Hampton House) to solar panel topped modern developments (Sterling Road). Amenities are plentiful and can be found on roads near the station – the mock-Tudor lined Barnehurst Road features the Red Barn pub: a friendly ‘country pub in the city’ – or at the crossroads with Mayplace Road East which displays a typical set of convenience stores and barber shops. The area is relatively green, with the wooded Martens Grove Park making for a pleasant jogging space. Mayplace and Barnehurst local primary schools are both rated ‘good’ and above by Ofsted; St Catherine’s is a Catholic girls’ secondary school and Oakwood is a special secondary school, both rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

The history of Barnehurst is certainly unusual compared with the linear development of neighbouring settlements. Even during the period of time when Bexleyheath was attracting much attention, Barnehurst was a collection of orchards and estates. The railway’s arrival in 1895 did not spark an influx either, as it conventionally would. Perhaps the converting in 1903 of the main house in the vicinity, May Place, into a golf club would have triggered interest? Sadly, this would only boost the meagre numbers of train travellers on weekends. Only the 1926 electrification of the railway would catalyse the construction of 578 homes along Barnehurst Road. From the outset, the choice of housing was not the uniform 1930s semi-detached standard, as it featured bungalows. Interestingly, it was not New Ideal Homesteads, the regional housebuilding monopolists, who took the helm in this area. Perhaps as a result of the multiple earlier developers contributing to a competitive housing supply together with a painfully slow heating of the market, Barnehurst came to be one of the most affordably priced settlements in London at the time.

The legendary and highly polarising jazz pianist George Webb, also known as the pioneer of the traditional jazz revival of the 1950s, has a strong link with this locale. The Red Barn, previously mentioned, was built in 1936 and during WWII would host the scrawny jazzman and his Dixilanders band. Webb was a witty man with principles of steel. At the time, when jazz music had begun to separate into various strands such as the more grandiose swing music or the more light-hearted boogie-woogie, one camp – led by Webb – advocated an orthodox loyalty to the original New Orleans sound. This revival, incubated at the grassroots Bexley pub, would not last very long. When the Young Communist League would book the band for a series of concerts, the polarising effect of trad-jazz would be intensified. Yet the legacy of the Dixielanders-inspired revival would stretch and influence arguably, and ironically, all the way through to the rock ‘n roll era which so brutally would shut down the trad-jazz movement.

As may already have been inferred, prior to the late 20s Barnehurst, far from booming, was little more than a few cottages and golf clubs. Appropriately then, before the first wave of suburban development in the 20s, the road leading up to the station used to be called Hills and Holes Road, before being renamed to the current Barnehurst Road. The railway itself must have also presented a sorry image of itself back then: in the first decade after the opening of the station, not a single first-class ticket was sold.

Barnehurst today is a much busier picture than that of a hundred years ago and perhaps due to its proximity to the shopping and civic centre of the borough, there is a medium level of crime, mostly around the A220 and A206 roads leading to Erith and is mostly antisocial. With a slightly hilly terrain, the area may also be less attractive to older potential settlers. For a recently moved-in Barnehurst inhabitant, navigating around is “dead simple, thanks to the straight-forward planning”.

There are not any projected housing developments forecast directly within this neighbourhood area. Development interest and even the Council’s attention seems to be primarily focused on nearby Bexleyheath and Erith town centre. However, the slick new estate at The Watlings, a collection of 27 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom flats and houses that were all sold or rented shortly following completion, may be an indicator of the kind of long term demand present in this area.