This neighbourhood is located just east of Beckenham High Street, and is bounded by Beckenham Place Park to the north, as well as by the train line along Ravensbourne Avenue and Ravensbourne River to the east, which connects to Ravensbourne train station. To the south is Bromley Road, which leads directly to Beckenham Lane and Bromley town centre about a half an hour’s walk away, or less than 10 minutes’ drive. Beckenham Place Park is very much a feature of the area, as well as Beckenham Lawn Tennis Club, which contrary to its name also hosts grounds for other sports such as cricket, hockey and football. The area is somewhat split in half by a railway line – with the northern half containing Beckenham Place Park and the Tennis Club, as well as Foxgrove Road with its shops connecting up to Ravensbourne. The southern part of the locale is sandwiched by Bromley and Albemarle Road, in the latter of which lies BMI The Sloane Hospital as well as a well-established production company (SG Productions), performing for a wide variety of clients from The Marriot Group to The Starlight Children’s Foundation.

The Manor of Foxgrove, to which Foxgrove Road today takes its name from, was a farm belonging to a family of the same name back in the 14th century. It was broken up sometime during the building boom in the area during the late-1800s. The area was later used by Kent County Cricket Club (County Cricket Ground, Beckenham today) for first-class cricket matches. The same grounds have also hosted several tennis games and championships, as well as a few Oxford versus Cambridge varsity hockey matches up until the mid-twentieth century.

With so many sports grounds, it is unsurprising that Beckenham is home to many sportsmen who have moved into the area in recent years. David Haye, for instance, boxing champion, moved to the area in 2010, and the young tennis player Emma Raducanu grew up playing at the local Parklangley Club, winning the 2021 US Open at the age of 18.

The comedian, actor and television host Bob Monkhouse lived at 168 Bromley Road. He was famous for his ad lib comedy, and presented an array of shows from The Bob Monkhouse Show to Wipeout; in addition he starred in radio programmes, sang songs, authored books and appeared in films. He passed away in 2003, having left us with memorable quotes such as “Silence is not only golden, it is seldom misquoted.”

The Ravensbourne River runs east of the neighbourhood, and has recorded industry since the times of the Domesday Book (a few corn mills). Interestingly, though no larger than a creek, it is actually a tributary of the River Thames, and with access to Deptford Dockyard it housed many small shipbuilders from the 1500s to the 1800s. The name allegedly comes from when Caesar was romping around these parts, and his troops were looking for water. Upon spotting a raven, they followed it, leading to the Ravensbourne.

Over the past couple of years, Lewisham Council have been working to improve the eastern edge of Beckenham Place Park itself, focussing on nature and interaction with the River Ravensbourne to develop better leisure facilities for all ages. The rejeuvenation of the park will utilise landscape features to increase biodiversity and in doing so reduce flood risk to neighbouring areas, as well as improving walking, running and cycling routes. The plan is set to complete in the Summer of 2023.