About Us

Woodfalls is a family-run opticians with branches in South East London, Kent and Surrey.

We pride ourselves on the expert and friendly service we offer at each of our six branches.

John Fried, the Proprietor, started out in the optical world in the early 1960’s, working with his father, manufacturing spectacle frames in a small factory in Goswell Road, Islington. 

He rapidly discovered that it was far more satisfying to work with patients, dispensing frames and lenses so went to City & East London College and studied to become a dispensing optician. 

On qualification he worked for R. Woodfall Opticians firstly in the Brixton and Rye Lane Peckham branches, and when the Sydenham Practice was bought in 1970, John transferred there and became a partner in 1975. 

Rupert Woodfall, who started in optics in a small shop in Choumert Road Market just off Rye Lane was the original practice owner and when the practice was bought it was decided to keep the name due to its excellent reputation. 

The clinical reputation and range of services offered by our original concept has continued to grow, our success has been due to our committed optometrists, fully qualified dispensing and contact lens opticians, optical assistants and a team of very dedicated support staff.  As our reputation has grown, as has the number of practices.  

We are delighted to say that our newest practice opened in 2023, and Crystal Palace joined Sydenham, West Norwood, and East Dulwich under the name of R. Woodfall, and Purley (known as Pursers Opticians)  and Welling (known as Linklater & Gothelf Opticians) to form the 6 practices in the  R. Woodfall Group. 

The practices are fully equipped with the latest in optical equipment and all of our branches offer specialist services. We have the latest OCT (optical coherence tomography) machines at all six sites, we now also offer Optomap in East Dulwich plus The Hearing Care Partnership to provide all things audiology across our six branches.   

As an independent group of opticians we dedicate the time necessary to ensure our customers receive the best care and advice. We work closely with our clinical partners to ensure we focus on our local communities and provide the very best clinical care.