Opening a small gallery inside a sweetshop has created opportunities for artists to showcase their work on Barnet High Street

Alice and Michael Kentish hope a micro gallery at their traditional sweetshop Hopscotch will provide the town’s artistic community with some much-needed exhibition space.

Artists and creative groups will be able to take advantage of what Alice Kentish (above) says is their strongly held wish to find ways to help inspire and encourage creativity.

First to go on display are paintings of colourful scenes, vibrant flowers and the natural world by Nathalie Dehaye which reflect the artist’s love of France and the Caribbean.

With over 30 paintings, together with a selection of Nathalie’s cards, the exhibition has transformed the rear of the shop and illustrates how engaging and intimate a micro gallery can be.

Michael and Alice are planning to stage a fresh display every month or so and are hoping local creative groups and school art classes will take up the opportunity to showcase their work.

Opening a micro gallery is something they had both wanted to do. They hope their accessible, welcoming space will encourage Barnet’s many talented artists to share their work with the wider community.

“We think it is so important to inspire and encourage people to be creative.

“We have thought for a long time that more should be done to expose people to art, yet there are so few places in High Barnet where original arts and crafts can go on display.

“Hopefully our micro gallery will help fill that gap and, in the process, help inspire and encourage people to be creative.”

This latest innovation at Hopscotch – which has been trading on the High Street for the last 17 years – is an extension of shop window displays in support of local causes and events.

In recent weeks Hopscotch has given pride of places to a display of scarecrows made by members of a group meeting under the auspices of Age UK and the Flower Bank of New Barnet.