All Archived Articles

Barnet Market

Feb 27, 2011 Barnet Market
Cattle auction at the Barnet Market site c. 1906
Planning applications have been made for the Barnet Market site - one for improvements to the site for market…

Barnet Christmas Fayre

Feb 27, 2011 Events
Barnet Xmas Fayre stalls
The Fayre on the first weekend in December was a very good event this year – despite the weather being…

High Barnet Summer Festival 2011

Feb 27, 2011 Events
St John's
Plans are underway. masterminded by the Barnet Residents Association, for a 10-day festival this summer to…

LDF Core Strategy

Feb 27, 2011 Planning
The Barnet Society has made representations to Barnet Council over the latest stage of the Core Strategy of…

Proposed improvements for pedestrians in Barnet High Street 1

Feb 27, 2011 Road Improvements
Traffic lights in Wood Street
In spite of the Barnet Society having drawn up plans for improving the junction of the High Street and Wood…

Dollis Valley Regeneration 1

Feb 27, 2011 Consultations
Dollis Valley Proposal
Proposals for the phased redevelopment of the Dollis Valley estate are advancing. The overall development…

Chipping Barnet Town Centre Strategy Board

Feb 27, 2011 Planning
Barnet viewed from St John's Tower
The Barnet Society has been lobbying the Council for some time for a Town Centre Framework for Chipping…

Protecting the Green Belt

Mar 11, 2011 Planning
Sites along Barnet Lane
The constitution of The Barnet Society requires us to seek to protect the Green Belt around Chipping Barnet.…

Tower Openings and concerts

Jul 05, 2011 Events
View from Church Tower
People have again been enjoying the view from the top the tower of our parish church, St John the Baptist.

Barnet Court House - conversion to flats receives consent

Jul 05, 2011 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Barnet Court House
In 2011 an application to demolish the Barnet Court House and replace it with a modern block of flats was…

Barnet Countryside Centre

Feb 20, 2012 Planning
Redevelopment plans
Noah’s Ark Childrens’ Hospice has received planning consent for reserved matters for their proposed…

Plans for Union Street

Feb 20, 2012 Planning
Union Street School
An exhibition was held in mid-January to show plans for the proposed redevelopment of St Martha's Convent…

Cat Hill 1

Feb 20, 2012 Planning
Cat Hill proposal
A major planning application for the redevelopment of the former Middlesex University campus at Cat Hill in…

Town Centre Uplift 1

Aug 10, 2012 Road Improvements
Church Passage
Some long-awaited summer sunshine in late July provided the final seal of approval for Barnet’s town centre…

Barnet’s disappearing public houses 3

Aug 20, 2012 General News
The Black Horse
Like so much of the rest of the country High Barnet is losing its historic public houses at an alarming rate.…

Barnet’s town hall: an inspiring conversion 1

Sep 10, 2012 Restoration & Rejuvenation
North London Coroner's Court
Barnet’s former town hall, opposite St John’s Church, provides a positive reminder of the imaginative uses…

Barnet Museum

Sep 10, 2012 Barnet History
New frontage for Barnet Museum
Barnet Museum has been fighting for its life since December 2010 when the Council announced that it would be…

Saving the Red Cross building: Mission nearly accomplished!

Jan 31, 2013 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Former Red Cross building
Restoring and putting to good use Barnet’s rich heritage of historic buildings has become an increasingly…

Barnet Football Club’s departure going ahead as planned

Jan 31, 2013 Barnet Football Club
Barnet Football Club
Barnet Football Club’s match against Wycombe Wanderers in the npower League 2 on Saturday 20 April will be…

Barnet Football Club

Jan 31, 2013 Barnet Football Club
Barnet Football Club
Barnet Football Club’s departure going ahead as planned. Barnet Football Club’s match against Wycombe…

New owner for the Spires Shopping Centre

Apr 09, 2013 High Street The Spires
The Spires
A fresh start for retailing in Chipping Barnet: the Spires shopping centre has been purchased by the William…

'Rambles Round Barnet' a best seller!

Apr 17, 2013 Rambles
Rambles Round Barnet
Barnet Society publication ‘Rambles Round Barnet’ is the no 1 local best-seller at Waterstones Barnet!

North London Waste Plan

Apr 30, 2013 Services
Barnet Recycling
North London’s much-troubled plan for handling municipal rubbish and waste is out for consultations once…

Go ahead for Barnet environment centre rebuild 2

Apr 30, 2013 Planning
Former school buildings beside the Byng Road entrance
A donation of £750,000 will enable work to start this summer on the construction of a new eco-friendly…

Barnet’s derelict NHS buildings: Same tired excuses 3

May 13, 2013 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The abandoned Marie Foster Home in Wood Street
In the two years since the Barnet Society began protesting about derelict NHS buildings nothing has changed.…

Barnet and Southgate College: 'Our doors are open'

Jun 26, 2013 General News
College doors open for community
High Barnet residents have been invited to come up with ideas to use the facilities at the Wood Street campus…

Barnet market: now it’s up to Spires’ new owners to deliver

Jun 26, 2013 Barnet Market
Barnet Market
Resurfacing the site of Barnet market and installing basic facilities for the stallholders is the first test…

The Spires shopping centre: will the twin spires have to go? 17

Jul 05, 2013 High Street The Spires
The Spires
The Spires' new owner wants to create a more 'enticing' entrance from the High Street that would attract more…

Barnet Market improvements ready by September 1

Jul 05, 2013 Barnet Market
Barnet Market site to be improved
Barnet Market’s improved site should be open for business by September, ready to attract new stall holders.

Rambles Round Barnet Update

Jul 15, 2013 Rambles
Update regarding Rambles Round Barnet
Footpath closure affecting 'Rambles Round Barnet' Part 1. Update to infomation.

Know any famous people born in Barnet's maternity hospital? 52

Jul 16, 2013 General News
The old Victoria Hopsital now appartments on Wood Street
For well over 60 years the Victoria Maternity Hospital served the people of the Barnets, but today there is…

Sad café: Old Court House park in need of refreshment 1

Jul 30, 2013 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Eating mess: café has lain idle for years and the adjoining area has become overgrown
High Barnet’s most popular children’s playground in the Old Court House recreation ground could become even…

Clamped! how petition spurred council to give up fight

Jul 31, 2013 Petition
Barnet Council’s defeat in the High Court made headlines
A successful petition has helped to stop Barnet Council from appealing against the High Court ruling on…

Barnet Council finally backs down after High Court defeat

Aug 05, 2013 Petition
David Attfield led the fight
After having originally threatened to appeal against a High Court ruling that it had acted unlawfully in…

Council enforcement notice on 'Swiss Chalet' 3

Aug 15, 2013 Planning
Swiss chalet or a fine addition to drab frontage?
After a rising chorus of protest from local community and residential groups, Barnet Council has finally…

Barnet Council to change decision process

Aug 27, 2013 Consultations
Barnet Council Consultation
The council is proposing to change the way that decisions are taken and introduce a Committee System form of…

Chaotic approach to High Barnet tube 6

Aug 29, 2013 Road Improvements
Congested chaos at High Barnet Tube
Reorganise chaotic approach to High Barnet tube station to provide space for a bus service direct to the…

Barnet’s multiplying wheelie bins...black, green and now blue 8

Aug 29, 2013 Services
Multiplying Wheelie Bins
Barnet residents are about to face what looks like becoming a game of musical chairs among the wheelie bins…

Road improvements planned at Wood Street accident black spot

Sep 12, 2013 Road Improvements
Wellhouse junction on Wood Street blackspot
A road realignment, a possible new zebra crossing and extra footpaths are being proposed at the junction of…

At Last! Barnet Market improvements 1

Sep 21, 2013 Barnet Market
Just great news
While work is under way resurfacing Barnet Market its temporary home will be the area around the bandstand…

Temporary home for Barnet Market

Sep 28, 2013 Barnet Market
Barnet Market now in the bandstand area of The Spires
While work is underway resurfacing Barnet Market, its temporary home is the area around the bandstand outside…

No recycling w/c 7th October

Oct 01, 2013 Services
No collections next week
As part of the preparations to deliver Barnet’s new waste and recycling service, Barnet Council will be…

“Terrific victory” for Friends of Barnet Market 2

Oct 01, 2013 Barnet Market
Work commences on the long awaited upgrade to facilities at Barnet Market
Rarely has the presence of a mechanical digger been welcomed with such enthusiasm as greeted its arrival on…

Barnet in the fall: visit Whitings Hill

Oct 08, 2013 General News
Whittings Hill
Whitings Hill is hardly likely to rival New England in the fall, but two plantations planted almost 20 years…

Archaeologists to find real site of Battle of Barnet 9

Oct 08, 2013 Barnet History
The Battle of Barnet 1471
An application is to be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund to see if it would agree to pay for an…

Old Court House Café reopens 1

Oct 16, 2013 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The Old Court House Café in the recreational grounds
After a lengthy closure the Old Court House recreation ground has a functioning café once again. A new tenant…

Barnet Then and Now 3

Oct 17, 2013 Books
Image from the book - Barnet Then and Now
Old and new photographs of local buildings and views have been brought together in Barnet Then and Now, a new…

High Barnet's broadband fiasco 15

Oct 21, 2013 Broadband
Several thousand High Barnet customers have no idea when they will get superfast broadband
Several thousand properties in and around High Barnet’s conservation area have been left without any clear…

The new Battle of Barnet? 1

Oct 24, 2013 Barnet History
The Old Ford Manor Golf Club at Monken Hadley
A plan to deposit landfill on the golf course that takes in part of the site of the Battle of Barnet has…

Bin There? 2

Oct 25, 2013 Services
Collector at work early morning
New recycling service: an eyewitness report from a Barnet Society member. High Barnet householders have been…

Golf club wins first round in new Battle of Barnet 1

Oct 29, 2013 Barnet History
Waste not: under proposals, landfill would be used to 're-contour' the course and up to 60 poplar trees felled
If planning approval can be obtained, Barnet Council will allow landfill to be used to re-contour a golf…

Market re-opening: just the kind of celebration High Barnet needs

Nov 14, 2013 Barnet Market
Stall holder back on refurbished market site
Celebrations along the high streets of Britain have been few and far between in the last few years, so the…

Town centre to be transformed

Nov 17, 2013 Events
Barnet Fair in the High Street
Local shops and businesses are pulling out all the stops to ensure a spectacular line-up of events and…

Rambles Round Barnet Part 2

Nov 20, 2013 Rambles
Rambles Round Barnet
Rambles Round Barnet 2 went on sale for the first time at the Christmas Fair on Sunday 1st December 2013. It…

Church Passage cladding: An inspector decides 9

Nov 22, 2013 Planning
The building in Church Passage
A planning inspector has now been appointed to consider the objections made by the Barnet Society and other…

Will grocery collection add to Tube station congestion? 2

Nov 23, 2013 Road Improvements
ASDA and TfL claim that conjestion at the car park will not increase
Transport for London say its decision to allow Asda supermarkets to use High Barnet tube station for its…

The best ever Barnet Christmas Fair

Dec 02, 2013 Events
All the fun of the fair
All the fun of the fair filled the High Street for the annual Barnet Christmas Fair, which many judged was…

One hour free at Moxon Street car park 4

Dec 03, 2013 Road Improvements
Moxon Street Car Park
After sustained pressure from local traders and community groups, Barnet Council has agreed to provide a…

Theresa Villiers opposes golf course landfill

Dec 15, 2013 Barnet History
MP Theresa Villiers
Local residents who are against plans for tree-felling and landfill on the site of Old Fold Manor Golf Club…

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs dies 1

Dec 18, 2013 General News
Imfamous Barnet resident Ronnie Biggs
Ronnie Biggs, who spent the final years of his life at the Carlton Court Care Home in Bells Hill Barnet, has…

The changing face of Chipping Barnet 5

Jan 06, 2014 Planning
Barnet High Street
Like much of the south-east of England, Chipping Barnet is seeing a rapid rise in home extensions and offices…

Barnet’s historic physic well now sad and forlorn 10

Jan 08, 2014 Barnet History
Barnet Physic Well
Is Barnet in danger of losing another historic link with the past? The well house protecting the town’s…

Church Passage Swiss Chalet to go 6

Jan 15, 2014 Planning
Swiss Chalet Cladding
A planning inspector has ordered that unauthorised timber cladding must be removed from the frontage of…

Backing for Battle of Barnet dig

Jan 15, 2014 Barnet History
Battle of Barnet
A final decision is expected by the end of January on the extent of financial support from the Heritage…

Rambles Round Barnet Updates

Jan 15, 2014 Rambles
Rambles Round Barnet
Members will recall that a previous update on 11th September 2013 referred to the closure of the Totteridge…

Green belt “critical to the health” of Barnet

Jan 27, 2014 Planning
The Green Belt
Barnet has probably more to thank the politicians and planners of the 1930s and 1940s for than any other town…

MP tackles BT but is High Barnet any the wiser? 5

Feb 06, 2014 Broadband
Theresa Villiers tackles BT over High Barnet broadband fiasco
A long-awaited meeting between Theresa Villiers MP and senior executives of British Telecom has still left…

Now The Spires without the twin spires 44

Feb 14, 2014 High Street The Spires
The twin spires have gone in this proposal
Two designs for a new High Street entrance to the Spires shopping centre – one of which would be without the…

Twin spires to stay 7

Feb 24, 2014 High Street The Spires
The twin Spires will stay
A controversial plan to demolish the twin spires to provide a new entrance to the Spires shopping centre has…

Battle of Barnet dig - will Boris intervene? 1

Mar 06, 2014 Barnet History
Boris Johnson Mayor of London
Hopes have been dashed of getting approval for an early start to an archaeological excavation to determine…

Wet, wetter, wettest

Mar 10, 2014 Weather
Angela Morris inspecting her rain gauge.
After collecting High Barnet’s rainfall figures since the 1980s, a Barnet family can say without hesitation…

Age shall not weary them

Mar 19, 2014 Barnet History
'Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn'
Local historians are busy researching the lives of Barnet men who lost their lives in the First World War.…

And the band played on...

Mar 19, 2014 Events
The Band in the 1930's
Barnet Museum is staging a display of instruments and memorabilia belonging to Barnet Band, thought to be the…

Barnet a boutique shopping town?

Mar 29, 2014 High Street The Spires
Could Barnet be turned into a must-visit boutique shopping town?
An imaginative array of ideas for reviving Barnet’s shopping centre was outlined at the Barnet Society’s…

British Telecom on the spot 4

Mar 29, 2014 Broadband
Mrs Theresa Villiers, Chipping Barnet MP, with Ken Rowland of Salisbury Road, Barnet, one of the many local residents without a fast broadband connection
The Barnet Society pinpoints the sites of missing telecoms cabinets needed to deliver a fast broadband…

Events at Barnet Market

Apr 02, 2014 Events
Both new and established stalls are at Barnet Market
The Friends of Barnet Market have orgainsied a series of events this Spring to encourage new shoppers to…

New bus stops for High Barnet 1

Apr 19, 2014 Services
If the No. 34 terminated at the Arkley public house The Red Lion stop could be used for other buses
A new layout for High Barnet’s bus stops could benefit passengers and speed up traffic flow. Transport for…

Plans go in for Spires’ facelift

Apr 23, 2014 High Street The Spires
Carluccio’s will take the lease left by WH Smith
A restaurant with an outside seating area will become part of the High Street frontage of the Spires’…

Loads of cash to improve Barnet’s traffic bottleneck 1

Apr 29, 2014 Services
High Barnet traffic mayhem
Barnet Council has almost £150,000 available which could be spent immediately on improving the road junction…

Swiss chalet cladding off but saga goes on

May 01, 2014 Planning
Covered with yet another facade
Barnet Council has promised that a heritage officer will carry out an inspection in Church Passage in the…

Preview - The new look Spires

May 02, 2014 High Street The Spires
Proposed new-look entrance for The Spires
New look for Spires shopping centre: a continental cafe-style culture for Barnet High Street?

Pop-up to encourage revival 1

May 12, 2014 High Street The Spires
Gail Laser (centre) with Samantha Wrightson, and Daniel Wrightson
One of the many vacant frontages along Barnet High Street is about to get a new lease of life as a pop-up…

Abandoned Marie Foster home could become GP surgery 2

May 14, 2014 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The derelict Marie Foster home on Wood Street
Feasibility study begins on future use of abandoned Marie Foster Home: could it become the site of a new GP…

34 bus route too costly to extend 1

May 27, 2014 Services
34 bus at top of Barnet Hill
Transport for London has turned down a suggestion by the Barnet Society that by slightly extending the final…

New bid for Battle of Barnet excavation

May 27, 2014 Barnet History
Glenn Foard
Glenn Foard, a celebrated military archaeologist, is to spend a day assessing the prospects for a new bid to…

Barnet stadium for sale

Jun 02, 2014 Barnet Football Club
Last match at Underhill
Underhill stadium, home ground of Barnet Football Club for over a century, is to be sold. News that the…

Dory’s cafe: a Barnet institution 4

Jun 03, 2014 High Street The Spires
Tony and Dorina, their son and daughter, Giuliano and Angela, continuing a family tradition at Dory’s cafe
When customer satisfaction is the only protection against the tsunami of change that is sweeping through so…

Wood Street’s whalebones - 75 years in situ 1

Jun 03, 2014 Barnet History
Wood Street's whalebones are 75 years in situ and still in good shape
Seventy-five years ago workmen from a local building contractor, W. Foster & Sons, were asked to complete a…

Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School – an academic hothouse at the expense of local boys? 7

Jun 04, 2014 Services
Could the school do more to celebrate its local connections?
Around 2,000 boys from across London and the Home Counties are again expected to apply to study at Barnet’s…

Yet more BT delays 2

Jun 15, 2014 Broadband
British Telecom has been forced to admit that there will be another lengthy delay in providing a fast…

Where have all the butchers gone? 2

Jun 16, 2014 High Street The Spires
John Bye preparing meat at Butcher’s Hook, the last remaining butcher’s shop on Barnet High Street
Just imagine the bustle and activity of 1898 when such was the competition in the High Street of Barnet that…

Petition for new primary school in High Barnet 11

Jun 19, 2014 Services
Foulds Primary School - one of three High Barnet primary schools where demand for places exceeds supply
Parents of children due to start school from 2016 onwards are being urged to sign a petition to support a…

New private hospital for High Barnet

Jun 20, 2014 Planning
The new Hadley Wood Hospital without the additional two floors
Even before the completion of its fitting out, an application has been made for planning permission to almost…

Carluccio's opening date set 1

Jun 27, 2014 High Street The Spires
Carluccio's to open next summer in the revamped Spires
Facelift for the Spires to be finished by the spring ready for Carluccio’s restaurant to open next summer.…

Barnet Museum’s garden party brings history to life

Jun 30, 2014 Barnet History
Dr Gillian Gear, Barnet Museum’s archivist (far left), with Mrs Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, Martin Russell, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Greater London, and Mike Noronha, co-curator of the museum
Two local history projects connecting Barnet’s past to the present day have been officially unveiled at…

The generosity of Barnet’s benefactors

Jul 04, 2014 Barnet History
Thomas Watson Cottage Homes in Leecroft Road
Tucked away at the end of Leecroft Road, unseen by many local residents, are the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes,…

New beginning for former schoolhouse

Jul 16, 2014 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Christ Church School is being extensively renovated to provide a drop-in facility for the elderly
After raising the staggering sum of half a million pounds, work has started on the first phase of an…

High Barnet’s third-world broadband service 14

Jul 18, 2014 Broadband
Shameful excuses from BT mean slow internet speeds for many properties in High Barnet
British Telecom reworks its ever-lasting litany of excuses and is finally being forced to admit to internet…

Milestone for the almshouses

Jul 26, 2014 Barnet History
From left to right Robert Colgate, Mrs Jenny Harrold, Mrs Sarah Housden and Ms Heather Colgate
Descendants of the family that established the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes, which are tucked away at the end…

The busy bees of Barnet

Aug 04, 2014 General News
“Where is she?” . . . Steve Leveridge, education officer of the Barnet District Beekeepers Association, looking for the queen in a 50,000-strong bee hive at the Association’s High Barnet apiary
Barnet’s bee population – and the borough’s beekeepers – are in very good shape thanks to the enthusiasm and…

Battle of Barnet dig could enhance the role of Barnet Museum

Aug 15, 2014 Barnet History
Barnet Museum is one of the few remaining community museums in Greater London, run by volunteers
Barnet Museum is drawing up plans for a possible extension to its Wood Street premises and a programme of…

Four candles please

Aug 21, 2014 High Street The Spires
Julian Stewart takes no more than a minute to find one out of thousands of items he stocks in Bargain Buys
“Four candles please” – a regular request at Bargain BuysBargain Buys is High Barnet’s answer to the decline…

Plans for a heritage trail for the Battle of Barnet

Aug 22, 2014 Barnet History
The body of King Richard III, discovered in a council car park in Leicester, is to be buried in Leicester Cathedral
A Battle of Barnet heritage trail starting at Hadley Highstone is just one of the ambitious plans for…

Ground-breaking project for older women’s housing 8

Aug 31, 2014 Restoration & Rejuvenation
An artist’s impression of the new complex of flats for older women
Work is about to start in Union Street, just off Barnet High Street, on the construction of twenty-five flats…

Barnet Police Station’s open day 1

Sep 01, 2014 Services
Balloons, games and cups of tea were all on offer
Face-painting, games, balloons and cups of tea were among the attractions at Barnet Police Station’s open day…

Guns & Smoke: too quick on the draw? 11

Sep 01, 2014 Planning
Guns and Smoke, promises to be a new venue at the heart of High Barnet’s conservation area
Guns & Smoke, a new American-style bar and grill at the heart of the High Barnet conservation area, is…

Marchers against NHS privatisation

Sep 07, 2014 Services
Marchers outside Barnet Hospital
Chants of “Our NHS, your NHS” echoed around the Wellhouse Lane entrance to Barnet Hospital as the People’s…

Opening of High Street showcase 1

Sep 14, 2014 High Street The Spires
Interior of the new shop at 89 High Street
Love Barnet’s pop-up shop at 89 High Street promoting locally produced crafts and goods had what the staff…

The bees knees

Sep 28, 2014 Events
Councillor Hugh Rayner, Mayor of Barnet, presenting Annette Chmiel with the Centenary Cup
Honey from hives at Friern Barnet allotments scooped the top prize at the 100th annual show of Barnet…

Rare flowers from Totteridge 1

Oct 14, 2014 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Philip Patenall and his son Matthew, with Sue Bird, vice-chair of Friends of Barnet Countryside Centre
Work is well underway preparing the ground for planting a wild-flower meadow which will become a major new…

Building on the fringe

Oct 14, 2014 Planning
Similar house design to the proposed 105 Camlet Way
Green Belt surrounds Chipping Barnet on three sides, and the Barnet Society was founded in 1945 to protect…

Telling the time once again

Oct 14, 2014 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The new gold leaf on the Roman numerals shining bright in the autumn sunshine
Barnet church has its clock back at last! For almost a month High Barnet residents looked in vain when…

Another independent trader closes 3

Oct 20, 2014 High Street The Spires
Loyal customers shocked to read the bailiff’s notice on the front door of the Oasis coffee shop
Saturday shoppers queued up in disbelief to read a bailiff’s notice posted on the front door of the Oasis…

Former Barnet MP dies 2

Oct 23, 2014 Events
Sir Sydney Chapman
Family, friends and constituents have been paying tribute to Sir Sydney Chapman, the former Conservative MP…

Barnet Fair 2014

Oct 28, 2014 High Street The Spires
On the Christmas train
Once again the communities of Barnet come together on the first Sunday in December, to celebrate the huge…

SOS our town centre is dying 11

Nov 03, 2014 High Street The Spires
The Barnet Society is launching a Save Our High Street appeal: our town centre desperately needs more…

Barnet’s Old MacDonald’s Farm 4

Nov 03, 2014 General News
Peter Mason is 78 but has no intention of retiring from his farm in Wood Street
For the last 50 years Barnet children have needed to go no further than Wood Street to catch a glimpse of a…

Police to act on blue badge abuse 4

Nov 03, 2014 Services
After a rising number of complaints about blue disabled badges being used unlawfully by motorists, High…

Dire broadband speeds to stay, warns MP 9

Nov 10, 2014 Broadband
High Barnet needs another nine additional cabinets to complete the roll-out of high-speed broadband
The Barnet Society’s campaign to force British Telecom to complete High Barnet’s roll-out of high-speed…

Police baffled by High Barnet’s parking 1

Nov 10, 2014 High Street The Spires
Theresa Villiers MP being welcomed by Gordon Massey, chairman of Barnet Residents Association
Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, who is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, admits that that…

Packed programme for Barnet Fair

Nov 17, 2014 High Street The Spires
Last years Christmas Fair
A packed programme has been arranged for this year’s Barnet Christmas Fair on Sunday 7 December when, instead…

Barnet is nearly a ghost town 3

Nov 17, 2014 High Street The Spires
Barnet High Street 2014
The depth of local anger, frustration and even despair at the damage being inflicted on Barnet’s shopping…

Accident black spot proposal

Nov 21, 2014 Road Improvements
Wellhouse Lane junction of Wood Street accident black spot
A mini-roundabout and an additional zebra crossing are being proposed by Barnet Council to improve road…

Two more shops forced out of High Street 11

Nov 22, 2014 High Street The Spires
Another two independent traders are being forced out of the High Street by a combination of high rents and…

No to free parking say Council and MP 5

Nov 26, 2014 High Street The Spires
Theresa Villiers MP, Gordon Massey (Chair of BRA) and Councillor David Longstaff all oppose the petition
Councillor David Longstaff has joined Mrs Theresa Villiers MP and Gordon Massey, chairman of Barnet Residents…

The “Bees” could return

Dec 04, 2014 Barnet Football Club
Gary Cooper (left) and Gerry Bates beside the former cricket field
A campaign to get Barnet Football Club to return to the town in a new purpose-built stadium is to be stepped…

Mayor signs parking petition 1

Dec 08, 2014 High Street The Spires
Jon Supran (left) and The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Hugh Rayner, signing the free parking petition
The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Hugh Rayner, has signed up to be kept informed of progress in the Barnet…

Dr Gear invested with the Order of the British Empire

Dec 15, 2014 General News
From left to right: Sir David Brewer, Lord Lieutenant of Greater London; Michael Gear (husband); Tim Gear (son); Gillian Gear; Chris Gear (son); General Lord Dannatt, Constable of the Tower
Dr Gillian Gear, Barnet Museum’s archivist, was invested with the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony…

Skating – a Christmas treat

Dec 15, 2014 Events
Children enjoying the rink
A children’s skating rink was one of the many attractions at the two-day Christmas in the Park at the Old…

Planning shoot-out for Guns & Smoke 1

Dec 15, 2014 Planning
Some local residents think its illuminated sign is garish but others have welcomed the new venture
Guns & Smoke, the new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet parish church, faces what looks like being…

Parking claims another casualty 4

Dec 16, 2014 High Street The Spires
Hadley Hounds latest victim of parking fiasco
High Barnet’s “impossible” parking controls are forcing another independent trader out of the High Street.

Green belt stars in students’ TV documentary

Jan 04, 2015 General News
Robin Bishop, with Alex Marshall (centre) and Terri-Ann Williams, looking north across the green belt
High Barnet’s much-coveted green belt is to be featured in a seven-minute television documentary being filmed…

Da Capo Concert Band

Jan 07, 2015 General News
The Da Capo Concert Band
Rehearsals have begun at the Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist for the first of this year’s…

Guns & Smoke refusal 2

Jan 12, 2015 Planning
Guns & Smoke refused planning permision
Planning vote goes against Guns & Smoke. Guns & Smoke, a new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet…

Another round for Battle of Barnet funding

Jan 14, 2015 Barnet History
Trustees from left to right: Dennis Bird, Carla Herrman, archivist Dr Gillian Gear, co-curator, Mike Noronha
Barnet Museum is to take the lead in a fresh application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant towards the…

Work starts at last at Byng Road’s eco-centre

Jan 23, 2015 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Hugh Rayner, helps with the spadework
After years of campaigning and fund-raising, work has finally started on the construction of new headquarters…

Catering skills of Barnet students put to test

Jan 23, 2015 General News
At your service at the Tea Station from left to right, Sophie Theophanous, Sara Conway and Annie Hussain
Catering and tourism students from Barnet and Southgate College are gaining work experience at High Barnet’s…

Busting Councillor Cohen’s “myths”

Jan 26, 2015 High Street The Spires
Councillor Dean Cohen
Petition forms distributed by the Barnet Society to around 100 shops and other retail premises along the High…

Plans for Barnet golf course 2

Feb 09, 2015 Barnet History
Club members with plans (l to r) Paul Grant, project leader; Robin Loader, past chairman; and Derek Seeley
Consultations have started on proposals to redevelop part of the course of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club,…

2,500 back free parking campaign

Feb 15, 2015 High Street The Spires
Roger Aitken signing the petition at the Christmas Fair with Robin Bishop, Mary Carroll and Teresa Kelly
Almost 2,000 people visiting shops and other premises in the High Street have signed the Barnet Society’s…

Last orders at the Old Red Lion 17

Feb 19, 2015 General News
The Old Red Lion public house is to close
Another of High Barnet’s oldest public houses is to close – the Old Red Lion, at the bottom of Barnet Hill,…

Dollis Valley’s nursery school to close 6

Feb 22, 2015 Services
Mark and Wendy Oliver beside the temporary classrooms of Valley Pre-School
Valley Pre-School, a community-run nursery for children on the Dollis Valley estate, is appealing to Barnet…

Broadband battle goes on 3

Feb 23, 2015 Broadband
Broadband speeds in some areas of High Barnet are unacceptably low
Andrew Dismore, London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden, has stepped in to try to badger British Telecom…

Church bells floating over Barnet

Feb 24, 2015 General News
Bell ringers at Barnet parish church take a pause after concentrating on Grandsire Triples
Sunday mornings are quite a rush for the bell ringers of High Barnet. At 9 a.m. they meet up at the Parish…

A legacy for Chipping Barnet 1

Feb 27, 2015 General News
The Hyde, Church Passage
At a time when Barnet’s library service is threatened with savage cuts, The Hyde Institute in Church Passage…

Visiting BT executive to resolve broadband speed fiasco? 3

Mar 02, 2015 Broadband
Some areas in High Barnet still suffer from appallingly slow broadband speeds
British Telecom has promised to send an executive to High Barnet in mid- March to meet the Chipping Barnet…

UK's first purpose-build co-housing starts in Barnet 6

Mar 03, 2015 Planning
Older Women’s Co-housing of Barnet celebrate the start of construction after a campaign that began in 1998
A group of feisty women, happy to be renowned for their stubbornness, gathered in Union Street, Barnet, for a…

New facilities planned for Barnet football and cricket

Mar 04, 2015 Barnet Football Club
Public access is currently denied to the former Barnet Cricket Club pavilion and its playing field at Underhill
Barnet Council is being asked to give its support to a bid to re-open Barnet Cricket Club pavilion at…

Barnet Council says no to free parking – but campaign goes on 3

Mar 13, 2015 High Street The Spires
From left to right, Jonathan Supran, secretary of the Barnet Society: Gail Laiser of Love Barnet, vice-chair of the Society; and James Freeman, managing director of the Victoria Bakery
A joint attempt by the Barnet Society and the Barnet Times to persuade Barnet Council to introduce a period…

The Old Red Lion - CAMRA steps in 5

Mar 15, 2015 General News
The Old Red Lion
Barnet Council is being urged by the Campaign for Real Ale to prevent the demolition of the Old Red Lion…

Battle of Barnet investigation go-ahead 1

Mar 24, 2015 Barnet History
The Battle of Barnet
Military archaeologists from Huddersfield University hope to start work in May surveying the possible site of…

Golf course landfill plan: questions that need answering 1

Mar 24, 2015 Planning
St Albans Road trees
A scheme to re-landscape much of the Old Fold Manor Golf Club at Hadley Common that involves felling mature…

Broadband campaigners go street-to-street 5

Mar 31, 2015 Broadband
BT engineer installing new Broadband cabinet
High Barnet residents without access to a fast broadband connection are canvassing their neighbours in the…

George V plaques

Apr 01, 2015 Barnet History
George V
Barnet Society member Sheila Durchslag has issued an alert over two missing George V plaques from the…

A six-horse race for Chipping Barnet 1

Apr 11, 2015 Election 2015
Six candidates have been nominated for the Chipping Barnet constituency in the general election on Thursday 7…

Physic well at risk? 1

Apr 13, 2015 Barnet History
Rotting timbers in Barnet’s historic well house point to years of neglect by Barnet Council
Torchlight tour of Barnet’s historic physic well but is another historic building at risk? Local residents…

Boarded-up: one sorry sight to go 3

Apr 14, 2015 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The old nurses home
One of High Barnet’s worst eyesores, the derelict former nurses’ home opposite the Arkley public house, is to…

Old Red Lion campaign continues 1

Apr 17, 2015 General News
The Old Red Lion now closed
Barnet Council has been accused by supporters of the Campaign for Real Ale of acting in an underhand way in…

Campaign for new primary school 12

Apr 21, 2015 Services
Of seven local primary schools, Foulds was the most heavily oversubscribed
All seven primary schools in High Barnet and Underhill have again been oversubscribed, leaving 32 children…

Broadband campaigners prove their case 3

Apr 29, 2015 Broadband
Slow broadband makes life difficult for many
A street-by-street survey conducted by local residents has demonstrated overwhelming support for a campaign…

Broadband Alternative 1

May 16, 2015 Broadband
Barnet residents who cannot get high speed broadband from British Telecom have been offered an alternative…

Is the tide turning? 4

Jun 01, 2015 High Street The Spires
New eateries on the High Street, Carluccios, Patisserie Joie de Vie, Kriszta and Melange
After a run of closures over recent months, the High Street now offers several new restaurants and cafes. The…

100 new houses planned

Jun 13, 2015 Planning
Derelict flats that once provided accommodation for nurses at Barnet Hospital have been an eyesore for years
Work could start as early as January next year on High Barnet’s largest housing development since the opening…

Underhill stadium: site for new six-form-entry academy school 14

Jun 13, 2015 Planning
Pitches of the former Barnet Cricket and Hockey Club would become playing fields for the new Ark Pioneer Academy that is planned for the site of the former Underhill stadium
Barnet Football Club’s vacant stadium at Underhill is to be demolished to make way for a proposed new free…

Needing some warmth

Jun 20, 2015 High Street The Spires
Hanging baskets on the High Street
Barnet High Street is once again bedecked with flowering hanging baskets – their arrival was delayed by the…

New finds may throw light on Barnet’s history 1

Jun 22, 2015 General News
Barnet Society’s President Aubrey Rose (left) welcomes Simon Marsh, research officer of the Battlefields Trust, Theresa Villiers, MP, and Howard Simmons, also of the Trust, who is advising Barnet Museum
When work starts in October on a survey and excavation to find the site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471,…

Tie a yellow ribbon

Jun 25, 2015 General News
George Tranda beside the 100-year-old oak tree in Whitings Road which Barnet Council intend to fell
A yellow ribbon is tied around the trunk, and the words “save me” have been sprayed onto the bark of a…

Bargain hunters boost Boys’ Brigade 2

Jun 29, 2015 General News
Members of the 1st Barnet Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association 2014 at their 2014 annual camp at Chichester
High Barnet’s biggest and best jumble sale – that is the proud boast of the 1st Barnet Boys’ Brigade and…

The Battle of Barnet Project 2

Jun 30, 2015 Barnet History
Re-enactment of medieval battlefield scenes by the Milady De Mowbray re-enactment group
A re-enactment of scenes from a medieval battlefield was the highlight of the official launch of the Battle…

Town and Country free-for-all 1

Jul 01, 2015 Planning
The barns at Brent Lodge Farm
You’d think that planning controls in the Green Belt and Conservation Areas would be stricter than elsewhere.…

Old Fold Manor Golf Club proposed landscaping works

Jul 08, 2015 Planning
The Poplar trees to be felled on St Albans Road
The Club’s application for major re-landscaping has been submitted to the planners. The Barnet Society is…

Green roof for countryside headquarters

Jul 09, 2015 General News
Barnet's new countryside headquarters green roof
A living roof planted with sedum is one of the eco-friendly features of the new Barnet Environment Centre,…

Union Street residents annoyed 5

Jul 09, 2015 General News
Work is well underway on 25 new flats for older women in Union Street
Two new housing developments are changing still further the appearance of Union Street in High Barnet, which…

£7 million upgrade for the Spires 5

Jul 27, 2015 High Street The Spires
The Spires is to have a £7 million upgrade
A Canadian investment fund is the new owner of the Spires shopping centre in High Barnet, having paid £40…

Broadband - will Virgin Media step in? 3

Jul 29, 2015 Broadband
Will Virgin Media step in?
After endless delays and broken promises by British Telecom, High Barnet residents without high-speed…

Homes to replace High Street shops 2

Aug 05, 2015 High Street The Spires
After Office Hours to be demolished stands next to The Bull
Two High Street premises will be extended to include flats if planning permission can be obtained from Barnet…

Ancient oak tree might be spared 2

Aug 05, 2015 Planning
Whittings Road Oak tree
A campaign to save what has been dubbed the “mighty oak” of Whitings Road has made significant progress.

Demolition could reveal medieval market 1

Aug 21, 2015 High Street The Spires
Barnet Market circa 1800
If permission is granted to demolish the empty After Office Hours bar next to the Bull Theatre, the Barnet…

Queen Elizabeth's Girls’ School

Aug 28, 2015 Barnet History
Queen Elizabeth's Girls’ School
Queen Elizabeth I’s charter of 1573 provided for ‘boys and youth’, but it was not until 1888 that Barnet got…

Barnet’s hanging baskets

Sep 01, 2015 High Street The Spires
Hanging baskets are not supported by Barnet Council
Barnet High Street has been bedecked once again with flowering hanging baskets. But please do not be fooled…

Barnet to match Tewkesbury’s banners? 1

Sep 01, 2015 Barnet History
Banners similar to those displayed in Tewkesbury could be seen on Barnet's High Street
Decorating the High Street with the banners of medieval noblemen might be one of the ways to celebrate the…

British Telecom to upgrade broadband 15

Sep 03, 2015 Broadband
Mrs Villiers said the upgrading of six of the nine cabinets identified by Barnet Society was an important step
After months of campaigning by the Barnet Society, British Telecom have finally given an assurance that it…

Barnet Market’s longest-running stall 1

Sep 03, 2015 Barnet Market
“Pineapples, two for a pound!” – father and son David and Tyler Bone have both been shouting out prices for…

Parking Wars 1

Sep 10, 2015 High Street The Spires
Parking Wars on ITV
The Barnet Society's campaign for a 30 minute free parking period in the High Street is featured in the…

Oak tree reprieved

Sep 22, 2015 Planning
The reprieved oak tree
After a determined campaign by local residents the “mighty oak” of Whitings Road has been saved from the axe.

High Barnet cottage industries to go 6

Sep 23, 2015 High Street The Spires
Brake Shear House
Almost 30 small businesses and workshops with premises on land behind Barnet High Street may have to relocate…

Fibre4Barnet seeks support 1

Sep 29, 2015 Broadband
Ken Rowland, Fibre4Barnet campaigner, beside BT cabinets excluded from the latest promised upgrade
Fibre4Barnet, the pressure group set up by Ken Rowland to try to force British Telecom to complete the…

Battle of Barnet metal detecting starts

Sep 29, 2015 Barnet History
Dr Glenn Foard, Huddersfield University’s celebrated military archaeologist
A training weekend for local metal dectorists in a freshly ploughed field off Kitts End Lane has kicked off…

Death of historian who championed Barnet Museum 7

Sep 30, 2015 General News
The late Dr Gillian Gear
Dr Gillian Gear, who fought a heroic battle to save and maintain Barnet Museum when Barnet Council withdrew…

Smartphone app for Barnet Ramblers 2

Oct 02, 2015 Rambles
Rambles Round Barnet
Walkers who have enjoyed following the popular trails featured in the Barnet Society’s Rambles Round Barnet…

North London Waste Plan

Oct 05, 2015 Services
Some six or seven years ago the Barnet Society was solidly involved in the early public discussion and…

New future for abandoned Meadway woodland

Oct 12, 2015 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Lesley Graham with rubbish removed from neglected woodland
Teachers, parents and volunteers are hard at work trying to convert an area of neglected woodland into an…

Showcase reopens 1

Oct 12, 2015 Restoration & Rejuvenation
room 89 open for business
Number 89, the community-run pop-up shop selling local arts and crafts that was in the High Street until a…

Dairy maid reappears 1

Oct 12, 2015 Barnet History
Dairy maid painted on wall tiles discovered recently decades after they were last seen
A set of painted wall tiles revealed during building work at 89 High Street Barnet depict a dairy maid…

Barnet jugs found in Formby

Oct 18, 2015 Barnet History
One of the two Victorian measuring jugs
Two Victorian measuring jugs from a former public house in High Barnet have turned up mysteriously in the…

Housing to replace dilapidated buildings 4

Oct 18, 2015 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The former British Legion hall with Checkalow Tiles in the background
The purchase by a property company of Barnet’s former British Legion hall at the corner of Moxon Street and…

Challenging time for new head of Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School

Oct 18, 2015 Services
Violet Walker, head teacher, with pictures from her time as a pupil in the 1970s
Violet Walker, the new head teacher at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, has every justification for her…

Fight to keep White Lion 1

Oct 28, 2015 General News
The White Lion, St Alban's Road
Renewed uncertainty about the future of the White Lion on St Albans Road has led to a successful bid to…

Hadley Green oak tree for former MP

Oct 28, 2015 General News
From left to right: Christine Bateson (sister), Jenny Chapman, David Chapman (son), Laura Woods (daughter), Andy Woods and Claire Chapman
An oak tree in memory of the former Chipping Barnet MP Sir Sydney Chapman has been planted on Hadley Green,…

Barnet Society wins parking review 5

Oct 28, 2015 High Street The Spires
Getting on his high horse: Nick Jones, Barnet Society Chair, arguing for free parking on ITV’s Parking Wars
Barnet Council has finally agreed to review its parking charges along Barnet High Street following a campaign…

Painted tiles depicting dairy maid date from 1910

Nov 01, 2015 Barnet History
Ozgur Titizoglu and Barnet’s long-lost dairy maid
When workmen removed the last wooden panels covering up tiling on the walls of 89 High Street, Barnet, they…

Rambles round Barnet booklet and geotourist.com updates

Nov 02, 2015 Rambles
The photograph shows the trees on 16th February 2016
Correction: ‘Rambles’ Vol. 2 Walk 5 (ii) Paragraph 5. The additional information in italics refers to ‘..an…

Battle of Barnet coins found

Nov 12, 2015 Barnet History
Mrs Katy Rawlings cleans an Elizabethan silver sixpence unearthed on farmland off Kitts End Lane
A medieval silver farthing that might have been in use at the time of the Battle of Barnet of 1471 is the…

Barnet Fayre 2015

Nov 13, 2015 General News
Over 100 stalls will line the High Street and the courtyard outside Barnet College for the annual Barnet…

Rambles Round Barnet Updates Nov 2015

Nov 15, 2015 Rambles
Lime Grove Footpath Reopened

Gated housing planned off High Street 10

Nov 16, 2015 Planning
Barnet Society’s planning and environment chair, Robin Bishop, inspects Wrenbridge’s plans for new houses and offices on the Brake Shear House site. From left to right: Markus Geiger, Barnet Society; Jessica Stewart, Wrenbridge public relations; Robin Bishop; Jeff Wilson, director, Wrenbridge; J-J Lorraine, architect
Plans for a five-storey block of flats and a three-storey office block are the main features of an extensive…

New super fast broadband for Barnet?

Nov 17, 2015 Broadband
Superfast broadband for Barnet
A possible scheme to deliver superfast broadband to High Barnet via a wireless network was greeted…

A Barnet business start up that changed the world 1

Nov 20, 2015 Barnet History
Clovelly Cottage. A commemorative plaque was fixed to the right of the door, but now only the mounts remain
It is not well enough known that British cinema was born in Chipping Barnet 120 years ago. Moving images were…

Whalebones Park to go for houses? 39

Nov 20, 2015 Planning
Whalebones Park stretches westwards for 14 acres from the junction of Wood Street and Wellhouse Lane
Whalebones Park, a 14-acre stretch of fields and woods between Barnet Hospital and Wood Street, is about to…

20 years old and growing fast

Nov 30, 2015 General News
Whitings Hill
Twenty years ago this December, the first of two tree plantations was inaugurated at Whitings Hill to…

Whalebones trustees reassurance 9

Dec 01, 2015 Planning
Peter Mason 79, with his poultry flock, has been farming at Whalebones for the last 50 years
Trustees for the Gwyneth Cowing estate have given an assurance to the Barnet Society that any development of…

Barnet Museum plans rejected 1

Dec 04, 2015 Planning
The Barnet Museum, Wood Street
Volunteers at Barnet Museum say they are shocked and dismayed that after months of discussion Barnet…

Mayor of Barnet praises Museum

Dec 07, 2015 General News
Jade Andrews (15), and Rashaan Shahe (14) led the procession from the Bull Theatre
Barnet Museum – and its role in leading the Battle of Barnet project – was singled out for praise by the…

MP willing to confront bulldozers 1

Dec 08, 2015 Planning
An aerial view of the woods and farmland around Whalebones Park
Responding to fears about the possible zoning for housing of the woods and fields around Whalebones Park, the…

Spires £7 million upgrade 9

Dec 12, 2015 High Street The Spires
Gail Laser of Love Barnet is shown the plans by James Winpenny, Hunter Real Estate
A two-storey, 24,000-square-foot new fashion store – replacing four existing shop units – will become the…

Concert rounds off 2015 at QE Girls

Dec 18, 2015 General News
Music teacher Paul Nathan conducing QE Girls’ school orchestra and choir
A seasonal concert that drew on the great range of musical talents at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School,…

What future for café gardens? 12

Jan 03, 2016 High Street The Spires
The Spires’ upgrade could result in the loss of the Coffee Bean’s garden seating area
A guarded welcome has been given by the Barnet Society to plans for a £7 million upgrade for the Spires…

New environment centre almost completed 1

Jan 03, 2016 General News
The new centre nears completion
Finishing touches are being added to the newly built, eco-friendly Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road,…

107 bus route under threat 1

Jan 08, 2016 Services
The 107 bus route is currently under threat from closure
The future operation of the 107 bus service, which has stops in High Barnet on its route between Edgware and…

Former choristers pay tribute to Barnet church organist and choirmaster 2

Jan 13, 2016 General News
Terence Atkins with choristers
Maintaining the great musical tradition of Barnet parish church has been the outstanding achievement of…

Signatures by the hundred in support of junior doctors

Jan 13, 2016 Services
Junior doctors Emily Vaughan and Rithesh Veettil rallying support outside the Spires shopping centre
Junior doctors from Barnet Hospital spent their strike day collecting signatures in support of the British…

BT finally to honour promise? 7

Jan 20, 2016 Broadband
Boring picture - perhaps. But not for residents waiting for improved broadband
One by one, High Barnet is being provided with the additional telephone cabinets that are needed to supply…

The end of Friends Reunited 6

Jan 21, 2016 General News
Steve and Julie Pankhurst
The sun sets on the Barnet inspired networking site. Friends Reunited, the social networking website created…

Sky reports Barnet's broadband fiasco

Jan 25, 2016 Broadband
Sky News’ senior correspondent Ian Woods (left) interviews Ken Rowland, organiser of fibre4barnet, together with cameraman Tom Radburn
High Barnet’s dire broadband service was highlighted by Sky News when it featured a campaign by a cross-party…

New site of Battle of Barnet? 2

Feb 01, 2016 Barnet History
The hunt is on: Sam Wilson (right) project supervisor for the Battle of Barnet archaeological investigation with metal detecting volunteer, Eric Weinrabe at work in fields off Kitts End Lane last autumn
Farmland to the west of Wrotham Park, alongside Kitts End Lane and the St Albans Road, is emerging as a…

MP steps up fight to save Whalebones 3

Feb 01, 2016 Planning
Peter Mason, who will be 80 in April, has run a small holding on farmland at Whalebones since 1962
Opposition is mounting to the possibility that 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones, between Wood…

Right-to-buy almshouses put to rest 5

Feb 08, 2016 Barnet History
Simon Smith, clerk to the visitors (trustees) of the Jesus Hospital Charity
A question mark hanging over the future ownership of Barnet’s many historic almshouses has finally been…

Arkley residents against Elmbank project 17

Feb 09, 2016 Planning
Serena Rushton of Stop the Over Development of Arkley outside the Elmbank site on Barnet Road
SODA – Stop the Over Development of Arkley – is a new campaign group established by local residents to…

QE Girls “alive with the sound of music!” 5

Feb 13, 2016 General News
Jennifer Ford, head of drama at Queen Elizabeth’s Girl School, with Frankie Stanley (centre) who took lead role as Maria, and Melissa Dieter as Captain Von Trapp
Seventy pupils spent six months preparing and rehearsing for a spectacular production of The Sound of Music…

Barnet Blue Badge fraud

Feb 23, 2016 Services
Blue Badge Fraud in Barnet is going unchecked
Barnet a hot spot for lost and stolen disabled badges...but a woeful response. More blue disabled badges were…

Woodland project helps vulnerable children 2

Feb 26, 2016 General News
Deputy head Kim Price and assistant head teacher Kevin Mathews at the Pavilion Study Centre
A woodland project at Barnet’s centre for vulnerable and excluded school children is hoping to qualify for a…

Go ahead for 114 homes on Elmbank 2

Feb 26, 2016 Planning
Embank development to go ahead
Planning approval has finally been given for the demolition of one of High Barnet’s worst eyesores, the…

Updates for ‘Rambles Round Barnet' 31st May 2016

Mar 01, 2016 Rambles
Part 1 Walk 3 Section 2: Trotters Bottom to Saffron Green 31st May 2016

Blue plaque for hospice pioneer

Mar 08, 2016 General News
Aubrey Rose outside Monkenholt once the home of Dame Cicely Saunders
A campaign is being launched to persuade English Heritage to award one of its renowned blue plaques to the…

A chance to see – but not to taste 2

Mar 08, 2016 Barnet History
Barnet’s physic well looking worse for wear, rotting timber supports and graffiti on the walls
Barnet’s historic physic well, visited by Samuel Pepys, will be open to the public on Saturday 19 March…

Affordable workshops a priority for Brake Shear House site 2

Mar 10, 2016 Planning
With planning permission, demolition of the Brake Shear House complex could start by the end of the year
A joint approach is being made by local groups to try to ensure that the new office block to be built as part…

Day centre 40th anniversary

Mar 21, 2016 General News
From L to R: Maura Howells, Brigid Horgan, the day centre organiser, Daphne Korner and Molly Stebbings
Chipping Barnet’s popular day centre for the elderly – with a waiting list for places – celebrates its 40th…

A peep inside physic well

Mar 21, 2016 Barnet History
Visitors queuing to descend the original steps to see the tanks of mineral spring water
Visitors queued up for opening time at Barnet’s historic well house – not for a drink, but a rare chance to…

Another historic building to be converted for housing 9

Mar 21, 2016 Planning
The Cruciform building at the NIMR
Barratt London have released the first details of their plans to build up to 450 homes in and around the site…

Search for Battle of Barnet chapel

Apr 01, 2016 Barnet History
Dominic Barker, of the University of Southampton, at work with his magnetometer in Wrotham Park. Sam Wilson (right) is the archaeologist leading the Battle of Barnet survey and excavation.
A series of test pits are to be dug on land inside Wrotham Park as part of an investigation to locate the…

Bulldozers move in at Elmbank

Apr 05, 2016 Planning
Derelict nurses’ home at Elmbank now being demolished
Work has finally started at the Elmbank site, opposite the Arkley public house, to demolish derelict nurses’…

Threat to Whalebones receding?

Apr 05, 2016 Planning
Blue-whale jaw bones dating from the 1930s stand at the Wood Street entrance to the Whalebones estate
Any planning application to build houses on the 14 acres of woods and farmland at Whalebones – between Wood…

Barnet still a cut above

Apr 08, 2016 High Street The Spires
Barnet remains top spot for a hair cut
Barnet is living up to its fame in Cockney rhyming slang: a survey shows there are more hairdressing salons…

Environment centre red-scissor opening

Apr 11, 2016 General News
The new Barnet environment centre at the Byng Road nature reserve
Schools in and around Barnet are already queuing up for their pupils to visit the Byng Road nature reserve…

Barnet’s love of poetry 1

Apr 17, 2016 General News
Michael King, a founder member of the Group, to his right is Anita Butler, and to his left Jane Strange
Celebrations surrounding the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death gave an added impetus to the…

Barnet’s artists publicise work

Apr 18, 2016 General News
Andy Dalton, from York, demonstrates techniques for producing relief mono prints at a workshop
Local residents will get more opportunities to view the work of members of the Barnet Guild of Artists if…

Threat to our green landscape 8

Apr 19, 2016 Planning
King George V Playing Field – the Council believe, a 'low quality, low value' link in the Dollis Brook green chain
A lot of new housing is coming to Barnet over the next few years. In the Council’s Housing Strategy 2015-25,…

Community action spruces up Church Passage bench 2

Apr 22, 2016 General News
Derek Epstein (left) of the Barnet Society and Gordon Massey, chairman of the Barnet Residents Association, hard at work washing clean the Church Passage bench.
Three volunteers spent the morning washing down and scrubbing clean the long, architecturally-designed teak…

Queen’s birthday beacon at Monken Hadley

Apr 22, 2016 General News
The beacon-lighting team, L to R, Sebastian Evans, Bill Morris, Mathew Lloyd-Winder and Quentin Carruthers
High Barnet’s claim to be the highest spot between London and York meant it was ideally situated to take part…

Bench done. Now tackle the graffiti!

May 03, 2016 High Street The Spires
The bench before and after
“The boys dun good” was the general consensus of passers-by as three High Barnet seniors spent 16 man hours…

New academy school plans on display 18

May 08, 2016 Planning
The dis-used stadium fenced off and awaiting approval to become the site of super-sized new academy school
After a year’s delay, and a dearth of information, public exhibitions are finally being arranged to allow…

Critical times for building in Barnet 3

May 09, 2016 Planning
Visualisation of the proposed Brake Shear House development
The combination of planning relaxations, housing demand, property prices and uncertainty as to Council…

Was Kitts End closest to the Battle of Barnet? 2

May 12, 2016 Barnet History
Undaunted by a downpour from left to right, Kirsty Johnstone, Susan Gough and Gabriella Widman
A survey to assess the size and shape of the lost hamlet of Kitts End could assist the ongoing archaeological…

Arkley farmland - a site for natural burials? 1

May 13, 2016 General News
The proposed natural burial ground north east of Barnet Gate Lane and north west of Mays Lane
An environmentally-friendly natural burial ground might be developed on farmland backing on to Barnet Gate…

Staggered start times at massive new school 11

May 19, 2016 Planning
A response to plans for the Ark Academy School will be prepared by Robin Bishop (left), who leads the Barnet Society’s planning and environment team, and Peter Bradburn, who advises on transport issues
The Ark Academy network says it intends to work with planners at Barnet Council to try to meet local…

Appeal for amateur footballers

May 19, 2016 General News
East Barnet Old Grammarians
A football team for former East Barnet grammar school boys that has expanded over the last sixty years to…

A new nature reserve for Barnet? 5

May 23, 2016 General News
Rosie Inman-Cook, manager of the Natural Death Centre, points to where the first burials would take place
A 50-acre green space, open to the public from dawn to dusk, would be one of the suggested benefits of the…

Russian spy’s poisoning and Barnet Hospital

May 31, 2016 General News
Peter Stebbings with newspaper cuttings of the death of Alexander Litvinenko’s after radioactive poisoning.
The tenth anniversary of the poisoning with radioactive polonium of the former Russian spy Alexander…

High Barnet’s CPZ to double in size? 15

Jun 01, 2016 Road Improvements
Map of proposed new Controlled Parking Zone
Residents are being consulted about the possibility of a massive extension to High Barnet’s controlled…

Still no news on major fashion store for Spires

Jun 06, 2016 High Street The Spires
The Spires - latest perspective
A final go-ahead for construction work on a £7 million upgrade for the Spires shopping centre continues to…

New plans for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice

Jun 08, 2016 Planning
Architect Barnaby Johnstone (left) with trustee Mary O’Toole and the charity’s chief executive Ru Watkins
A radical redesign has been unveiled of the proposed new Noah’s Ark children’s hospice to be built at the…

Elmbank development: a challenge 1

Jun 10, 2016 Planning
Shawn Moore, construction director, at the Elmbank housing development, says the steep gradient of the site, looking across Dollis Valley, presents quite a challenge
Building houses and apartment blocks along a narrow, sloping 3.9-acre site, where the land falls sharply by…

A misty Easter Sunday morning, just north of Barnet

Jun 13, 2016 General News
Medieval military artist Graham Turner with his painting Challenge in the Mist. From left to right, Mike Noronha, curator, Barnet Museum; Graham Turner; and Fiona Jones who is leading the museum’s bid for financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
A print of Graham Turner’s celebrated painting of a young Richard III looking apprehensively across towards…

Ark say extra school places needed 1

Jun 16, 2016 Planning
Proposed south facing car park of the Ark Pioneer Academy school
Planners and consultants representing the proposed Ark Pioneer Academy to be built on the site of the former…

Parking wars returns 2

Jun 25, 2016 High Street The Spires
Dominic Littlewood, presenter of Dom on the Spot, interviews Dave Williams who had been fined £55
High Barnet’s notoriety as a hot spot for parking fines is to be featured yet again on national television.…

Barnet Society criticisms of Ark Pioneer Academy 2

Jun 27, 2016 Planning
View of Ark courtyard - the only playground currently proposed for 600 primary pupils
While we welcome educational use of the site, particularly if coupled with community access to the Academy’s…

Spires upgrade a Brexit casualty? 11

Jul 05, 2016 High Street The Spires
The Spires - the latest proposal
An announcement that had been expected in early June about a go-ahead for the Spires shopping centre…

Insight into lost hamlet of Kitts End

Jul 11, 2016 General News
Barnet Museum volunteers Margaret Luck (left) and Pat Alison examine pottery and masonry fragments
Fragments of pottery and tiles found during an excavation of land within Wrotham Park has confirmed that the…

Classic cars never lose their appeal

Jul 11, 2016 General News
Andy Banks's Westfield; Jayne Evans's Rover MPI Cooper; T and H Motor's Bentley
Support for Barnet Market’s annual classic car show has proved so strong that it has become a showcase event…

Furniture designs go on show

Jul 11, 2016 General News
Each surface of Richard Warmisham’s bureau de l’agent has a story tell
After a career switch from his previous job as a political researcher, an aspiring High Barnet furniture and…

H&M fashion store to open in spring 2017 6

Jul 27, 2016 High Street The Spires
A two-storey H&M fashion store due to open in spring 2017
After mounting concern about the recent loss of leading retailers, High Barnet’s shopping centre has received…

Harbour scenes capture attention at artists’ exhibition

Jul 28, 2016 General News
Nichola Peasnell, chair of the Barnet Guild of Artists (left), shows the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers an oil painting, Staithes Sunrise, chosen as the poster illustration for the Guild’s 68th annual exhibition
Well over 300 members, friends and supporters attended the preview of the Barnet Guild of Artists’ 68th…

Virgin Media to offer ultra fast broadband 4

Aug 10, 2016 Broadband
Usain Bolt in the latest Virgin Media advertising
Virgin Media hopes to be able to offer its ultrafast broadband network to 40,000 homes and businesses across…

Retired teachers help students to graduate

Aug 11, 2016 General News
TalentEd has yet to finalise plans but hopes to support Totteridge Academy's Year 10 students next year
Nine pupils from Totteridge Academy have been awarded special commendations by the educational charity…

Ground-breaking housing for women 1

Aug 22, 2016 General News
Scaffolding in Union Street is about to be removed
After months of construction work, the last remaining scaffolding and hoardings are about to be removed from…

Milly the cat puts road safety first 6

Sep 02, 2016 General News
Paula Gabb proud owner of Milly, the feisty feline
In the feline appreciation stakes there is currently no contest in determining High Barnet’s most sociable –…

Residents revolt over super-size school 10

Sep 06, 2016 General News
Unanimous show of hands residents decide Underhill is an inappropriate site for a school of 2,000 pupils
After facing a barrage of complaints and criticism over proposal to build a new school for almost 2,000…

Medieval finds excite Battle of Barnet military archaeologists

Sep 16, 2016 Barnet History
Sam Wilson, military archaeologist, shows Dorothy Cohen, the medieval penny that was found with metal detectors in the latest search of a likely site of the Battle of Barnet
After an extensive search with metal detectors a highly-experienced team of military archaeologists has…

Barnet’s two oldest shops 6

Sep 16, 2016 High Street The Spires
Peter Wanders is celebrating thirty years trading at his shoe shop
Years of friendly rivalry over which shop in Barnet High Street has the longest record of continuous service…

Dom puts Barnet’s parking wars on the spot! 2

Sep 21, 2016 High Street The Spires
Dom with a recently fined motorist on the High Street
The Barnet Society’s long-running campaign to try to secure a short period of free parking at the 63 parking…

Green fingers for schoolchildren

Sep 30, 2016 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Maria Wright helps her son Derek with the new greenhouse at the Pavilion study centre
In a first for schools in the London Borough of Barnet, the Pavilion study centre in Meadway, High Barnet, is…

Bird watchers and nature lovers fight burial ground plan 9

Oct 06, 2016 Planning
Dog walker Lisa Young with birdwatcher David Martens both oppose the campaign for a natural burial ground
Local residents, bird watchers and nature lovers are joining forces to step up their campaign against plans…

The bustle of Barnet 120 years ago 8

Oct 13, 2016 Barnet History
Church Passage before the library was built
A unique, almost-forgotten tape recording gives a fascinating eye-witness account of every-day life in Barnet…

Leading the way in housing for older women 1

Oct 18, 2016 General News
Maria Brenton, consultant to the Union Street co-housing project, with new resident Janet Wood.
When a group of 26 women move into their new homes in Union Street, Barnet, at the end of November they will…

Opposition to Ark Academy 1

Oct 27, 2016 Planning
The former Barnet Football Club stadium at Underhill
The Barnet Society has joined other local organisations and groups – together with many nearby residents – in…

Bats’ at risk in New Barnet

Nov 01, 2016 Planning
Victoria Recreation Ground, is to be transformed by a new leisure centre and floodlit tennis courts
Bats, owls, wrens and hedgehogs are among the species that nearby residents fear might be disturbed or even…

Dog frendly shops needed 2

Nov 01, 2016 General News
Jessica Vamathevan and Ralphie at Café Nero
“Well-behaved dogs welcome” is the message that dog lovers are hoping they will hear from more and more of…

Junction change confusion 14

Nov 08, 2016 Road Improvements
Junction at Wood Street and High Street
A traffic management experiment at the junction of Wood Street and Barnet High Street is causing a headache…

More trees strengthen High Barnet’s welcome 2

Nov 09, 2016 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Robin Bishop beside the green space in front of the Old Red Lion public house where two additional trees would complete the row of trees that line Barnet Hill
Completing the majestic row of Norway Maple and London Plane trees that line Barnet Hill – and provide such a…

Chipping Barnet Library closure 21

Nov 22, 2016 General News
Chipping Barnet Library
Barnet Council is being urged by the Barnet Society to postpone the two-month temporary closure of Chipping…

Lottery win for Battle of Barnet

Nov 29, 2016 General News
Hadley Highstone is the sole local reminder of the Battle of Barnet
A grant of almost £100,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of promoting and…

Can planning objections save Chipping Barnet Library? 10

Nov 29, 2016 General News
Residents and library users have until Thursday 15 December to register their objections
If residents are prepared to back a mass campaign of objection, the Barnet Society believes there might still…

Tell Sadiq Khan our priorities

Dec 02, 2016 General News
Sadiq Khan - preparing a plan for London
The Barnet Society is taking full advantage of an opportunity to influence the re-drafting of the London Plan…

High Street packed for Christmas Fayre

Dec 04, 2016 High Street The Spires
Councillor David Longstaff, Mayor of Barnet, opening Barnet Christmas Fayre. From left to right, Councillor Longstaff, Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers, the Mayoress of Barnet Gillian Griffiths, Councillor Lisa Rutter
Brilliant sunshine and crystal blue skies put some added sparkle into the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre which…

Outrage at library closure 3

Dec 06, 2016 General News
The read in at Chipping Barnet library in the hope of changing the Councils decision to remove this facility
Outraged Barnet book lovers staged a mass read-in outside the closed front doors of Chipping Barnet Library…

Green Belt prices soar 1

Dec 12, 2016 General News
Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, with fellow Arkley residents to re-launch the Arkley Protection Group. From the left to right, Mrs Villiers, David Press, Simon Ross and Sasha Capocci
There has been another indication of the growing commercial interest in, and rising value of Barnet’s Green…

Extra seating in Roman Catholic church

Dec 16, 2016 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Construction underway of a 100-seat extension to Barnet’s Roman Catholic Church
As work continues constructing an extension to the Roman Catholic church in Union Street, Barnet, mass and…

Barnet Museum’s future assured

Dec 16, 2016 Barnet History
Barnet Museum's future is assured
After years of uncertainty about its future, Barnet Museum is finally being promised security of tenure – a…

BBC4 joins hunt for Barnet battle site

Dec 21, 2016 Barnet History
Dr Alice Roberts presents the BBC4 program 'Digging for Britain'
Two promising pointers towards locating the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet were examined in the…

Red Lion closing for re-launch 3

Dec 28, 2016 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The Red Lion Public House
High Barnet’s landmark public house, the Red Lion at the top of Barnet Hill, will be closed for most of…

John Brown

Jan 04, 2017 General News
John Brown in his studio
Two sculptures by the noted Barnet sculptor John Brown are due to appear in Steven Spielberg’s most recent…

Free to speak her mind?

Jan 04, 2017 General News
Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers
After what for her personally – and for the rest of the country – has been a momentous political year, the…

Barnet’s footpath pioneer remembered

Jan 06, 2017 General News
Eric Lucas, who died in 1996, author of the first Rambles Round Barnet published in 1948
After years of uncertainty answers have finally been found to questions about the identity and motives of an…

Wanted: Battle project co-ordinator

Jan 22, 2017 General News
Project Coordinator needed for the Battle of Barnet
The job of promoting and explaining the Battle of Barnet of 1471 is to be undertaken by a project…

Library protests ignored 5

Jan 22, 2017 Planning
A last-minute attempt by the Barnet Society to challenge the loss of community space was unsuccessful
Downsizing of the Chipping Barnet Library – with much of the floor area being converted into commercial…

Widening High Street pavement 10

Jan 22, 2017 High Street The Spires
The built-out pavement will extend from the Post Office to the entrance to the Spires Shopping Centre
A plan to widen the pavement on one side of Barnet High Street, from the Post Office to just beyond the…

Underhill super school rejected 9

Jan 26, 2017 Planning
The internal courtyard of the proposed school
Barnet Council’s planning committee has voted unanimously to reject plans to build a massive all-through…

Theresa Villiers MP under fire

Jan 27, 2017 General News
Theresa Villiers joins Barnet Society committee members before her annual question and answer session. From left to right, Gail Laser, vice-chair, Theresa Villiers and Frances Wilson, minutes secretary
A ready supply of lively and forthright questions kept the politics and views of the Chipping Barnet MP…

Protecting war memorials 1

Feb 04, 2017 Consultations
East Barnet war memorial
East Barnet war memorial is one of tens of thousands across the country that is being considered by Historic…

Red Lion re-opens 7

Feb 04, 2017 High Street The Spires
Mayor of Barnet, David Longstaff, tries his hands at making Pizzas with the Red Lion’s Matt Baker
Mitchells and Butlers say they have created ten new jobs following the conversion of the Red Lion public…

New Year’s Day parade success

Feb 04, 2017 High Street The Spires
Miriam Nyarko (14) sang Beyonce’s Crazy in Love for the float from the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
Pupils of the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School from the Old Bull, High Barnet, were guests of the Mayor of…

Derelict eyesore gets worse 6

Feb 17, 2017 Restoration & Rejuvenation
The derelict Marie Foster home
Yet again NHS Property Services appears to be in a state of indecision about the future of the derelict Marie…

Barnet’s royal pastry chef

Feb 24, 2017 General News
George O’Connor ready with a slice of lemon cake to go with his afternoon cup of tea
Celebrations for the Queen’s Sapphire Jubilee, marking her 65 years on the throne, brought back fond memories…

Tardis sparks fury 8

Feb 25, 2017 High Street The Spires
High Barnet’s super-size smart telephone kiosk – an eyesore say its critics
Plans to improve one of the busiest stretches of Barnet High Street by planting trees, and providing benches…

Housing proposed for Whalebones 20

Mar 07, 2017 Planning
Whalebones in the sunlight
Building houses on the fields around Whalebones, between Wood Street and Barnet Hospital, has possibly moved…

Petticoats and poetry

Mar 15, 2017 General News
Michael King, a founder member of the Barnet Poetry Group, with new member Anita Butler, and on his left Jane Strange
Barnet's WEA* is launching its first-ever one-day Summer Saturday courses in May, 2017.;They are being held…

Library facing summer closure 3

Mar 15, 2017 General News
The Library will close over the summer months to convert a large part into commercial office space
Chipping Barnet library will operate on a partial self-service basis during April and May before closing…

Barnet’s phantom mini-roundabout 4

Mar 15, 2017 Road Improvements
Wellhouse junction traffic
Contractors working on the installation of a mini-roundabout at one of High Barnet’s most hazardous road…

Last orders at famous Barnet hostelry 5

Mar 18, 2017 General News
CAMRA’s David Fenton pointing to the forlorn sign “This pub matters” – the only remaining reminder of what was once the White Lion public house
Another of Barnet’s historic public houses, the White Lion in St Albans Road, has closed, and local residents…

Graffiti artists’ head for heights 5

Mar 24, 2017 High Street The Spires
The handiwork of High Barnet’s graffiti artists is visible above shops such as Specsavers and Greggs’.
Graffiti daubed on walls and the sides of buildings in and around High Barnet has become an increasing…

Playtime for “invisible” carers

Apr 05, 2017 General News
Chris Robertson, healthy living instructor, organised a fashion parade at the High Barnet hub for young carers
A two-hour session of play and activities once a month at the Sense Touch Base, just off Barnet High Street,…

Roadworks herald faster broadband 3

Apr 06, 2017 Broadband
Virgin Media is to offer homes and businesses in High Barnet a rival broadband service after long-standing…

Wanted: Advice on protecting Barnet’s whalebones

Apr 07, 2017 General News
New owners of Whalebones House, Paddy Shanahan and Helena Boland, are seeking advice on how to protect an historic Barnet landmark.
Preserving two massive jaw bones from a ninety-foot-long blue whale is just one of the challenges facing the…

For and against wider High Street pavement 18

Apr 13, 2017 High Street The Spires
High Street seen from the Post Office
Members of Chipping Barnet Town Team have given their backing to Barnet Council’s plans to widen one side of…

Brighter future for Barnet’s physic well

Apr 18, 2017 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Barnet's Physic Well
After years of neglect and decay, Historic England has commissioned a detailed survey of the work required to…

Battle of Barnet project co-ordinator

Apr 18, 2017 General News
Helen Giles, project co-ordinator for the programme to develop and promote the Battle of Barnet
Helen Giles, who has wide experience as a museum curator and consultant for numerous heritage projects, has…

High Street - proposed improvements 3

Apr 19, 2017 High Street The Spires
The High Street looking north
CHIPPING BARNET HIGH STREET – PROPOSED PEDESTRIAN IMPROVEMENTS: BARNET COUNCIL PUBLIC CONSULTATION, 28 MARCH…

Petition to halt cuts in 384 1

Apr 23, 2017 General News
384 at bus stop on High Street
Transport for London is facing concerted opposition to a proposed reduction from 15 minutes to 20 minutes in…

Will jobs go for flats? 13

Apr 28, 2017 Planning
Paola Sachia opened his carpentry and joinery workshop at Meadow Works six years ago
Up to forty jobs might be lost if planning permission is approved for the construction of two blocks of flats…

Barnet’s classic cars on parade again

Apr 28, 2017 High Street The Spires
John Barnett’s Alvis Grey Lady from the early 1950s was one of the elegant cars on display at the 2016 show
Cameras, smart phones and tablets will be out in force to capture images of the many much-admired and…

Special protection for local landmarks 1

May 08, 2017 General News
Arkley war memorial -- “a simple yet dignified Celtic cross
Three Barnet war memorials – at Arkley, East Barnet and Monken Hadley Common – have been given the added…

Duke backs local history campaigners

May 11, 2017 General News
The Duke of Gloucester at Barnet Museum. From left to right, Mike Noronha, trustee Barnet Museum; Martin Russell, Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London; the Duke of Gloucester; Mike Jordan, chair of the trustees
On his first visit to Barnet, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was on the warpath at the 1471 Battle of…

Drop-in centre opens at Christ Church

May 15, 2017 General News
The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor David Longstaff, with the Mayoress Gillian Griffiths, is thanked for his support for the Open Door project by the Bishop of Stepney, the Right Reverend Adrian Newman
After almost a decade spent planning, campaigning and fund-raising, the Bishop of Stepney, the Right Reverend…

Popular Centre now fully booked

May 15, 2017 General News
Dick Elms, vice chair and trustee, took visitors through the video recording wildlife at the Environment Centre
A blood-sucking leech, a dragon fly nymph, a baby newt and a back-swimmer water boatman were just some of the…

Barnet’s Wars of the Roses celebration

May 23, 2017 General News
The Medieval Siege Society at Sandwich Medieval Festival last year. They will be providing demonstrations at our Medieval Festival in Barnet on Sunday, 11th June
Barnet’s first medieval festival is to be held at the Old Courthouse Recreation Ground at the rear of Barnet…

Success for “stubborn but steadfast” women pioneers

May 29, 2017 General News
Inner courtyard of New Ground, the women’s co-housing complex in Union Street
An 18-year struggle by a group of “ageing, stubborn but steadfast” women reached its grand finale with…

Barnet’s link to the The Crown

Jun 05, 2017 General News
Ben Dillon (left) and Mark Raggett, art director for The Crown series being produced at Elstree Film Studios, standing beside a Jaguar Mark 1 featured during a scene when the Queen visits the Jaguar car factory
Providing period cars featured in the hit television series, The Crown – being filmed at Elstree Film…

Delay to High Street redevelopment

Jun 07, 2017 High Street The Spires
Brake Shear House development delayed and possible changes to the agreed planning consent
Barnet High Street’s historic Brake Shear House complex, which is boarded up ready for demolition, has gained…

Barnet's first medieval festival 1

Jun 11, 2017 General News
Richard Jupp gives a demonstration of medieval gunnery at Barnet’s first medieval festival
A posse of Barnet police officers was on hand when members of the Medieval Siege Society gave a gunnery…

Classic car show snubbed by Spires 2

Jun 11, 2017 General News
Chris Nightingale beside the 1935 blue Riley sports car that was refused access to the Spires shopping centre. Next to them is a 1951 Grey Lady Alvis
Barnet High Street was lined with well-wishers cheering on the 30 classic cars that made their way to the…

Manorside's Great Get Together

Jun 19, 2017 General News
Quizmaster Curtis Gallant (left) holding the answers close to his chest, together with Tony Barnes, one of the organisers of Manorside’s street part in memory of Jo Cox
Manorside, High Barnet, joined thousands of other communities around the UK in holding a street party in a…

Make-over for historic Union Street 7

Jun 19, 2017 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Roger Newell is hoping to demolish a semi-derelict lock-up that has blighted Union Street for many years
Plans to replace a semi-derelict vacant shop that has blighted Union Street for many years will go a long way…

Teenage Markets come to Barnet

Jun 23, 2017 General News
Teenage Markets come to Barnet
In recent years Barnet Market has been a shadow of what it once was, but a life-line is at hand. Imaginative…

Perfect weather for jazz afternoon 6

Jul 03, 2017 General News
Home Cooking, one of the bands, that entertained hundreds enjoying an afternoon of jazz on Hadley Green
Enthusiasts and local residents gathered in their hundreds on Hadley Green for a picnic lunch and Sunday…

Accolade for Normandy Avenue garden

Jul 03, 2017 General News
Years of hard work by Derek Epstein and Jo Vargas on show when their garden opens to the public in July
A 120ft garden at a traditional Edwardian semi-detached house in Normandy Avenue, Barnet, has secured…

Hazardous road junction gets mini-roundabout 21

Jul 13, 2017 Road Improvements
The Wellhouse mini roundabout
Six months to install a mini-roundabout – an entry perhaps for the Guinness Book of Records – but worth the…

Wood Street’s miniature railway

Jul 13, 2017 General News
Ian Johnson (right) astride the trailer of his electric engine, on his miniature railway line at his home in Wood Street, Barnet. With him at the controls is Derek Smith, a fellow member of the North London Society of Model Engineers
Generations of Barnet children have enjoyed a trip on the miniature railway that circles the Wood Street…

Captivating images of Battle of Barnet

Jul 17, 2017 Barnet History
Geoffrey Wheeler with some of his many drawings, photographs of reproductions of events and characters involved in the Wars of the Roses and the 1471 Battle of Barnet
An unrivalled display of images of Richard III, from his role in the 1471 Battle of Barnet until his death in…

Lime Grove Footpath and the Darlands Nature Reserve 2

Jul 22, 2017 Rambles
Local ramblers who have followed the guiding notes in ‘Rambles Round Barnet’ Part 1 for Walk 1 may well be…

Barnet loses another link with past 4

Jul 29, 2017 Barnet History
The Barnet High Street shop front of J. Cowing, publishers of the Barnet Press, as it was in July 1913
The Barnet Press, once one of the most respected weekly newspapers in North London, has ceased publication…

Blot on landscape lives on 10

Jul 30, 2017 Planning
The Union Street shop
To the dismay of its owner, Barnet Council has refused planning permission for a semi-derelict shop in Union…

Childhood memories of 1930s Barnet 1

Jul 30, 2017 Barnet History
Betty Fanning at her house in Potters Road, looking across the Meadway towards King George’s Fields
Roads running between High Barnet and New Barnet merge together almost seamlessly today, but in the 1930s,…

Archbishop to re-consecrate Barnet church

Aug 04, 2017 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Church of Mary Immaculate and St Gregory the Great
Internal fixtures and fittings are being added to a 100-seat extension to the Roman Catholic Church in Union…

Barnet teenage market a step closer 1

Aug 10, 2017 General News
Sizing up the bandstand area are the Reverend Eugene Hanshaw (left), youth worker for Barnet parish church, and the appeal organiser Bob Burstow, secretary of Barnet Town Team.
A £10,000 pledge of support from the Spires shopping centre has given an all-important boost to the…

Views sought on Whalebones redevelopment 22

Aug 10, 2017 Planning
Robin Bishop, chair of the Barnet Society (left) was briefed by Culainn Shanahan on his plans to undertake a research study into future options for safeguarding as much as possible of the Whalebones green space
A survey is to be undertaken to discover the extent of local interest and reaction to the prospect of housing…

New proposal for Ark 8

Aug 17, 2017 Planning
The proposed new Ark Pioneer Academy, facing south west
After failing its first public examination, Ark Pioneer Academy (APA) is back for a re-sit – this time a…

Older women’s housing up for another award

Aug 24, 2017 General News
The co-housing flats designed for the needs of residents and to sensitively fit into Union Street courtyard
New Ground co-housing, the innovative flats for older women in Union Street, High Barnet, have been declared…

Standing room only for church re-opening

Sep 03, 2017 General News
Cardinal Vincent Nichols during the service re-opening the Roman Catholic Church in Union Street
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, re-opened High Barnet’s Roman Catholic church after…

Children to understand the Battle

Sep 07, 2017 General News
Hannah Brownlow (left), newly-appointed heritage learning consultant for the Battle of Barnet project, with Barnet Museum volunteers Mike Noronha and Hilary Harrison.
Reaching out to local schools to explain and promote Barnet’s role in the Wars of the Roses is one of the key…

Toast to Barnet’s top trade unionist

Sep 11, 2017 General News
Neil Kinnock, former Labour Party leader, joined the 93rd birthday party for Fred Jarvis, Barnet’s most celebrated trade union leader – a New Barnet resident for over 60 years
Neil Kinnock led the tributes at a party to celebrate the 93rd birthday party for Fred Jarvis, Barnet’s most…

Police station to close 2

Sep 13, 2017 Services
High Barnet police station is set to close
High Barnet police station is one of 30 or so across London where a front counter service to the public is…

New Vicar for Christ Church

Sep 16, 2017 General News
Reverend Andy Rimmer (far left) being congratulated on his institution as the new Vicar of Christ Church by (from left to right), the Bishop of Edmonton, the Reverend Bob Wickham, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Brian Sallinger, and Martin Russell, Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London.
A service to institute and induct its new vicar, the Reverend Andy Rimmer, was described as a moment to…

Eyesore site for sale 1

Sep 16, 2017 Planning
The former Marie Foster Centre now to be developed
A derelict former nurses’ home that has been an eyesore for years will finally be demolished under plans to…

Work starts on Barnet hospice

Sep 27, 2017 General News
Sophie is now 11 years old and is displaying similar symptoms to her brother who died aged 17
To coincide with the start of building work on its site at the environment centre off Byng Road, Barnet, an…

Barnet teenage market next steps

Sep 28, 2017 General News
Bob Burstow (right), teenage market appeal organiser, briefing James Winpenny of Hunter Asset Management, which operates the Spires, and has pledged £10,000 for the teenage market.
Organisers of Barnet’s teenage market – to be launched on Easter Saturday next year – are hoping that this…

Barnet Market to move 2

Oct 02, 2017 General News
Tyler Bone pitching for custom at the family’s fruit and vegetable stall
Barnet market stall holders are delighted by the news that the managing agents for the Spires shopping centre…

Fern Room to be demolished

Oct 08, 2017 General News
The Fern Room
Plans have been announced by a developer to demolish the Fern Room in Salisbury Road, Barnet, and replace it…

Big day for “Puff Buffs”

Oct 10, 2017 General News
Michael Portillo and Francesca Caine
Michael Portillo, presenter of the tv series Great Railway Journeys, unveiled a plaque at Hadley Wood station…

Fears for future of Old People’s Welfare

Oct 12, 2017 General News
Christine Pugh (left) and Jean Broadhurst get their first chance to see the block of flats that is planned to take the place of the Fern Room in Salisbury Road
Barnet Old People’s Welfare committee fears that the demolition of the Fern Room, its day centre in Salisbury…

Glory days for QE Girls 5

Oct 16, 2017 General News
Violet Walker, head teacher of QE Girls, with students and teachers. From left to right, Nanaekua Minta, Afsham Fareed-Birtill, Mrs Walker, Anna Taylor, Lindsey Southwell and Deepika Makkar.
Record GCSE and A-level results for the second consecutive year have now been topped by the news that Queen…

Barnet workshop tackles online bullying

Oct 22, 2017 General News
Workshop where students shared their experiences as part of a theatrical project to tackle cyber-bullying
Two students who took part in a workshop at the Wood Street campus of Barnet and Southgate College are to…

Council excavate roots of historic oak 1

Oct 23, 2017 General News
Excavation for a three-foot deep trench took place directly in the root protection zone of a 250-year-old oak.
Unthinking council planners and contractors are being blamed by local tree lovers for hacking through the…

Underhill school to go ahead 11

Oct 27, 2017 Planning
The proposed new Ark Pioneer Academy, facing south west
After being refused permission in January, Barnet Council’s planning committee has now approved plans for the…

Mighty oak sparks almighty row 1

Oct 30, 2017 Planning
Frederic Micoud, Barnet Council tree officer (far left) examining the test pit under the oak tree as local residents and contractors look on.
After protests from local tree lovers, Barnet Council finally called a temporary halt to trench digging and…

Police station will close

Nov 03, 2017 Services
Barnt Police station on the High Street
High Barnet’s police station will close to the public by the end of the year along with 36 other police…

Last butcher's shop closes 15

Nov 03, 2017 High Street The Spires
Butcher's Hook, was the last bucher's shop on the High Street
End of an era. Butcher’s Hook, the last remaining butcher’s shop in High Street, Barnet, has ceased trading…

New homes and commercial space

Nov 08, 2017 Planning
Steve Mellor (left), head of planning for Shanly Homes, briefs Robin Bishop, chair of the Barnet Society, on the company’s plans for the Brake Shear House site off Barnet High Street.
Shanly Homes, which purchased the semi-derelict Brake Shear House workshops off Barnet High Street earlier…

Three cheers for mighty oak

Nov 13, 2017 Planning
Simon Cohen (far left) and local residents raise a cheer for the mighty oak at the junction of The Meadway and Potters Road. The celebration was in support of the Woodland Trust’s “We Love Street Trees” campaign.
Local residents raised a glass to celebrate – and wish good health -- to the 250-year-old oak tree at the…

Saving Whalebones for community use

Nov 13, 2017 Planning
Whalebones Farm ducks November 2017
Creating a city farm with access for volunteers and local children is one of the ideas being canvassed by…

Appeal for new swimming pool roof

Nov 20, 2017 General News
The pool at Cromer Road Primary school
Parents of children at Cromer Road Primary School, New Barnet, are launching a last-minute campaign to get…

High Barnet’s ever-expanding CPZ 12

Nov 20, 2017 Road Improvements
Roads outlined in red will be included in the new Barnet Hospital CPZ. Roads in the existing High Barnet CPZ are hatched in green.
An extension of the High Barnet controlled parking zone to impose restrictions on roads around Barnet…

Rehearsing for Christmas Fayre

Nov 24, 2017 High Street The Spires
Elves take a break from their rehearsal for Twas The Night Before Christmas (from left to right): Clementine Griffiths, Lois-Grace Atkins, Holly Strawson, Miriam Nyarko, Tallulah Isted, and Erin Gall.
Preparations are well underway for the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 3 December – including elves…

High Barnet’s budding food court 3

Nov 27, 2017 High Street The Spires
Master pizzaiolo Giovanni Marino and Noah Hirsch in their Citroen van at the rear of the Spires
A van producing and selling authentic Roman pizzas is helping to kick start the development of what is fast…

Medieval conflict at church 1

Nov 27, 2017 High Street The Spires
Camp follower Isabella Henman whose job it was to help dress soldiers in full armour and livery
A re-enactment of armed combat from the time of the Battle of Barnet of 1471 filled the garden in front of…

Why no bus from tube to hospital? 4

Nov 29, 2017 Consultations
High Barnet tube station’s approach road: ample space for a mini-bus or Hoppa bus to Barnet Hospital?
A long-running campaign by the Barnet Society to persuade Transport for London to run a bus service from High…

Hairdo sing-along for Barnet centenarian

Nov 30, 2017 General News
Greta Nellie Druce, 102 in November, getting ready for a sing song with her hair stylist Pammie Sardillo (left) and her daughter Diane Druce at JJ’s hairdressing salon in Alston Road, Barnet.
A sing song going through favourites of yester-year is a highlight at a Barnet hairdressing salon when…

A fun day for Barnet children

Dec 04, 2017 High Street The Spires
Ready for the opening of the Barnet Christmas Fayre (from left to right), the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Brian Salinger, the Mayoress, Kate Salinger, Tom Salinger and Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet
A damp Sunday afternoon did little to dampen the excitement for countless children who enjoyed the…

Preserving footpaths – you can help

Dec 12, 2017 General News
Unless favourite footpaths and walks are included in the new 2026 definitive map they might be lost forever
Local residents are being urged by the Barnet Society to support a campaign to make sure historic footpaths…

Hidden secret in Wood Street 1

Dec 19, 2017 General News
Removing bricks in a cottage wall exposed the hidden wallpaper. Emma Hardy (left) with Penny Mayes.
Two historic cottages at the corner of Wood Street and Manor Road have revealed a secret that has been hidden…

Millie the cat: online sensation 13

Dec 27, 2017 High Street The Spires
Millie stations herself outside Waitrose ready to acknowledge the strokes of her many admirers
Millie the Waitrose cat, already dubbed High Barnet’s most sociable feline, has been inundated with good will…

Artists launch Nightingales Emporium 2

Dec 27, 2017 High Street The Spires
Natasha Nightingale (left) and Candy Ward, at Nightingales Emporium in Brake Shear House
After remaining empty and abandoned for over a year, High Barnet’s historic Brake Shear House, just off the…

Changing face of High Barnet 2

Dec 27, 2017 Planning
New homes in the Elmbank development are transforming the junction of Wood Street and Barnet Road
Big new housing developments such as Elmbank, opposite the Arkley public house, are changing the face of High…

Take off for teenage market 1

Jan 09, 2018 High Street The Spires
Campaigners for Barnet’s teenage market, (from left to right), Kit Carter who represents Friends of Barnet Market on Barnet Town Team; Chris Nightingale, of Friends of Barnet Market; and Bob Burstow, Secretary of Barnet Town Team
The launch of Barnet’s teenage market – planned for Easter Saturday – is a step closer with the purchase of…

The Sallet

Jan 15, 2018 General News
Hilary Harrison, a member of the Battle of Barnet project team, looks on as trustee Michael Noronha tries out a medieval helmet newly acquired by Barnet Museum.
A replica of a late medieval helmet of a kind worn by a knight or man-at-arms at the 1471 Battle of Barnet is…

Whalebones. Is this the future? 1

Jan 15, 2018 General News
Houses and flats are being built at Elmbank just a few hundred yards from the smallholding in the woods and farmland at Whalebones.
A group of residents campaigning to stop housing development on the Whalebones farmland are investigating…

Mothers and babies fight back 1

Jan 18, 2018 General News
Mums and their babies join a protest meeting to halt the closure of the Barnet Breastfeeding Support Service
Young mums and their babies were out in force at a protest meeting to try to force Barnet Council to abandon…

Final farewell to Barnet FC 10

Jan 18, 2018 Barnet Football Club
Final farewell to Barnet FC
Almost five years since Barnet Football Club played its last game at Underhill, its stadium off Barnet Lane…

Your Vision for Barnet

Jan 22, 2018 General News
Leading Barnet councillors and candidates will be lining up to answer residents’ questions at the Barnet…

High Street’s “ghost advertisement” 3

Jan 31, 2018 High Street The Spires
The ghost advert as seen from the pavement
High Barnet’s most prominent “ghost advertisement” – high up on a side wall in the High Street – is creating…

The house that Fred built 1

Feb 01, 2018 General News
Retired architect Fred Hobart and the house he designed and built with his father
Sitting right in the middle of a typical Barnet street of Edwardian homes is an eye-catching 1960s modern…

Barnet girls celebrate votes for women 1

Feb 09, 2018 General News
Pupils at QE Girls’ School joined (from left to right) Chloe Smith, Minister for the Constitution; Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet; and Violet Walker, headteacher, QE Girls’ School
Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, Barnet, played its part in the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of…

Physic Well to be restored

Feb 15, 2018 General News
Mike Jordan (centre) chair of Barnet Museum’s trustees, was on hand with volunteers Dennis Bird (left) and Bob Langley to answer visitors’ questions
Years of uncertainty about the ownership of Barnet Museum and the future of Barnet’s historic physic well…

Plea to restore drinking fountain 2

Feb 19, 2018 General News
Peter Wanders is leading a campaign to get water reconnected to the historic Hadley Green drinking fountain.
A campaign has been launched to restore to full use Hadley Green’s historic water fountain, an ornate…

Council election candidates go head to head

Feb 23, 2018 General News
Robin Bishop, chair of Barnet Society, opens the election hustings.
A deep, sometimes noisy divide opened up at the Barnet Society’s election hustings over a wide range of…

Why no upper deck for Barnet Hospital car park? 9

Feb 28, 2018 General News
Barrnet Hospital Car Park
Forcing Barnet Hospital to build an upper deck over its car park is one option that should be considered by…

The Mayor of London New London Plan 1

Mar 04, 2018 Planning
Land around High Barnet Station is likely to be built over for high-density housing if the Mayor of London's draft London Plan is adopted. The site could include the car and container parks, and possibly space above the station and sidings.
Over the last 18 months, Sadiq Khan has been consulting Londoners about aspects of a new London Plan. It sets…

Keeping the High Street tidy 1

Mar 09, 2018 General News
High Street road sweeper Douglas Shrubb in the Fitzjohn Avenue car park
Keeping the High Street in High Barnet spick and span gives veteran road sweeper Douglas Shrubb so much…

High Barnet’s hedge-layers in action 1

Mar 13, 2018 General News
David (left) and John Sawkins working on the double-brush Hertfordshire hedge
A double-brush Hertfordshire hedge – re-laid in a way passed on by a Romany gipsy who lived at Welham Green –…

Foundation bricks laid at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice

Mar 18, 2018 General News
Champak Mistry of Barnet Rotary Club (left) preparing to lay a foundation stone with Punyapriya Singh, Noah’s Ark’s senior community engagement manager
Fund raisers from across north and central London laid foundation bricks at a ceremony at the construction…

Multi-storey car park planned 1

Mar 21, 2018 Planning
Barnet Hospital car park
A new masterplan for the future redevelopment of the Barnet Hospital site is in preparation and it does…

Death of popular organiser of Barnet art exhibitions

Mar 21, 2018 General News
Fred Howett (left) with Nichola Hunt, chair of the Barnet Guild of Artists, admiring a water colour of the Whalebones stable block by the late Miss Gwyneth Cowing who promised that the guild would have the continued use of its studio on the Whalebones estate.
Fred Howett, a long-standing member of the Barnet Guild of Artists, who helped to organise regular and…

High Street banners

Mar 27, 2018 General News
One of the banners painted by volunteers at Barnet Museum (from left to right) Margaret Luck, Hilary Harrison and Mike Jordan, chairman of the museum’s trustees
Replica copies of four of the heraldic banners of the dukes, earls and knights who fought in the 1471 Battle…

Swimming pool appeal 2

Mar 30, 2018 General News
Jim Collis (far right), has helped to teach over 2,000 children to swim in his 20 years at the school. With him are swimming supervisor Josie Snowdon and parent Simon Cohen who is helping with fund raising
Cromer Road Primary School’s swimming pool – where countless hundreds of Barnet children have learned to swim…

Opportunities for Barnet’s challenged youngsters

Mar 30, 2018 General News
Cake maker Lisa-Marie Chandler demonstrating techniques for turning out rose whirls on cream cup cakes
Hands-on experience in a great variety of trades, sports and occupations was all part of a careers day…

Busy start for Barnet’s teenage market 1

Apr 02, 2018 High Street The Spires
Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School pupils Kai Sethna (centre) and Hugh Westcott (right) have launched a business selling designer street wear. Helping them man their stall was Thomas Mgbor
A bumper crowd of well-wishers and Easter Saturday shoppers turned out for the opening of the first Barnet…

Market exits for hotel 1

Apr 04, 2018 Barnet Market
Stall holders at Barnet Market hope the switch to a site closer to the Spires will boost trade
If planning approval is given, a Premier Inn hotel and restaurant is to be built on the historic St Albans…

Demolition eats away at local landmark 6

Apr 09, 2018 Planning
Demolition in progress at Mill Hill
Buildings around the iconic headquarters of the former National Institute for Medical Research on the…

Re-living the Battles of St Albans and Barnet 2

Apr 11, 2018 Barnet History
Gunnery from the time of the Wars of the Roses was a highlight of events at the 2017 Tea in the Park
Scenes from the battles of St Albans (1461) and Barnet (1471) – two of the engagements in the Wars of the…

A hotel worthy of historic site 14

Apr 19, 2018 Barnet Market
Premier Inns says its new hotel will blend in well with terraced houses in Chipping Close
Nearby residents have been given an assurance that the design of the new Premier Inn planned for the historic…

Topping out for hospice atrium

Apr 20, 2018 General News
Ru Watkins, chief executive of Noah’s Ark, with two of the hospice team, Nicky Gowlett (left) fund-raising events manager and Jules Adams, specialist carer.
A ceremony was held at the construction site of the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in Byng Road, Barnet, to…

Spires deny closure rumours 8

Apr 26, 2018 General News
H & M in The Spires
Footfall in the Spires shopping centre is up by over 50 per cent in the first three months of this year –…

A Premier Inn with a difference? 42

Apr 27, 2018 General News
Computer generated photo of the new Premier Inn
A computer-generated image shows the proposed Premier Inn hotel and restaurant to be built on the site of…

Conservatives sweep back to power in Barnet

May 04, 2018 General News
Richard Cornelius, Conservative leader, celebrating his party’s success in seeing off Labour’s challenge for control of Barnet Council.
Barnet Borough Council is back firmly under Conservative control after the Labour Party failed to make its…

Heraldic banners for High Street

May 08, 2018 High Street The Spires
Hilary Harrison, a member of the Battle of Barnet project team, and Barnet Museum trustee Michael Noronha, with the newly-painted Henry VI banner
The coat of arms of Henry VI is the latest to be painted as part of the Battle of Barnet Project – and it is…

Spires to host press ups endurance event

May 08, 2018 High Street The Spires
Limbering up for their world record attempt at an endurance press up relay race, Sonny Reneti (left), supermarket assistant at Waitrose, and Shaun Wall, Spires shopping centre manager
An attempt to set a new world record for endurance in performing press ups is to be the highlight of a fun…

“What’s a selfie?” – asked Fred, 94, next birthday

May 08, 2018 General News
Fred Jarvis
Before Selfies is the title of a collection of photographs taken during the lifetime of Fred Jarvis, Barnet’s…

Barnet’s classic cars sign up for Armed Forces Day

May 17, 2018 High Street The Spires
Bertie, a rare 1920s Bentley owned by Paul and Pina Griffin, will be one of the star attractions
Barnet’s annual Classic Car Show on Saturday 30 June is to be bigger and better than ever before – and will…

Barnet’s royal wedding street parties

May 21, 2018 General News
Enjoying the barbecue at the Old Fold View royal wedding street party were, (from left to right), cook Matt Fellows, one of the organisers, Angela Spatz with baby Grace, and neighbour Anushka Pisano
Old Fold View was one of several roads in and around High Barnet that was closed off to traffic so that…

Wars of the Roses banners for Barnet High Street 2

May 22, 2018 High Street The Spires
Heraldic banners, already on display in the Spires, will line both sides of Barnet High Street in the lead-up to the Barnet Medieval Festival from June 9-10.
If Barnet Council gives approval, 26 hand-painted heraldic banners are to be hung along Barnet High Street to…

Barnet Market & Premier Inn - An opportunity slipping away 12

May 27, 2018 Planning
Stapylton Road pocket park – improvements are needed in and around it
The Barnet Society supports the current planning applications for both a Premier Inn and relocation of the…

Taste the flavour of Barnet’s medieval festival

May 31, 2018 Events
Hopscotch sweetshop, in High Street – which is selling a specially-prepared blend of Battle of Barnet tea – had a visit from members of the Medieval Siege Society. From left to right, Michael and Alice Kentish, Chris Farncomme (King Edward IV), Liz Bowman, Jenny Mix, Linda Godden, Peter Grande and Tracey Jackson.
A cup of Battle of Barnet tea or a pint of Battle of Barnet bitter are just two of the tempting offers that…

A makeover for Chipping Barnet High Street 13

Jun 04, 2018 High Street The Spires
Visualisation looking north from Moxon Street. (The buildings are not the actual ones.)
A three-week public consultation has opened on a new scheme of improvements to the High Street – and it’s…

Developers to unveil plans for housing at Whalebones 4

Jun 05, 2018 Planning
An image issued by the developers shows the Whalebones woods and fields divided up into three plots to be used for residential development and new public green spaces.
After months of speculation about the future of the Whalebones estate of woods and fields in Wood Street,…

Wars of the Roses banners transform Barnet High Street

Jun 05, 2018 General News
Heraldic banners from the Yorkist army flutter from lamp standards in High Street Barnet ahead of this weekend’s Barnet Medieval Festival
Barnet High Street is flying heraldic banners from the Wars of the Roses to promote the town’s first-ever…

Whalebones: up to 180 homes plus green spaces 11

Jun 08, 2018 Planning
The master plan for redeveloping the Whalebones estate indicates the large field to be used for housing and the two smaller fields that would be designated as green spaces open to the public.
A development plan for the woods and fields around Whalebones in Wood Street, Barnet, proposes the…

Keeping in touch with High Barnet Police 4

Jun 08, 2018 General News
Barnet Police safer neighbourhood team’s two dedicated ward officers, PC Daniel Bhogun (left) and PC Nick Onslow
After the closure of High Barnet’s police station in November last year, the local safer neighbourhood police…

Battle of Barnet re-enactment – a weekend to remember 1

Jun 17, 2018 General News
A medieval canon fired the first round at the opening of Barnet Medieval Festival by Martin Russell, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Barnet
Such was the enthusiastic response to a real-life re-enactment of the Battle of Barnet that military…

Medieval Festival treated “appallingly” by Barnet Council 3

Jun 17, 2018 General News
Council David Longstaff (far right), guest speaker at the Barnet Society’s annual general meeting, was welcomed by the chair, Robin Bishop (left) and the vice-chair Gail Laser
Charging £3,000 to hang heraldic banners from 26 lamp standards in Barnet High Street was condemned as the…

Press-ups helping worthy causes

Jun 17, 2018 General News
The Spires’ team had to complete 20,000 press-ups in the fastest time.
Two teams of keep-fit enthusiasts entertained shoppers at the Spires shopping centre with a marathon session…

Care home for elderly to replace Barnet eye-sore 1

Jun 20, 2018 Planning
The old Marie Foster building on Wood Street
After lying abandoned and derelict for years the former nurses’ home in Wood Street, Barnet, is to be…

Barnet’s classic cars joined by vintage armoured vehicles

Jun 29, 2018 High Street The Spires
Mike Jordan’s 1930s MG J2 parading in Barnet High Street
Barnet’s annual Classic Car Show on Saturday (30 June) is to be a joint display alongside vintage armoured…

Best ever Barnet Classic Car show

Jul 01, 2018 High Street The Spires
Classic cars arriving at the Army Reserve Centre in St Albans Road in support of Armed Forces Day
A joint display of classic cars and vintage armoured vehicles drew record crowds to the fifth annual Barnet…

Queen’s representative at QE Girls’ summer fair

Jul 01, 2018 General News
Martin Russell, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Barnet, was guest of honour at QE Girls’ summer fair. (from left to right), Rebecca Hanley, chair of QE Girls’ trustees, Martin Russell, Royden Gothelf, chair of QE Girls’ Trust, and Violet Walker, headteacher
To help celebrate the school’s 130th anniversary, pupils at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, Barnet,…

£22 million care home for Marie Foster site 1

Jul 04, 2018 Planning
David Roe, head of land and planning for Signature Senior Lifestyle, with an artist’s impression of the £22 million care home
Local residents and nearby businesses are to be consulted over a plan to build a 100-bed care home for the…

When Barnet pioneered multiple sclerosis care 3

Jul 04, 2018 General News
Marie Foster Centre, Wood Street – now occupied by “resident guardians”, short-stay tenants who have rented rooms while the building awaits demolition
Most High Barnet residents are familiar with the Marie Foster Centre – awaiting demolition for redevelopment…

Raydean Road houses – a tribute to modernism

Jul 11, 2018 General News
Raydean Road’s square, flat-roofed houses were built in 1935
A row of square, flat-roofed houses in Raydean Road are among the buildings in and around Barnet that are…

Site needed for Battle of Barnet sculpture 2

Jul 11, 2018 General News
Barnet Sculptor John Somerville
A competition to find the best possible site for a three-metre high bronze sculpture to commemorate the…

Restoration plea for Hadley Highstone obelisk

Jul 26, 2018 General News
Battle of Barnet obelisk at Hadley Highstone
A campaign to restore the obelisk at Hadley Highstone that commemorates the Battle of Barnet, is one of a…

Founder remembered at arts exhibition 1

Jul 26, 2018 General News
A portrait of founder Gwyneth Cowing and some of her paintings are admired by Nichola Hunt, chair of the Barnet Guild of Artists and guild secretary Bryan Polikoff
Barnet Guild of Artists’ 70th annual summer exhibition is dedicated to its founder, Gwyneth Cowing, who in…

Angry reaction over exclusion from Barnet Hospital CPZ 4

Aug 01, 2018 General News
Kings Road and Grimsdyke Crescent are two of roads which the residents fear will now become an unofficial car park for staff and visitors at Barnet Hospital
Residents in four roads that were hoping to be included in the new Barnet Hospital controlled parking zone…

Tributes after death of feline celebrity 20

Aug 01, 2018 General News
Paula Gabb and Millie in happier times
Paula Gabb says her much-celebrated cat Millie – known locally as Barnet’s “library cat” and latterly…

Premier Inn - What next? 19

Aug 06, 2018 Planning
Barnet Market – site of the proposed Premier Inn
The controversial proposal to build a Premier Inn on the former Barnet Market site has been rejected by…

Sketch for new Battle of Barnet oil painting

Aug 17, 2018 General News
Graham Turner’s preliminary sketch for his oil painting depicting the 1471 Battle of Barnet
The stunning success this summer of the first-ever Barnet Medieval Festival – which the organisers are…

Premier Inn – market place confrontation 7

Aug 19, 2018 Planning
Chris Nightingale, of Friends of Barnet Market (right) told development director Simon Shaw he supported plans for the Premier Inn hotel on condition there was a guaranteed new site for Barnet market
Residents of Chipping Close were out in force to express their continuing opposition to the construction of a…

Sporting history for Barnet rugby 3

Aug 25, 2018 Barnet History
The 1919 line-up for Barnet Rugby Football Club for its inaugural match against St Barts in a rented field at the bottom of Barnet Hill
Barnet might have lost its football club, but another of the town’s sporting traditions is still making…

Shop closures and conversions changing town centre 9

Aug 27, 2018 High Street The Spires
Barnet Antique and Vintage Centre could become a house in multiple occupation offering nine self-contained rooms with two communal kitchens
High Barnet’s struggling High Street shopping centre is facing fresh challenges: another two national chains…

New plans for Brake Shear House 1

Aug 30, 2018 Planning
Visualisation of proposed development by BroadwayMalyan (architects)
A new planning application is in for the Brake Shear House site. The design has good and weak points, so the…

Hefty council tax bill for High Street cash machine 12

Sep 04, 2018 High Street The Spires
Barnet Council has issued a £6,000-plus council tax demand for proprietor Vince Gadhavi
Offering High Barnet residents and shoppers a free-to-use cash machine is proving an expensive nightmare for…

Unruly street drinkers troubling High Street shoppers 8

Sep 12, 2018 High Street The Spires
Richard Cornelius, leader of Barnet Council fielding questions at an Engage Barnet event at the Bull Theatre
Problems caused by uncontrolled street drinking in High Barnet and rough sleeping in shop doorways along the…

Premier Inn - Take Two 16

Sep 17, 2018 Planning
Visualisation of proposed hotel from Bruce Road (by ica architects)
Premier Inns have submitted a new planning application. The design has been improved since its first scheme,…

Putting the Battle of Barnet on the map for historical tours

Sep 23, 2018 General News
Alison Weir with the chairman of Barnet Museum, Mike Jordan (right), and Dennis Bird, talks organiser for the Battle of Barnet Project
A heartfelt plea for the creation of a visitors’ centre or historic trail to mark the site of the 1471 Battle…

Town centre “rabbit hutch” rooms plan withdrawn

Sep 26, 2018 Planning
Withdrawal of plan to convert Barnet Antique and Vintage Centre into a house in multiple occupation offering nine self-contained rooms with two communal kitchens
A highly-controversial plan to convert empty retail premises just off Barnet High Street into a house in…

Shopkeeper's victory in council tax row 3

Sep 29, 2018 High Street The Spires
Vince Gadhavi with the revised zero demand from Barnet Council
Barnet Council has backed down from its decision to charge a High Street newsagent an extra £1,800 a year in…

Rambles Round Barnet Parts1 and 2 Updated 20 December 2018

Oct 01, 2018 Rambles
Darlands Lake

London Buses: Typical - two consultations come along at once 5

Oct 03, 2018 General News
What do these changes mean for the residents of Barnet?
The Barnet Society have been asked to comment on the proposal by Transport for London (TfL) to change the…

Reviving Barnet High Street with a children’s play area 1

Oct 05, 2018 High Street The Spires
oanne Merchant, mother of two, has ambitious plans for a High Street children’s play area.
Creating a play area for children combined with space for community activities in the centre of High Barnet…

Care home to replace Barnet’s blot on the landscape

Oct 08, 2018 Planning
Image of new care home’s main entrance in Cattley Close
A planning application has now been submitted to Barnet Council for a large-scale private care home for the…

Pledges needed for Medieval Festival

Oct 17, 2018 General News
Volunteers rallying support from left to right, Dennis Bird, Hilary Harrison, Howard Simmons, Margaret Luck, Susan Skedd and Dorothy Cohen
Volunteers hoping to organise a repeat of this summer’s Barnet Medieval Festival are rallying support for…

Historic almshouses tradition thriving 2

Oct 17, 2018 General News
Winifred Gale, aged 98, the oldest resident in the 56 almshouses and Simon Smith, clerk to the visitors.
Seven new almshouses for women aged over 50 – currently under construction in Potters Lane – are continuing a…

Plea to save historic plaque

Oct 23, 2018 General News
The plaque in the Marie Foster building looking rather sad
Barnet’s pioneering role in the development of care for young people suffering from multiple sclerosis has…

TfL Bus Changes: Turn these plans round at the next stop! 13

Oct 26, 2018 General News
384 bus negotiating Strafford Road, High Barnet. TfL would switch it to Salisbury Road.
After carefully weighing members’ and readers’ – often differing – points of view on the changes proposed by…

Looking for answers - The Great War casualties 2

Nov 01, 2018 General News
St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale
St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale, is launching an appeal to find out more about the families and relatives of…

Accolade for High Street campaigner 5

Nov 02, 2018 General News
Gail Laser interviewed by Dom Littlewood for his 2016 BBC programme, Dom On the Spot, that featured Barnet’s parking
Gail Laser, founder of Love Barnet, has won national recognition for the decade she has spent working…

Premier Inn approved: will it help town centre? 25

Nov 06, 2018 General News
The site of the new Premier Inn
Plans for a 100-bed Premier Inn on the site of Barnet Market were approved by a clear majority at a meeting…

Barnet Market back at the bandstand

Nov 12, 2018 General News
Tyler and David Bone run Barnet Market’s oldest fruit and vegetable stall
After having moved from site to site in recent years, Barnet Market has returned to the bandstand area beside…

Former Mayor stars in panto

Nov 14, 2018 General News
Nichola Hunt painting scenery for Dick Whittington at the Bull Theatre with Suzi Earnshaw
A strong local cast from around Barnet, including former pupils at the Suzi Earnshaw Theatre School, will be…

Newly-restored physic wellhouse re-opened 3

Nov 20, 2018 General News
The Physic Well restored
Barnet’s historic wellhouse, which houses one of the best-preserved medicinal wells in the country, has been…

Transforming playing field into multi-sports attraction 11

Nov 20, 2018 Planning
Toby Kingsbury, a director of a sports and leisure consultancy, unveiled the masterplan for a multi-sports attraction at Barnet playing fields in Dollis Valley
A major redevelopment of Barnet playing fields in Dollis Valley could include the provision of a skate board…

Ensuring historic footpaths are preserved

Nov 26, 2018 General News
Coe’s Alley is a cut-through from Wood Street to Union Street
Efforts are underway to identify and map the many alleyways and footpaths that add so much to the local…

New sports and community hubs in the green belt?

Nov 27, 2018 Green Belt
Barnet Playing Fields. The new hub would be built in the middle, beyond the playground (which would be replaced).
The Barnet Society welcomes the Council’s intention to restore Barnet & King George V Playing Fields, and to…

Christmas Fayre boosts The Bull pantomime

Dec 02, 2018 General News
The official line-up at the opening of Barnet’s Christmas Fayre – Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, the “Lord Mayor of London, Richard Whittington” (David West) and fellow actor, High Barnet Councillor David Longstaff, who is the pantomime dame in Dick Whittington at The Bull Theatre.
Barnet’s annual Christmas fayre broke with tradition this year. Instead of being opened by the Mayor of…

Boost for High Street 1

Dec 05, 2018 High Street The Spires
Coffee Bean joint proprietor Paul Assoul and Gail Laser, founder of LoveBarnet, are promoting the visit.
SaveTheHighStreet.org – which is campaigning to help shopping centres that are facing challenging times – is…

Building Threat on Potters Bar & South Mimms Green Belt 6

Dec 06, 2018 Green Belt
Hertsmere Council is consulting on the possibility of building up to 2,620 new homes
Hertsmere Council is consulting on the possibility of building up to 2,620 new homes plus new places of work…

Posting a letter helps animal rescue centre

Dec 06, 2018 General News
Post box on Barnet High Street decorated with knitted animals
Many of the Royal Mail post boxes around Barnet, Potters Bar and Brookmans Park have been decorated for…

“Bricks” up against “Bees”

Dec 06, 2018 General News
Oliver Deed (right) in the full splendour of his “Come on You Bricks” outfit along with fellow supporter Tony Swingler
“Come on you Bricks” is now rivalling the Barnet football chant of “Up the Bees” as supporters of Hadley…

State-of-the-art care promised at children’s hospice

Dec 07, 2018 General News
Work is nearing completion on Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in Byng Road.
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice is rapidly reaching completion in the grounds of the nature reserve maintained…

Earthworks remodelling Barnet golf course 6

Dec 08, 2018 General News
Diggers at work at the Old Ford Manor Golf Club, but are planning conditions being observed?
Earthworks remodelling Barnet golf course For some weeks past a constant stream of tipper lorries has been…

Farewell to Tam the Milkman – end of an era 8

Dec 28, 2018 General News
Tam Hughes, High Barnet milkman for 32 years, back in Granville Road visiting one of the streets in his former round
Customers and friends have been paying tribute to High Barnet’s popular milkman, Tam Hughes, whose franchise…

Plans for houses and public parkland in Whalebones 4

Dec 28, 2018 Planning
Well Cottage, at the top of Wellhouse Lane, which is the home of Whalebones tenant farmer Peter Mason, would retain sufficient land for rearing geese and poultry. Originally two cottages, dating back to around 1650, it was the home of well keepers who supplied water for the horses of the carters and drovers who stopped off in Barnet when taking hay and forage into London or when leaving with loads of horse manure and ash.
A woodland walkway, a healing garden and children’s play area are among the latest proposals for inclusion in…

Keep Barnet Clean Campaign 6

Jan 03, 2019 General News
Keep Barnet Clean poster
“Don’t be mean, keep Barnet clean” is the message on posters which have been appearing outside parks and on…

Barnet’s FA Cup run excites former fans 2

Jan 08, 2019 Barnet Football Club
Tony Swingler guards his Underhill pitch mementos – “The Green, Green Grass...of Barnet FC
Barnet’s shock 1-0 defeat of Sheffield United – to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup – has re-awakened…

Sociable feline stars on social media 6

Jan 08, 2019 High Street The Spires
Safety-conscious Millie regularly stops the traffic at she uses the zebra crossing from Chipping Barnet Library to the Spires Shopping Centre
High Barnet’s most precocious feline – Millie, the 17-year-old tabby that has made a name for herself at the…

Barnet Councillors’ pledge to tackle rough sleepers and street drinkers 8

Jan 10, 2019 General News
Councillors Lisa Rutter (left) and Alison Cornelius examining a sleeping area of one of the rough sleepers outside Chipping Barnet Library
Chipping Barnet Residents Forum has been given an assurance that Barnet Council will take action to remove up…

Barnet Band celebrates its transformation from brass to wind 1

Jan 16, 2019 General News
Barnet Band, with conductor Ian Brookman, is holding an anniversary concert featuring music from the last 13 decades
Barnet Band, originally the High Barnet Foresters’ Brass Band, which started performing in 1889 – with just…

Campaigning to save traditional public houses 1

Jan 22, 2019 General News
Gary Murphy, landlord of The Mitre, promoting his array of ales and craft beers
Gary Murphy, landlord at one of High Barnet’s highly-rated real ale pubs, the Mitre, is preparing for the…

Full house at Barnet homeless night shelter

Jan 29, 2019 General News
Preparing to serve an evening meal at the night shelter for the homeless at St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale. From left to right, John Hay, Geoff Nicholson and the Reverend Tristan Chapman
Every Sunday this winter St Mark’s Church, Barnet Vale, becomes a night shelter for the homeless – “our…

Samaritans reaching out to prevent suicidal thoughts

Jan 31, 2019 General News
Volunteers John Pyatt and Jacky Bishop ready to help at North London Samaritans’ new call centre
From its new call centre at Bowes Park, volunteers from the North London Samaritans are stepping up their…

Plans for memorial to Millie, High Barnet’s feline celebrity 3

Feb 04, 2019 General News
Paula Gabb and Millie in happier times
Well over £1,200 has been donated already by well-wishers towards the cost of a memorial to the 17-year-old…

No shortage of demand for donated food

Feb 05, 2019 General News
Chipping Barnet foodbank volunteers Harold Williams and Monica Phelps prepare food items ready for distribution
Chipping Barnet foodbank is currently experiencing a spike in demand following the introduction of universal…

Barnet Beyond Brexit 3

Feb 09, 2019 General News
For our spring public forum, the Barnet Society has arranged for an expert panel to answer questions of local…

Millie to live on in bronze

Feb 14, 2019 General News
John Somerville in his Wood Street studio
Barnet sculptor John Somerville, who has captured the image of countless rock stars and writers, is facing…

Trustees plan lasting memorial to Barnet philanthropist 4

Feb 19, 2019 General News
Richard Powles, trustee of the Gwyneth Cowing estate, on the steps of the artists’ studio that she had built in 1961 for Barnet Guild of Artists.
Trustees for the fields around Whalebones, where just over 150 new homes are planned, say they believe the…

Fourth-generation family pitch at Barnet Market

Feb 25, 2019 General News
Forth generation Bones
David and Tyler Bone are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the family’s fruit and vegetable…

Barnet Beyond Brexit - Update

Feb 25, 2019 General News
On 29 March the UK is likely to withdraw from the EU. What impact will this have on High Barnet, New Barnet,…

Bid to resume Battle of Barnet archaeological dig 2

Feb 25, 2019 General News
Liz Bown, chair of the Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society, and committee member Ed Jones, are working on plans for a wreath laying ceremony at Hadley Highstone to commemorate those who fell at the Battle of Barnet of 14 April 1471.
Plans are afoot – if funding can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund – to re-start an archaeological…

Rambles Round Barnet Update 29th June 2019

Mar 01, 2019 Rambles
Darlands Conservation Trust The previous update of 20th December 2018 referred to the Trust that had been set…

Demolition to start soon at Marie Foster site 4

Mar 01, 2019 General News
Marie Foster Centre was opened by the Duchess of Gloucester in 1973 and was the first of its kind in the country to care for young people with multiple sclerosis
Resident guardians who have had temporary homes in the former Marie Foster Centre in Wood Street, Barnet, are…

Help at Spires for heart attack victims 1

Mar 07, 2019 General News
Fern Golder, centre administrator at the Spires shopping centre, is among staff trained in resuscitation techniques.
Staff and sales assistants at the Spires shopping centre are keen to publicise the location of a…

Concerns re new academy school 4

Mar 08, 2019 Consultations
Ark Pioneer Academy, built on the site of the Underhill football stadium, opens in September
Ark Pioneer Academy, High Barnet’s new secondary school opening in September, has started holding drop in…

Barnet Beyond Brexit -Saving our green spaces 2

Mar 23, 2019 Green Belt
Chipping Barnet’s Green Belt. Purple dots represent proposed housing developments in it.
Chipping Barnet is surrounded on three sides by Green Belt – virtually unspoiled open countryside from Hadley…

Security to be withdrawn from some parks & gardens 1

Mar 23, 2019 General News
Old Court House Recreation Ground
Barnet Council’s latest cost-cutting proposal is to end the long-standing practice of locking up gates to…

Anti-litter spring clean-up 1

Mar 23, 2019 General News
Nanna Blomquist preparing for a spring clean-up of High Barnet litter
Plans for a spring clean-up of litter has attracted hundreds of promises of support after mother-of-three…

Accommodation for nurses: old and new

Mar 26, 2019 General News
Barnet Hospital’s former nurses’ home is currently protected by scaffolding and barriers due to its dilapidated state
Barnet Hospital’s first nurses’ home, now used for offices, is celebrating the 90th anniversary of its…

High Street offers new trading opportunities 1

Mar 29, 2019 High Street The Spires
Tracie Murchison (left) and Petra Patrick believe the Pink Shop offers creative businesses a valuable High Street outlet
Injecting fresh life into High Barnet’s distressed High Street is a challenge for retailers, but two women…

Coats of arms the length of Barnet High Street

Apr 01, 2019 General News
A rampant lion is the centrepiece of Sir John Marney’s heraldic banner, one of 70 to be displayed this summer in Barnet High Street. From left to right, Geoffrey Wheeler, historian and photographer, who researched Wars of the Roses coats of arms, Hilary Harrison, who co-ordinated the painting, and volunteers Irene Nichols and Gwyneth Hibbett
Twice as many Wars of the Roses heraldic banners will be hung from lamp standards along Barnet High Street…

When I Grow Up idea wins business award

Apr 04, 2019 General News
Mother of two Joanne Merchant with the judging panel for Barnet entrepreneurs’ award. From left to right, Sharniya Ferdinand, Vanessa Fernandes, Joanne Merchant, Steve Leverton, Terry Magennis
A business plan for opening a combined space for a children’s play area and community activities in Barnet…

Granite sculpture divides opinion 8

Apr 05, 2019 General News
The Family, a large granite sculpture, by Finchley sculptor Drew Edwards, may look like this at Chipping Barnet Library.
An alcove in front of Chipping Barnet library has been chosen as the potential site of a large granite…

Months more traffic disruption at Monken Hadley 6

Apr 10, 2019 General News
Trafic queues at Monken Hadley
Thames Water are warning that it will probably be the end of July before there is a final end to the…

Reminder of High Street "great conflagration”

Apr 10, 2019 High Street The Spires
Three shops in Barnet High Street – next to Barclays bank – were destroyed in the “great conflagration” of 1908 when firemen complained they had been hampered by a shortage of water
Yet another change of owner of a Barnet High Street shop with a distinctly checkered history, has evoked…

Starring roles for former Barnet schoolgirl

Apr 16, 2019 General News
Allie Munro stars as a feminist super hero in Vulvarine, the fifth production of the Fat Rascal theatre company
After-school drama classes at the Bull Theatre provided an all-important source of inspiration for a Barnet…

Physic Well visitors rekindle childhood memories

Apr 23, 2019 General News
David Richards and Pat Hicks fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition to descend the twelve steps to the underground tanks filled by spring water at the historic Barnet Physic Well.
Several visitors at the first open day of the refurbished Barnet Physic Well fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition…

Greater choice for High Barnet school children 8

Apr 26, 2019 General News
Ark Pioneer Principal Aishling Ryan
Working together with other local primary and secondary schools and welcoming the involvement of community…

Learning more about dementia and palliative care

May 01, 2019 General News
A training session at the North London Hospice. From left to right, Ilona Zielonka, Ann Ryan, hospice practice educators Fran Watson and Kate Phillips
An education programme aimed at widening public understanding of dementia and palliative care is being…

New Barnet campaign to save community hub 1

May 07, 2019 General News
Ros Howarth is helping to organise a fund-raising appeal to save a New Barnet church for community use
Residents of the New Bevan housing estate in New Barnet face a daunting race against time to try to raise…

Soloists past and present at QE Girls’ service 1

May 13, 2019 General News
Guest soprano Penelope Martin-Smith with fellow vocalist, year-8 pupil Akua Nkansah at QE Girls’ School commemoration day service
Among the highlights at the annual commemoration day service for Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School were vocals…

Monken Hadley road closure until late July

May 26, 2019 Road Improvements
Dr Thomas Renz, rector of St Mary’s Monken Hadley, is shown the site of the 33ft deep shaft that will have to be dug beside the historic gates – a task that project manager Mark Lusher says presents considerable challenges given the number of historic and listed buildings nearby
Motorists face a ten-week closure of the road through the historic gates at Monken Hadley in order to allow…

Farming experience for Totteridge Academy 3

May 26, 2019 General News
Two swarms of bees are the first arrivals at a school farm which is being established at Totteridge Academy under the care of charity farm manager Sarah Alun-Jones
A school farm to be established in a 5.8 acre-field next to Totteridge Academy, in Barnet Lane, is to start…

Barnet gift shop scoops up top prize 1

May 26, 2019 High Street The Spires
Louise Rolfe with her award for the independent gift retailer of the year for shops inside the M25 motorway.
After 18 years of hard graft building up custom for her Barnet High Street gift shop, former actress Louise…

Heraldic banners promoting Barnet Medieval Festival

May 28, 2019 High Street The Spires
Medieval artist Graham Turner at work on his oil painting of the Battle of Barnet
Wars of the Roses heraldic banners, which are on display the full length of Barnet High Street, will provide…

Surplus flowers don’t go to waste

Jun 01, 2019 General News
Ursula Stone is hoping to expand Flower Bank, a pioneering New Barnet project for making use of unwanted supermarket flowers
A pioneering New Barnet project for re-using supermarket flowers that have passed their sell-by dates is…

Battle painting unveiled at Spires’ celebration

Jun 01, 2019 General News
Keith West and his painting of the victorious King Edward IV at the 1471 Battle of Barnet
A new oil painting depicting the 1471 Battle of Barnet by local painter Keith West was unveiled in the Barnet…

High density housing for High Barnet station? 16

Jun 03, 2019 Planning
High Barnet Station from the east. Will the development be over the tracks – or the greenery?
According to a circular being distributed around Chipping Barnet, proposals are being developed to ‘improve’…

Closure of historic Barnet bakery 11

Jun 11, 2019 High Street The Spires
Mr Freeman, who is retiring at the age of 60 at Victoria Bakery
Victoria Bakery, a High Barnet institution for well over half a century, is closing down after the retirement…

Barnet is now London’s go-to medieval festival 3

Jun 11, 2019 General News
Smoke and fire at the Festival
Barnet’s second medieval festival proved such a success that the organisers are confident they have laid the…

New housing planned for High Barnet tube station 58

Jun 13, 2019 Planning
Transport for London engagements spokesman Patrick Clark points to the blocks of flats that would be built alongside Barnet Hill on land both to the north and south of High Barnet tube station
Transport for London has commissioned plans for the construction of over 450 new homes on land around High…

Residents oppose tube station flats 2

Jun 20, 2019 General News
Residents crowded into St Mark’s Church when Gaynor Bond and Kim Ambridge launched a protest group to oppose the housing development
Well over 100 residents attended a meeting at St Mark’s Church to launch a campaign to oppose Transport for…

“Tenacity” of local publican helps other landlords

Jun 20, 2019 General News
Gary Murphy in the cellar of The Mitre with a letter from the British Pub Confederation praising his “courage and tenacity”
High Barnet publican Gary Murphy, landlord of The Mitre for the last ten years, has won a significant victory…

A fond farewell from generations of loyal customers

Jun 29, 2019 General News
James Freeman’s last day of trading at Victoria Bakery
Customers queuing out into the street, a free donut with every purchase and champagne for the staff – a great…

Residents criticise “inhuman” conversion to studio flats 2

Jun 29, 2019 Planning
Plans have been submitted to convert Intec House in Moxon Street into 107 studio flats
A plan to convert a three-storey commercial warehouse in Moxon Street, High Barnet, into a complex of 107…

Kick starting High Barnet’s budding entrepreneurs 1

Jul 04, 2019 General News
Those giving advice to potential entrepreneurs were Gail Laser (centre) of Love Barnet. Molly Sobol (left) is establishing a start-up in handicrafts and beauty products and Kayleigh Flattery (right) is hoping to grow her print design start-up
Business advice, digital training, even possible mentoring, were all on offer at the first Barnet Business…

Stop Barnet Council From Gagging Residents 3

Jul 06, 2019 General News
The London Borough of Barnet’s Council Chamber
The Barnet Society invites you to sign the Change.org petition below. Although the subject may seem outside…

Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice to offer state-of-the-art care

Jul 08, 2019 General News
Alison Goodman, director of fund raising, in the atrium of the new Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice
After years of fund raising, office and care staff have moved into The Ark – the new, purpose-built home of…

A new Act of Parliament needed to safeguard Hadley Common 1

Jul 08, 2019 Green Belt
Hadley Common
Hadley Common, thought to be the seventh largest stretch of common land in Greater London, might soon be…

Proposed Playing Fields Hubs are serious threat to green belt 9

Jul 14, 2019 Planning
Barnet Playing Fields – The box indicates the probable bulk of the proposed building
The Council’s proposed master plan for Barnet and King George V Playing Fields, and especially its building…

Hadley Woodland Bathing 1

Jul 22, 2019 General News
Hadley Wood in the evening
It's 6pm on a Friday evening, the week has been a challenge, I’m tired and looking forward to the calm of the…

High Barnet SOS: Save Our Swifts 2

Jul 23, 2019 General News
Delivery of leaflets and advice on installing nest boxes for swifts is being co-ordinated by ornithologist David Martens. From left to right, Mr Martens, Robin Bishop, Alex Coltman and Tim Friend
Swifts swooping and squealing high overhead have always been a regular sight in parts of High Barnet, but…

Healthy walks exploring Barnet’s historical heritage

Jul 28, 2019 General News
Councillor Caroline Stock, Mayor Barnet, complete with her mayoral chain, in Sanders Lane Mill Hill on the route of Barnet Council’s first healthy heritage walk.
Councillor Caroline Stock, Mayor of Barnet – and the borough’s wellbeing champion – launched the first of six…

Barnet’s knife bin for saving lives 4

Jul 31, 2019 General News
The knife bin in Union Street
A large bin for the safe disposal of all bladed weapons and instruments has been installed in Union Street,…

Boosting High Barnet’s bat population 1

Aug 06, 2019 General News
Dick Elms, vice chair of Barnet Environment Centre, with one of the bat boxes to be installed on the Byng Road nature reserve
Barnet Environment Centre is planning to install three bat boxes to help increase the biodiversity of the…

Eyesore on point of demolition 2

Aug 15, 2019 General News
Demolition contractors have moved into the Marie Foster site
High Barnet’s long-standing blot on the landscape, the derelict nurses’ home on the Marie Foster Centre site,…

Classic car show with a view 2

Aug 19, 2019 General News
Vintage and classic cars to fill the top floor of the Spires’ car park
Barnet’s annual classic car show has a new venue this year – the vast open top deck of the NCP car park at…

Plans for attracting High Street shoppers and visitors 6

Aug 19, 2019 General News
Work is underway to widen the High Street pavement between the junctions with Union Street and Salisbury Road
Construction work has started on the pavement build outs in Barnet High Street – an improvement which…

Design of quality proposed for Whalebones – so why does the Barnet Society oppose it? 5

Aug 22, 2019 Planning
Masterplan of Whalebones development (Architects: Pollard Thomas Edwards)
A planning application (19/3949/FUL) has been submitted to build 152 new homes and a replacement artists’ and…

School farm at Totteridge Academy 2

Sep 04, 2019 General News
Educational manager Lucy Hollis (left) and farm and outdoor learning manager Sarah Alun-Jones
A school and community farm in a six-acre field next to Totteridge Academy is a step closer to being…

New centre for swimming and keep fit 2

Sep 09, 2019 General News
New Barnet Leisure Centre and Library at the Victoria Recreation Ground
New Barnet’s new leisure centre and library – complete with a 25 metre six-lane swimming pool and a…

Minis on parade at Barnet’s classic car show

Sep 23, 2019 General News
Celebrating sixty years of the mini was one of the attractions at the sixth Barnet Classic Car Show. Chris Nightingale (left) with Derrick Haggerty, owner of a red 1960 Austin Seven mini, one of only around 100 still in working order.
Some last-minute polishing and then bonnets were up, engines ready for inspection, as enthusiasts crowded…

The Ark, Barnet: “best children’s hospice in the world”

Sep 26, 2019 General News
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, opened the Ark children’s hospice in Byng Road, Barnet, with Rose Charles (centre), and her daughter Sophie, who cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, officially opened the Ark in Byng Road, Barnet – the new £8.5 million…

Busy season for refurbished Bull Theatre

Oct 01, 2019 General News
Susi Earnshaw, Artistic Director of the Bull Theatre and founder of the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School
A packed programme of productions has been lined up for the coming months at the Bull Theatre, High Street,…

Pay phones on the march in Barnet High Street 3

Oct 03, 2019 High Street The Spires
Approval has already been obtained to replace the phone box in front of KFC in Barnet High Street with a new phone kiosk featuring an illuminated display screen for advertisements
Another three telephone boxes with illuminated advertisements are being proposed for Barnet High Street –…

Hasty removal of historic Barnet sign 10

Oct 03, 2019 High Street The Spires
Gary Murphy, licensee of the Mitre, and the Historic Barnet sign before it was deemed hazardous for pedestrians
A Barnet Museum information sign that told the history of the coaching taverns that once lined Barnet High…

Residents’ anger over loss of pedestrian walkway 3

Oct 11, 2019 General News
The wall built over a pedestrian walkway to the Byng Road environment centre, playing fields and allotments
Barnet Council is investigating complaints by local residents that the newly opened Noah’s Ark Children’s…

Step back in time at Monken Hadley Son et Lumiere

Oct 17, 2019 General News
From left to right, Claire Fisher, dramatist and drama producer; rector, the Reverend Dr Thomas Renz; Charlie Fisher, who has the part of Captain Tempest-Hicks; and production manager, Katie Morris
Final rehearsals and editing are underway for a Son et Lumiere production at Monken Hadley Church which will…

First night success for drama group

Oct 20, 2019 General News
Love and War finale (from left to right) Siobhan Dunne, director and producer, Susi Earnshaw, artistic director, Bull Theatre, Pina Griffin, cast member
After establishing themselves as The Bull Players a yeaFirst night success for High Barnet drama groupr ago,…

Petition to fight cuts to Barnet nursery schools 1

Oct 20, 2019 General News
Parents, teachers and residents are supporting a campaign against further cuts to Barnet schools and nurseries
Parents at three nursery schools in the Barnet Early Years Alliance have joined a campaign to try to get…

New location for annual art show 1

Oct 20, 2019 General News
Ken Rowland (left), chairman of Barnet Residents Association; Gillian Griffiths, chairman of the Barnet Guild of Artists; and Councillor David Longstaff
A new venue and an impressive entry of paintings and drawings has provided a boost for the 71st. annual show…

Two blocks of flats abandoned and instead trees to be preserved 9

Oct 22, 2019 Planning
Plans for a block of flats facing Meadway and another facing Barnet Hill have been abandoned and replaced with an undertaking to preserve the “mature and high-quality trees” alongside the pathway
Transport for London and developers Taylor Wimpey have reduced significantly their original plans to…

Charges planned for green garden waste bins 7

Oct 22, 2019 Services
Charges planned for garden waste bins
Barnet Council is asking for the views of residents on plans to introduce an annual charge for the…

Volunteers kept busy at Totteridge Academy community farm

Oct 25, 2019 General News
Preparing a flower bed was the challenge for the Slane family. From left to right, Ollie Slane (7), Sarah Alun-Jones, Grow’s outdoor learning manager, Isla Slane (11) a pupil at Totteridge Academy, and Mrs Anne Slane.
A community farm being established next to Totteridge Academy held a well-attended half-term family day when…

Halt of High Street clutter 3

Oct 30, 2019 Planning
Planners stop the installation of more phone boxes with digital advertising
Applications to install another three super-size phone boxes with illuminated advertising panels in Barnet…

Election hustings arranged for Chipping Barnet

Nov 06, 2019 General News
Parish administrator Tony Long (left) with the rector, Father Chris Ferris, in their office in Church House
Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist is to host an evening hustings meeting for the general election…

Scaled back plans for Barnet station development 14

Nov 07, 2019 Planning
The station square and community hub and new convenience store in the block of flats to be built alongside the existing approach road
Mature trees are to be kept and the multi-storey blocks of flats to be built around High Barnet tube station…

Campaign for safer crossing 7

Nov 12, 2019 Road Improvements
The current crossing in Stapylton Road
A petition has been launched to try to persuade Barnet Council to improve road safety between the Spires…

Millie the cat: tough call for local sculptor 2

Nov 12, 2019 General News
Millie
High Barnet’s feline celebrity, Millie the Waitrose cat, might well re-appear early next year – in the shape…

Order to curb street drinkers in High Barnet 1

Nov 12, 2019 General News
Notices warn of fines up to £500
A ban on the anti-social drinking of alcohol in Barnet High Street and other public spaces around the town…

Children have their say on saving the planet

Dec 02, 2019 General News
Children show their posters at the school gate
Motorists tooted their horns and pedestrians waved back when children at Underhill School held up their “Save…

Praise for Christmas fair in traffic free High Street 1

Dec 02, 2019 General News
North London’s Big Choir entertained the crowd at the Spires shopping centre
Deciding to close Barnet High Street for the annual Christmas fair was an inspired initiative that has paid…

Monken Hadley celebrates its role in Barnet history 3

Dec 07, 2019 General News
Martin Russell, deputy lieutenant for Barnet, opened the event amid smoke from a Battle of Barnet re-enactment
An ambitious and imaginative portrayal of local history delighted packed audiences at a Son et Lumiere held…

Election candidates pitch for votes

Dec 07, 2019 General News
Election hustings
The fate of the car park at High Barnet tube station and a critical shortage of general practitioners across…

High Barnet Station - our response to the revised proposals

Dec 07, 2019 Planning
Before and After
Plans for the station land have been scaled back, as Nick Jones reported on 7 November. But unless more…

Conservatives hold Chipping Barnet 2

Dec 13, 2019 General News
The three re-elected Conservative MPs for the London Borough of Barnet – Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green), Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) and Matthew Offord (Hendon)
Theresa Villiers, Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet since 2005, has been returned to the House of Commons…

High Street check on blue badge fraud

Dec 13, 2019 General News
Officers from the blue badge fraud team checked cars in the High Street
Fraud officers from Barnet Council have conducted a sweep of cars parked in Barnet High Street and…

Medical care and advice over festive season

Dec 18, 2019 General News
Atinuke Phillips of the Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group has prepared a new leaflet giving local health care advice
A new leaflet has been published that brings together all the contact details and opening times for urgent…

Barnet’s Secret Santa appeal for children in need

Dec 18, 2019 General News
Presents are piling up ready to be wrapped and distributed by the team at Young Barnet Foundation headed by Janet Matthewison, chief executive, and Peter Williamson, operations manager
An appeal to provide a Christmas present for children living in poverty across the Borough of Barnet is…

Portrait of Tracey Emin on show

Dec 23, 2019 General News
Paintings, caricatures and cartoons by Simon Ellinas on display at the Reel cinema, Boreham Wood
A triptych featuring Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst – which was on display at the Barnet Guild of Artists’…

Top-of-the-table fixture for Hadley Football Club

Dec 23, 2019 General News
Hadley Football Club’s stall at Barnet’s the Christmas fair was manned (from left to right) by Phil Baughen, supporter and sponsor; Oliver Deed, club spokesman; and supporter Jonathan Smith
Hadley Football Club, which is aiming to become a regular home attraction for many more Barnet football fans,…

Wood Street’s eyesore is no more

Dec 27, 2019 Restoration & Rejuvenation
Going, going gone – Barnet’s blot on the landscape
A massive pile of rubble, beams and planks was all that was left of Barnet’s blot of the landscape – the…

Shutters down and closed shop doors in Barnet High Street

Mar 31, 2020 General News
Shoppers few and far between in Barnet High Street
Only around 20 shops and retail outlets are still open for business along the entire length of Barnet High…

Battle of Barnet: beaten by coronavirus

Mar 31, 2020 Events
2019 re-enactment of 1471 Battle of Barnet
Barnet's highly successful medieval festival, due to have been staged during the last weekend in May, is just…

More tree planting on Barnet Hill

Mar 31, 2020 General News
Tree planting party on Barnet Hill (from left to right): Ivana Turner, Barnet Council assistant tree officer; Bob Burstow, secretary, Barnet Town Team; Robin Bishop, chair, Barnet Society; Councillor Paul Edwards; Rabbi Beni Fleischer
Planting trees on Barnet Hill has been one of the great achievements of the Barnet Society -- and it is still…

Reduced height for New Barnet tower blocks 1

Apr 01, 2020 Planning
Aerial view of the former gas works site at New Barnet
After feedback from a public exhibition in January, the Victoria Quarter housing development on the former…

Advice wanted on widening the Bull Theatre's repertoire

Apr 01, 2020 Events
The Bull Theatre -- now the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School -- in its glory days as the Old Bull Arts Centre
There could hardly be a more opportune moment for a determined push to host new productions and attractions…

Barnet Hospital staff get rousing round of applause 1

Apr 03, 2020 General News
Barnet householders and families were out in force to join the second nationwide Thursday evening clap for…

Strict self-distancing and safety rules at Barnet's allotments

Apr 04, 2020 General News
Long waiting list for plots at Barnet's Byng Road allotments
Cultivating an allotment is one of the few outdoor activities that is still permitted during the coronavirus…

Life in Barnet under lockdown: children losing out

Apr 08, 2020 General News
Old Courthouse playground:
Locked and taped-off playgrounds are a poignant reminder of the impact that the coronavirus self-distancing…

Home deliveries offer lifeline to High Street traders

Apr 09, 2020 General News
Alice and Michael Kentish behind the counter in happier days -- before coronavirus
Specialist shops along Barnet High Street -- as well as numerous take-away food outlets -- are determined to…

High Street landlord backs demand for rent freeze for pubs

Apr 13, 2020 General News
Mitre mine host in happier, pre-coronavirus days
High Barnet publican Gary Murphy, licensee of the Mitre, is at the forefront of a campaign by landlords to…

Sewing enthusiasts helping the NHS fight coronavirus 4

Apr 15, 2020 General News
Marjoleine Yoshida with one of her home-produced scrubs
High Barnet volunteers who love to sew are joining the nationwide effort to produce protective clothing for…

Noah's Ark plea for urgent lockdown fund raising

Apr 16, 2020 General News
Less than six months after its official opening the Noah's Ark Children's Hospice in Byng Road, Barnet, is…

Barnet lockdown: windows boarded up

Apr 21, 2020 General News
Safety first for art deco windows
Protective wooden boarding has been installed across the art deco windows of the Barnet Everyman -- a sure…

Green shoots in the High Street 3

Apr 21, 2020 High Street The Spires
The first of eight trees have been planted in the High Street. They are the bitter-sweet culmination of a…

High Barnet Station development still on track 4

Apr 24, 2020 Planning
The Barnet Society has seen the latest proposals for the High Barnet Station site. Designs won’t be finalised…

Twitter boosts Mitre landlord's plea to help pubs survive 2

Apr 29, 2020 General News
Real ale down the drain at the Mitre
High Barnet publican Gary Murphy, licensee of the Mitre, has gone viral in a campaign to force pub owners to…

Imaginative community support for Barnet Hospital staff

May 01, 2020 General News
Carnarvon Road community sing song
Professional singer Iain Mackenzie with his daughter Poppy lead a community sing song which has become part…

Pulling pints in lockdown: mobile pub is the answer 3

May 04, 2020 General News
A pub on wheels offering a freshly pulled pint of stout delivered straight to the door is proving to be a…

Christ Church reaches out with prayer box

May 08, 2020 General News
Church services streamed live online have become a regular Sunday morning point of contact for worshippers…

Last Post starts two-minute silence in Fitzjohn Avenue

May 08, 2020 General News
Neve Mayes,star trumpet player at Dame Alice Owen's School, marked the start and finish of the Victory in…

Millie the Waitrose cat: unveiled at last 7

May 08, 2020 General News
After almost a year's trial and error, local sculptor John Somerville finally feels ready to display his clay…

High Barnet welcomes its much-loved summer squealers 3

May 12, 2020 General News
Nest boxes ready and waiting for summer visitors
Swifts have again been seen swooping and squealing high overhead in High Barnet -- aerial summer visitors…

"Sneaky" move to re-route 384 bus 4

May 13, 2020 General News
Transport for London's plan to extend the route of the 384 Cockfosters to High Barnet bus service to Edgware,…

May blossom celebrating 75 years of the Barnet Society 3

May 22, 2020 Green Belt
May 2020 isn’t just the 75th anniversary of VE Day – it’s also exactly 75 years since the Barnet Society was…

Uncertain future for container yard at High Barnet station 2

May 27, 2020 Planning
Nick Bove, electrical contractor
Scores of small businesses and traders who store goods, tools and equipment in a container yard claim their…

Barnet’s hidden rhododendron spectacle 1

May 29, 2020 General News
Barnet Gate Wood is one of Chipping Barnet’s extraordinary but under-visited green assets – and if you go now…

Barnet Council's "woeful" failure to provide cycling lanes

Jun 01, 2020 Planning
Ashley and Jenni Grossman at site of Victoria Quarter housing development
Barnet Cycling Campaign is joining other groups in urging improvements in highways safety and traffic…

Barnet Market leads way in reviving town centre trade 1

Jun 03, 2020 General News
For the first time since the start of the coronavirus lockdown at the end of March, High Barnet's stalls…

Barnet Society members overwhelmingly oppose Victoria Quarter proposals 5

Jun 06, 2020 General News
Last month the Barnet Society launched an email consultation of its members about the current planning…

Barnet’s new regional park? 1

Jun 12, 2020 Green Belt
Just south-west of Arkley is a tract of unspoilt countryside – remarkable for its survival within London’s…

Lockdown easing a much welcome boost for town centre shops 1

Jun 15, 2020 General News
Louise Rolfe checking safety tapes at The Present
Customers were welcomed back in Barnet High Street and the Spires shopping centre on the first day of the…

Death of Barnet's veteran trade unionist

Jun 18, 2020 General News
Fred Jarvis (left) celebrating his 93rd birthday with Neil Kinnock
Fred Jarvis, Barnet's most celebrated trade union leader - and a New Barnet resident for well over 60 years -…

Fasten your Green Belt – and prepare for new buildings to land! 1

Jun 19, 2020 Green Belt
Proposed Sky Studios, Borehamwood – visualisation by UMC Architects. Saffron Green at far left
This is the Green Belt north of Barnet (top left). Protected from development for two-thirds of a century,…

Appeal for volunteer advisers on lockdown easing guidance

Jun 23, 2020 General News
Volunteers needed to advise and reassure High Street shoppers
Barnet Council is appealing for volunteers to give advice and support to shoppers and the public on safe…

How green is our valley – but for how much longer? 4

Jun 24, 2020 Green Belt
The landscape of the Dollis Brook, from its sources near Moat Mount to Whetstone and beyond, is a green lung…

Bird lovers delighted to see swifts swooping over High Barnet

Jul 02, 2020 General News
Bird watching enthusiasts reporting back on swift sightings. From left to right, ornithologist David Martens, Robin Bishop, Pete Lyons and Tim Friend
Swift awareness week has been judged a success by admirers of High Barnet's rare, elusive summer visitors who…

Rambles Round Barnet Update 17th June 2020

Jul 05, 2020 Rambles
The previous update of 29th June 2019 referred to the progress made by the Darlands Conservation Trust since…

Government announces further relaxations of planning controls – and the most radical reforms to the planning system in 75 years. 3

Jul 09, 2020 Planning

Faster times from High Barnet to Cockfosters and Edgware

Jul 21, 2020 General News
By shortening its route through New Barnet and High Barnet, Transport for London is hoping to give "a new…

Elstree predicted to be a new "British Hollywood"

Jul 21, 2020 General News
Work has started clearing the site off Rowley Lane, Boreham Wood, for the construction of the new Sky Studios…

Are these developers having a laugh? 1

Jul 22, 2020 Planning
Two building projects under construction in Chipping Barnet’s Conservation Areas are flouting planning laws.…

Crows beware – mannequins on parade at Barnet’s bowling greens

Jul 25, 2020 General News
Greenkeeper Alan Henderson with his arm round one of the mannequins which scare off crows. From left to right, Rosario Wass-Berru, Mr Henderson, Brian Wass, club president
By installing two male mannequins dressed in white in the Old Courthouse Recreation Ground, Barnet Lawns…

Looking ahead to 2021 and 550th anniversary of Battle of Barnet 1

Jul 28, 2020 General News
Wars of the Roses heraldic banners painted by volunteers at Barnet Museum on display in Barnet High Street in 2018
Ambitious plans are being drawn up to celebrate the 550th anniversary next year of the Battle of Barnet.

Temporary ban on through traffic in Barnet High Street 14

Jul 29, 2020 General News
Pavement judged to be too narrow for safe social distancing, especially when school pupils and students are back
Barnet High Street is to be closed temporarily to all through traffic from the last week of August to ensure…

Barnet Council retreats: High Street to remain open to traffic 1

Jul 30, 2020 General News
In a dramatic U-turn, Barnet Council has dropped its plan to temporarily close Barnet High Street to through…

Barnet Society 75th anniversary walks

Aug 03, 2020 Rambles
Enjoy five short walks in our local countryside recommended by Owen Jones.

Pressure for new A1000 cycle lanes to reach High Barnet 16

Aug 04, 2020 General News
Separate cycle lanes up and down Barnet Hill - an ambition ridiculed for so long by Barnet councillors - may…

Online boost as High Barnet High Street goes digital 1

Aug 06, 2020 High Street The Spires
Bob Burstow (left), Nigel Murchison and Gail Laser launch Digital High Street banner
An online directory of shops in Barnet High Street -- together with listings for other traders and businesses…

Possible extension to Barnet Hospital controlled parking zone 1

Aug 10, 2020 General News
Residents are being asked in an online survey whether more roads should be included within the Barnet…

Demolition of another of Barnet's historic industrial workplaces 2

Aug 12, 2020 General News
Brake Shear House, one of the last of the many small factories and workshops that were once dotted around…

Barnet Society responses to Barnet Council consultations

Aug 18, 2020 Planning & Environment
Since 2016 the Barnet Society has submitted responses to the following London Borough of Barnet (LBB) public…

New brewery in New Barnet 3

Aug 19, 2020 General
When my beer supplies dried up during lockdown, I was delighted to discover – by way of The Wilds Café –…

Lead thieves threaten High Barnet's heritage

Aug 21, 2020 General News
Passers-by and property owners within High Barnet's conservation areas are being urged to be on the lookout…

The Barnet Society - campaigning for a better Barnet for 75 years!

Aug 22, 2020 Planning & Environment
Past, present and future work in and around Chipping Barnet - a talk to Barnet U3A on 6 August 2020 by Robin…

Barnet Society responses to London-wide consultations

Aug 23, 2020 Planning & Environment
Since 2013 the Barnet Society has submitted responses to the following London Assembly (LA), Mayor of London…

Barnet Society responses to consultations on the Green Belt

Aug 23, 2020 Planning & Environment
The Barnet Society’s 75th birthday in 2020 was a timely moment to celebrate, in three recent Website…

Barnet Society 75th anniversary review of Chipping Barnet’s Green Belt

Aug 23, 2020 Planning & Environment
The Barnet Society’s 75th birthday in May 2020 is a timely moment to celebrate the local Green Belt that was…

Live theatre back in East Barnet - for one day only!

Aug 24, 2020 General News
Kenneth Grahame's classic children's story The Wind in the Willows is to be performed live in the open air at…

Apple trees laden with fruit to help local food banks 3

Aug 28, 2020 General News
Daniella Levene (left), organiser of Barnet Community Harvesters, and Katerina Pedrithes of Pepys Crescent
A newly formed team of volunteers has started picking and collecting surplus fruit across the Borough of…

Wall of opposition to plans for high-rise flats in New Barnet 2

Sep 03, 2020 Planning
Plans to build a line of tower blocks on the former gas works site at New Barnet were roundly condemned when…

Much needed High Barnet litter pick going ahead

Sep 09, 2020 General News
Maia Lockhart and Amanda Theodorou ready to issue litter picking kit
Volunteers are getting prepared for a High Barnet litter pick on the last Sunday in September. Among the top…

Encouraging neighbourhood plots for growing fruit and vegetables

Sep 14, 2020 General News
A community garden in New Barnet where passers-by can help themselves to vegetables, fruit and herbs is the…

Artwork and quilt making inspiring isolated Barnet children and residents 1

Sep 16, 2020 General News
Children isolated at home are being encouraged by Penny Baxter to display their artwork in the Spires
Paintings and drawings on display in the Spires shopping centre are the work of Barnet children who have been…

Dog walking in Hadley inspires Alison Steadman love story 1

Sep 17, 2020 General News
Alison Steadman and Dave Johns (left) talking to film director Paul Morrison while shooting 23 Walks
Years spent walking the dog on Hadley Green and in Hadley Woods and King George's Field was the inspiration…

Barnet's blot on the landscape might soon be no more!

Sep 21, 2020 Planning
Planners are promising Roger Newell a speed answer on possible redevelopment
A renewed attempt to replace a much-loathed eyesore in Union Street, High Barnet, with new housing is finally…

Possible financial lifeline for New Barnet's decaying cricket pavilion 1

Sep 24, 2020 General News
Barnet Council is being asked to investigate whether restoration of the boarded up cricket pavilion in Tudor…

High Barnet's litter pickers out in force 1

Sep 28, 2020 General News
The Southern family with litter picking grabbers at the ready
Young and old joined in to help with High Barnet Green Beings' Sunday litter pick in and around the town…

Nature reserve's new paths will help disabled enjoy sensory trail

Sep 28, 2020 General News
On the sensory trail...Bernard Johnson, chair of Friends of Barnet Environment Centre.
To improve access for the disabled and children and visitors in wheelchairs, the main paths in and around the…

Protecting Hadley Common's great crested newts 2

Oct 04, 2020 General News
Michael and Karen Hallowell -- and their dog Monty -- check out the protection for great crested newts
Plastic barriers and traps have been set up across Monken Hadley Common to safeguard great crested newts…

Caricatures for Barnet's Northern Line tube stations

Oct 06, 2020 General News
Searching for a celebrity connected wth all 272 tube stations on the London Underground has been a lockdown…

Life under lockdown at cohousing flats for older women 1

Oct 09, 2020 Barnet Market
Cohousing pioneer Shirley Meredeen
"We've not only survived but managed to thrive during lockdown" say the 26 residents of High Barnet's…

Close vote against new housing in Whalebones woods and fields 7

Oct 14, 2020 Planning
Sites of proposed new housing and parkland in Whalebones estate. To the north is Wood Street and new road junction at The Arkley; to the south Wellhouse Lane and Barnet Hospital; and to the west new Elmbank estate.
Years of campaigning to preserve the Whalebones woodland and farmland in Wood Street paid off when Barnet…

New landlord joins publicans determined to stay in business

Oct 19, 2020 General News
Polish trained chef Lukasz Szumski is planning to add one or two specialities from his grandfather's recipes…

Brasserie offering vegan menu to replace Carluccio's at Spires 6

Oct 22, 2020 General News
A new brasserie and retail space - to be called Botannika - is to take over the former Carluccio's restaurant…

Delay over TfL's plans for High Barnet tube station

Oct 23, 2020 Planning
A planning application that had been expected several months ago to build blocks of flats around High Barnet…

Medieval timbers uncovered during High Street conversion 8

Oct 28, 2020 General News
Arianit Dobra and his daughter Elisana admire the medieval woodwork in their shop in Barnet High Street.
Specialists in medieval buildings have expressed amazement and delight at the discovery in Barnet High Street…

Easier access to Finchley Memorial Hospital with direct bus 3

Nov 01, 2020 General News
Bus services on the 383 route are now running directly from Barnet to Finchley Memorial Hospital in response…

Historic "Twist" to High Street planning objections

Nov 01, 2020 Planning
An application has been made for planning permission to build three flats on the site of the former Victoria…

Wanted: Barnet memories of going to the flicks 1

Nov 02, 2020 General News
Going to the pictures once or even several times a week used to be commonplace among the older…

Top London honour for QE Girls' history teacher 28

Nov 05, 2020 General News
Without him knowing what was happening, past and present pupils at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School, Barnet,…

Barnet's fallen comrades remembered despite coronavirus pandemic

Nov 08, 2020 General News
A socially distanced two-minute silence was observed at the war memorial at Barnet parish church to mark…

Barnet's changing allotments: inspired by The Good Life? 1

Nov 16, 2020 General News
Sophie Esplin-Jones collecting compost
Women are increasingly taking over from men in cultivating allotments - a national trend which is certainly…

Improving road safety around High Barnet's schools

Nov 18, 2020 General News
Violet Walker, head teacher at QE Girls, with Barhale projector manager Steve Collet, at unveiling of road safety banner
Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School is helping to promote National Road Safety Week with a large banner close to…

Brightening up lockdown: busy trading at Barnet market

Nov 18, 2020 General News
Jenny Linford (left) and Judith Clouston
Friends of Barnet Market are welcoming the continued presence of the twice-weekly market during the second…

High Barnet's claim to London's oldest timber structure

Nov 23, 2020 General News
A medieval timber roof discovered above a vacant shop in Barnet High Street might be as old or even older…

Return of the zombie telecom hubs 2

Nov 24, 2020 General News
Barely a year after JC Decaux was refused planning permission for three telecom/advertising hubs in the High…

Is New Barnet's gasometer about to disappear from landscape? 3

Nov 27, 2020 General News
New Barnet's decommissioned gas holder as seen from Albert Road
National Grid has applied to Barnet Council for permission to demolish New Barnet's redundant gasholder…

Barnet Hospital stretched by delayed opening of new covid-19 ward

Dec 01, 2020 General News
A new covid-19 secure ward built at Barnet Hospital
A two-month delay in opening a purpose-built new ward for covid-19 patients increased pressure at Barnet…

Food banks across Barnet face twin challenge of Covid-19 and Christmas

Dec 08, 2020 General News
Harold Williams manages the storage of items for Chipping Barnet Food Bank
Increased unemployment and rising hardship due to covid-19 are putting pressure on food banks across the…

Another rebuff to gas works flats: Mayor of London says No 2

Dec 09, 2020 Planning
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has backed Barnet Council's decision to reject planning permission for the…

New trees and modern management for Monken Hadley Common 2

Dec 15, 2020 General News
In goes a small-leaved lime sapling under the guidance, from the left to right, of Anthony Facey of Ground Control, William Boyes, clerk to the churchwardens, Roger De La Mare and Gary Chambers
Tree planting to sustain Hadley Woods is proving a far simpler task than updating the archaic laws that have…

Theatre school pupils say 'the show must go on'

Dec 16, 2020 General News
Celebrating the Christmas video produced by pupils at the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School (from left to right) Melissa Gillespie, teacher; Julia Hammond, headteacher; and Susi Earnshaw, school founder and artistic director of the Bull Theatre
With their performances for Barnet's Christmas Fayre and their annual pantomime at the Bull Theatre all…

Wide support for 'NHS heroes' at Barnet Hospital coping with virus emergency

Dec 18, 2020 General News
Gifts, donations and volunteering at Barnet Hospital are being co-ordinated by the Royal Free Hospital Charity by volunteer manager, Louise Bellass (left), and community fund raiser, Carla Bispham
Boxes of chocolates, gift bags - and volunteering to have on-line chats with lonely dementia patients - are…

From inspiration to realisation: the greening of Barnet Hill

Dec 21, 2020 General News
David Lee with volunteers hard at work in 1999 planting London planes and Norway maples on Barnet Hill
At the close of 2020, after one of the bleakest years for High Barnet in recent living memory, the long wait…

End of an era in New Barnet: au revoir, Chez Tonton 7

Dec 22, 2020 General News
Eric and Claudine Michel, proprietors of Chez Tonton, with head chef Hubert Champion (right)
A New Barnet institution, the French restaurant Chez Tonton has closed after 37 years -- an emotional…

Rambles Round Barnet Update 23rd December 2020

Dec 23, 2020 Rambles
There is a serious problem for ramblers planning to travel by car to Dancers Hill before doing the following…

Was this rare early film shot in Barnet? 5

Dec 29, 2020 Barnet History
Birt Acres, a key figure in the invention of British movies, lived and worked in Chipping Barnet. His 1897…

Barnet's Poor Clare nuns plan delayed 50th birthday party in 2021

Dec 30, 2020 General News
Sister Francisca (right), the Mother Abbess of Barnet Poor Clares, with Sister Rosaria
Lockdown and self-isolation have imposed few significant changes in the daily life of the nuns of the…

75 years on - onward to a greener Barnet 2

Jan 01, 2021 Planning
Monken Mead – part of Barnet's Green Belt
In 2020 the Barnet Society celebrated 75 years since its foundation. But our founders would be shocked at how…

New brasserie opens as lockdown hits High Street

Jan 05, 2021 General News
Just as the New Year lockdown was announced, the proprietors of High Barnet's newest brasserie, Botannika,…

Barnet historians eager to see 1921 census - and getting ready for 2021

Jan 07, 2021 General News
Chipping Barnet's war memorial was unveiled on 3 April 1921, just before the 1921 census
Family historians keen to research the lives of people living in Barnet in the 1920s have only twelve months…

Comment on the Council’s draft Chipping Barnet Community Plan 2

Jan 11, 2021 Planning
The Plan is out for online public consultation until 19 February. You’re invited to comment on the key…

Appeal to dog owners: breeding season starting for swans and wildfowl

Jan 18, 2021 General News
Safeguarding the swans is currently top priority for Darren Knott
People walking across the Shire London golf course during lockdown are being urged to act responsibly after…

We will be back, say Battle of Barnet re-enactors

Jan 19, 2021 General News
A re-enactment of the Battle of Barnet staged in August 1999 ( photograph courtesy of Barnet Museum)
Champions of Barnet's history, heritage and culture are determined to ensure the town does all it can --…

Anger over proposals for solar panels in Barnet parks and open spaces 11

Jan 22, 2021 General News
Highlands Gardens downgraded to
Barnet Council's environment committee is examining the feasibility of using small parks and green spaces…

Barnet's open spaces and local green belt boosted by tree planting

Jan 28, 2021 General News
Thousands of new trees will create wooded parkland between Ferny Hill and The Ridgeway
Winter tree planting is in full swing in Barnet's green spaces and in the surrounding countryside of the…

Life of medieval women features in play celebrating Battle of Barnet anniversary 1

Feb 01, 2021 General News
Medieval Kitchen courtesy Ideal Home US
Bringing to life the daily toil of women working in a medieval kitchen is at the heart of a new play that…

Projects for Barnet town centre: which five to choose? 6<