Archived Articles January to December 2016
What future for café gardens? 12
Jan 03, 2016
High Street The Spires
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
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 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
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 from Barnet Hospital spent their strike day collecting signatures in support of the British…
BT finally to honour promise? 7
Jan 20, 2016
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
High Barnet’s landmark public house, the Red Lion at the top of Barnet Hill, will be closed for most of…