With the loss of a central clearing point to support Barnet's foodbanks, organisers say there is added urgency behind the need for a day-long event in November to consider how to strengthen the distribution of supplies to needy families.

Residents concerned about plans for further development threatening the Dollis Valley Green Belt have formed an action group ahead of a public inquiry to be held in the New Year over a controversial proposal for a residential caravan site.

Residents at a Barnet care home were able to share in the wide recognition of World Alzheimer's Day with a chance to enjoy a special performance by the north London community group "Singing for the Brain".

School pupils are just some of the regular passengers who rely on the reinstated 84B bus service between Potters Bar and High Barnet -- a route which needs additional funding if its future operation is to be guaranteed.

Almost half the teaching staff at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School, Barnet, have been there for at least ten years -- a record of long service that was described as "a remarkable achievement" by the headteacher Violet Walker.

A new special school for autistic children in Moxon Street, Barnet, is full of surprises. A calm, safe playground on the roof top and a pink and purple sensory room are just two of the many innovative features.

Volunteer fruit pickers are hoping for a bumper harvest of surplus produce to support foodbanks across the London Borough of Barnet.

A fund-raising campaign is underway to prevent a repeat this winter and next spring on the muddy conditions which disrupted an equine therapy centre for challenged youngsters at Greengates Stables in Mays Lane, Barnet.

Staff and volunteers at the Chipping Barnet and Dollis Valley foodbanks are being forced to start making arrangements for alternative supplies and deliveries -- especially of fresh fruit and vegetables -- following Barnet Council's decision to withdraw funding from the borough's foodbank hub.

Barnet parish church was transformed for its annual summer party -- and the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou, joined in the fun when teddy bears were hauled on a zip wire to the top of the tower.

After promoting the BringBarnetBack campaign for the last six months supporters say that they have been amazed by the enthusiasm they have found within the town for a possible return of Barnet Football Club to a new stadium in Underhill.

Two planning applications on neighbouring sites in Mays Lane, Barnet, reflect the continuing pressure for redevelopment on green belt land in the Dollis Valley.

Residents, shopkeepers and bus passengers are among those who have been invited to give their views on a controversial plan to introduce bus lanes along much of the busiest section of Barnet High Street -- between the Wood Street junction at the parish church and the junction with Meadway.

What should be the future priorities for High Barnet? The creation of local employment and a successful town centre or the continued loss of jobs through the demolition of business premises to make way for additional housing?

Except for a few stragglers, swifts that spend three months each year flying high above High Barnet and New Barnet seem to have said farewell and set off on their long migration flight to Africa via France and Portugal.

Missing for several days from the bus stand beside The Spires shopping centre has been the 399 service from High Barnet to Hadley Wood station.

A former street corner shop close to Barnet High Street which featured in scenes in the 1960s tv crimes series Gideon's Way can now be demolished and replaced with a house.

Walkers and cyclists are being encouraged to take part in the preparation of plans to strengthen and complete a 17-mile long loop of footpaths and cycleways circling the London Borough of Barnet.

Pam Edwards, who for over 60 years was a tireless supporter of the local arts scene and a founder member of what is now The Bull Theatre, has died at the age of 98.

A silver lining from the continuing debacle over the stalled future development of The Spires shopping centre is that the previously abandoned Chipping Close car park has belatedly been re-opened to motorists.

A car theft summit -- bringing together police, councillors and community leaders -- is being proposed by the new Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson to tackle the repeated theft of vehicles from local roads.

Any prospect of Barnet Football Club returning to Underhill and building a new stadium was well and truly dashed at a question time session held by senior members of Barnet Council.

A programme of summer concerts beside Jack's Lake at Monken Hadley Common concludes on Sunday 4 August with a performance that includes romantic music from around the world.

A fresh attempt is being made to find the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet -- a location that continues to prove elusive despite extensive previous searches and years of study by historians and archaeologists.

Chipping Barnet's long serving Conservative MP Theresa Villiers lost her seat to Labour candidate Dan Tomlinson in a general election that resulted in a landslide victory for Sir Keir Starmer and the Conservatives' worst ever defeat.

In seizing Chipping Barnet for Labour with a respectable majority, Dan Tomlinson -- at the age of 31 -- has broken the Conservative Party's hold on what in the past was one of their safest seats.

Unlike other veteran Conservative MPs and former ministers who opted to stand down, Theresa Villiers had no wish to join the Tory exodus from the House of Commons but like so many of her colleagues she was swept aside in the Labour landslide.

A challenge to re-imagine the appearance of familiar buildings in High Barnet's town centre -- such as the parish church, Tudor Hall or the twin towers at the entrance to The Spires shopping centre -- produced some dramatic results at an art workshop.

Fun and enjoyment but also frustration -- that was the buzz when hundreds of residents and visitors enjoyed a day out at the Barnet Vale Festival in support of a long-running campaign to refurbish and reopen the former pavilion in Tudor Park.

An extension to a community garden and green space which is now along three sides of a New Barnet church was officially opened at a garden party to celebrate the success of Barnet's Incredible Edible campaign.

For its fourth annual series of classical concerts, the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival opens with The Mithras Trio who are returning to the parish church on Saturday 29 June after their sold-out recital in the festival's debut season.

A joint commitment to work to protect the Green Belt was delivered by Chipping Barnet's two leading parliamentary candidates -- Conservative MP Theresa Villiers and Labour challenger Dan Tomlinson -- at a general election hustings at the parish church.

Barnet and Southgate College have been told that no further action can be taken during the next six months to sell off the vacant Tudor Hall on its High Barnet campus opposite the parish church.

The five leading candidates standing in the general election for the Chipping Barnet constituency have been invited to appear at an election hustings to be held at Barnet parish church on Saturday 22 June at 7pm.

High Banet's popular Byng Road allotments owe their existence to the Dig for Victory campaign at the start of World War II which encouraged the home cultivation of fruit and vegetables.

Monken Hadley Church was one of 800 locations across the country where beacons were lit to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Hadley Football Club -- the oldest playing in Barnet -- has a surprise away fixture playing a friendly match in the tiny European state of San Marino on Sunday 9 June when they take on a well-placed local team AC Juvenes Dogana.

Up to three free books can be taken on any one visit to a new charity shop established in The Spires shopping centre by Global Education Trust Bookshops.

Cyclists needing an emergency repair -- or perhaps to pump up a tyre -- can now take advantage of instant bike repair stands which have been installed by Barnet Council, including one outside the police station in Barnet High Street.

Three evening concerts are to be held this summer in a woodland glade beside Jack's Lake -- a chance to enjoy classical music in the open air while celebrating the popularity and appeal of Monken Hadley Common.

Barnet Museum is to take another step in its bid to try to convert the historic Tudor Hall into a national centre for explaining and commemorating the Wars of the Roses and the role of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Barnet Medieval Festival, which was due to take place over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 8 and 9, has had to be postponed because the Byng Road playing fields have become too waterlogged due to recent heavy rains.

Eleven Lotus Cars were lined up on the top deck of The Spires car park for the ninth Barnet Classic Car Show in tribute to automotive engineer Colin Chapman who lived in New Barnet when he designed the famous Lotus Seven.

Highlight of the revived Arkley community fair was an all-comers dog show which resulted in two surprise winners -- a blind dog and a rescue dog took the rosettes for best in show.

A 24-year-old history of art graduate has taken on the tenancy of one of High Barnet's notable public houses -- Ye Olde Monken Holt which is at the Hadley Green end of the High Street.

High Barnet's historic Tudor Hall has been declared an asset of community value -- a safeguard which gives the town six months to see whether the building can be secured for public use.

Banners around the town are promoting the annual Barnet Classic Car Show on Sunday 19 May -- and what promises to be an engaging weekend starts on Saturday afternoon with the return of Arkley community fayre at Brickfield Lane.

Beating the Bounds of the parish of Chipping Barnet -- an ancient custom first recorded in Barnet in 1658 -- was re-enacted on May bank holiday Monday for the first time for nearly 30 years.

Rehearsals are well underway for a concert to be held at Monken Hadley Church on Thursday 6 June to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Retails experts say high streets must diversify to survive and Barnet High Street is no exception: a former hardware shop has been transformed into a tuition centre for mathematics.

Volunteer working parties make their contribution towards assisting Barnet Council with the task of maintaining Hadley Green, clearing litter, and helping to reduce pollution in the five historic ponds and ditches that add to the character of a much-cherished green open space.

Barnet Parish Church held a day-long series of events for the official launch of a fund-raising appeal for urgent repairs to its much admired 140-year-old church organ -- said to be the "beating heart" of the High Barnet community.

A scheme to expand the accident and emergency department at Barnet Hospital should be completed by January next year including improvements for treating children and for patients arriving by ambulance.

Victoria Miller, manager of Chipping Barnet Foodbank and winner of one of Barnet's 2024 Civic Awards, is celebrating another success -- confirmation that her team of volunteers are making progress in their ambition to reduce people's dependency on food banks.

Once again competing for attention well above the hustle and bustle of the High Street are the heraldic banners and coats of arms of the royalty and noblemen whose troops fought at the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

A group of residents in Arkley have purchased an installed a wall-mounted defibrillator for use in any medical emergency that might occur within their own community or wider neighbourhood.

In a futuristic world which has been depleted of natural resources and ravaged by brutal capitalism, High Barnet becomes a strategic focal point for a desperate struggle with big business as the town still has the cleanest air between London and York.

Urgently needed repairs to the historic 140-year-old organ at Barnet parish church are due to start later this year following Barnet Council's decision to make a grant of £83,000 to meet half the cost of the work.

 

A line-up of Lotus sports cars is to be a highlight at this year's Barnet Classic Car Club's annual show and already the promise to give Lotus pride of place is reviving interest in Barnet's link to one of the legendary marques of the British car industry.

Heartwood Collection, a hospitality group which runs upmarket inns and restaurants across southern England, has bought The Prince of Wales public house in East Barnet and is promising a "multi-million-pound" refurbishment.

A dog show with fun events -- and all comers are welcome -- is to be one of the highlights of a revived Arkley village fayre to be held on the village field at Brickfield Lane, Arkley, on Saturday 18 May.

Yet more of High Barnet's dwindling stock of light industrial and commercial workspaces might be converted into residential development if Barnet Council grants planning permission.

A ten-year campaign to prevent new housing on farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet, ended in defeat despite stark warnings about the loss of a nature-rich habitat in a much-prize conservation area.

A controversial scheme to build eleven blocks of flats to provide 420 homes on the former gas works site in New Barnet has finally won planning approval after years of heated debate.

Associate organist Jonathan Gregory has spent months organising what he hopes will be a unique event at Barnet parish church -- a concert to celebrate the strength of Anglo-Japanese cultural relationships.

There is news of a possible reprieve for the now-closed Prince of Wales -- the last public house in East Barnet village which was registered as an asset of community value at the end of last month in an attempt to safeguard its future.

Worsening subsidence has forced a change of plan at Monken Hadley parish church: instead of renovating the historic church hall, structural engineers have advised that the 200-year-old building is now beyond reasonable economic repair and should be demolished.

Organisers of a community-led campaign are demanding proper consultation and engagement with local residents before Barnet Council goes ahead with a programme of road safety and traffic calming measures in Mays Lane and surrounding roads.

East Barnet's last remaining public house, the Prince of Wales -- which closed in mid-February -- has been registered by Barnet Council as an asset of community value which will provide a limited degree of protection against immediate redevelopment.

Barnet Football Club is preparing a planning application for a possible return to Barnet on a site close by its former stadium at Underhill.

A vast accumulation of car parts and components -- including hard-to-find spares for classic cars -- are being sold off at reduced prices following the closure of Falcon Motor Accessories, thought to be East Barnet's oldest retail business.

A pioneering playground with equipment specially designed for children with disabilities has been opened in Victoria Recreation Ground in New Barnet - the first of a new era of play areas that could be rolled out across the UK.

High Barnet's much-loved Tudor Hall, under used for so long, might become a national focal point for explaining and celebrating the Wars of the Roses and the prominent part played by the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Almost 30 years have elapsed since there has been a Beating of the Bounds of the ancient parish of Chipping Barnet -- an historic custom which volunteers at Barnet Museum intend to revive on the May Day Bank Holiday.

A community garden is being established on a small piece of spare land in the Old Courthouse Recreation Grounds with the aim of creating a meeting point for local people and encouraging a wider interest in gardening and the growing of fruit and vegetables.

David Parry, founder of the highly successful Open Door Centre and drop-in cafe at Christ Church, St Albans Road, has died at the age of 77.

Another two of High Barnet's ULEZ cameras are out of action after having been cut down with an angle grinder in a fresh wave of sabotage by vandals protesting at Transport for London's £12.50 charge on vehicles which fail to meet the new ultra-low emissions standards.

A fun day out with activities for children and a vast choice of refreshments welcomed families, friends and supporters to the newly established High Barnet Islamic Centre.

A positive -- and perhaps lasting -- outcome from the covid emergency is that local councils relaxed licensing rules on outside seating for public houses, cafes and restaurants -- and one High Barnet beneficiary hopes the changes will be made permanent.

A wide range of road safety and calming improvements are being proposed by Barnet Council along Mays Lane and in several surrounding roads to reduce traffic accidents and increase safety for pedestrians.

A meeting hall with adjoining seminar rooms, which are tucked away behind shops in Barnet High Street, are to become an Islamic centre for High Barnet.

Barnet Society stalwart David Lee, who was renowned for his dogged determination to do all he could to enhance and preserve the character of Chipping Barnet, has died at the age of 93 leaving a unique and enduring legacy.

Installing bus lanes in Barnet High Street between the junction with Meadway and the parish church is one of the projects which Transport for London hopes to complete by March 2025.

Within four days of hearing the shock news that the Prince of Wales is to close East Barnet village is fighting back with more than 2,000 signatures on a petition and a mass lobby demanding that the pub should be saved.

Increasing awareness about care for cancer and assisting women pursue careers in science have been the twin aims of a dedicated High Barnet campaigner who has been recognised in the New Year Honour's List.

East Barnet village is in danger of losing its one and only public house: The Prince of Wales is due to close in mid-February and the premises are in the process of being sold.

High Barnet's nature reserve near the Byng Road playing fields -- which is now being visited by around 2,000 school pupils ever year -- is embarking on a series of ambitious projects to increase its biodiversity.

St Peter's Church, Arkley, has a new vicar, the Reverend Cindy Kent -- and few women priests have a back catalogue of experience that stretches to the 1960s and fame as lead singer in the pop-folk group The Settlers.

A new block of changing rooms is the latest in a series of improvements due to be carried out by Hadley Football Club in a continuing upgrade of their ground at Brickfield Lane, Arkley.

Barnet Council's decision to refuse a planning application for a two-acre paddock at the Arkley end of Mays Lane to be converted to a site for residential caravans has been hailed by local campaigners as a significant boost to the protection of the Green Belt.

Transport for London's aim of completing coverage of its ULEZ cameras on approach roads in and around High Barnet is being repeatedly thwarted by protestors who are still angered by the introduction of the new anti-pollution vehicle charge.

After standing empty for almost three years, one of High Barnet's historic High Street buildings has been re-opened as the flagship cafe in a local chain of Costa Coffee houses.

High Barnet's great tradition of Christmas carol concerts and services was given a boost with what was described as a marvellous musical performance by the choir and orchestra of Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School.

Two years in the making but all the better for that is a detailed plan to repair and refurbish the abandoned pavilion in Tudor Park, in Tudor Road, New Barnet, so that it can be reopened for public use.

Two regulars at the Ye Olde Monken Holt in Barnet High Street have transformed one wall of the pub into an illuminated display in readiness for a series of Christmas and New Year fund raising events.

High Barnet's celebrated road sweeper Dougie Shrubb, who carried on working long after retiring age, has finally called it a day at the age of 71.

A residents' campaign to "Save The Spires" is urging Barnet Council to intervene to provide safeguards about the long-term future of High Barnet's shopping centre amid continuing uncertainty about the financial status of its owners.

The deadline for comments on the planning application to build 114 homes on the field shown above is Tuesday 12 December. Barnet planners have already built them into the draft Local Plan, and we must work on the basis that they are likely to recommend approval of the plans. If you haven’t submitted your comments yet, there’s still time – you can do so here (or go to Barnet Council's website and search for planning application 23/4117/FUL).

Barnet's iconic and historic Tudor Hall -- originally the schoolhouse for the free grammar school granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1573 -- is up for sale and is being advertised by the agents Colliers as an "exceptional investment opportunity".

Barnet's annual Christmas Fayre defied the weather and brightened up a rainy Sunday as crowds thronged the High Street and supported events and attractions at venues around the town centre.

Revealing and then photographing the faces and spaces behind the front doors of shops and traders in and around Barnet High Street became the 2023 project for local resident and photographer Simon Hollins.

Residents of Salisbury Road could hardly believe their eyes when they saw contractors re-installing white lines and parking bays -- the long-promised final task before the re-opening of their road after five miserable weeks of mayhem.

Copies of a picture book which the Princess of Wales donated to High Barnet's newly opened baby bank proved a popular choice once children from needy families started choosing presents at its Christmas pop-up shop.

Original scripts, lyrics and music all bringing to life the rich history of Barnet Fair combined to provide a memorable production of "The Boy I Love" which delighted packed audiences at The Bull Theatre.

Final preparations are being made for the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 3 December which will fill the High Street with over 100 stalls and feature a wide variety of seasonal events and attractions in nearby venues around the town centre.

High Barnet's community dance group D2D -- Dare to Dance -- are one of the groups preparing for a North London dance festival early next year.

BYM Capital, owners of High Barnet's shopping centre The Spires, have become insolvent. Administrators appointed by the High Court are now in charge of the company.

High Barnet is being asked to nominate its change makers --inspirational figures with local connections whose contributions to society deserve to be highlighted as part of a borough-wide celebration being organised by Create London.

Bugler Alexander Hill sounded the Last Post after wreath laying at the Remembrance Sunday service at the High Barnet war memorial at the parish church of St John the Baptist.

Zimmer frames, crutches and surgical boots left unused in lofts and garages around Barnet are just some of the surplus mobility aids which are being rounded up and sent off to help amputees injured in the war in Ukraine thanks to the efforts of a Friern Barnet pensioner.

A government U-turn on plans for the closure of railway ticket offices across England will come as a relief to passengers, especially the elderly and the disabled, who use stations around High Barnet on the Great Northern Railway and Thameslink lines.

Concern is growing that – nearly a month after a major planning application for 114 homes on the Whalebones fields was submitted – neighbours have yet to be formally notified by the Council. Barnet residents have until only until Tuesday 14 November to look at the plans and make their own comments, for or against.

If a fund-raising campaign is successful, there will be more of a carnival like atmosphere at this year's Barnet Christmas Fayre to be held on Sunday 3 December with professional entertainers hopefully welcoming visitors as they walk up and down the High Street.

High Barnet's Byng Road allotments celebrate their 85th anniversary next year -- and for 66 of those years Peter Morris has been tending his plot with the same determination and enthusiasm as when he started out as a teenager.

The Victoria Quarter illustrates – barely believably – the extraordinary lengths to which some developers go these days to cram housing onto their sites. After a decade campaigning for a development of the former gasworks site in the best interests of present neighbours and future residents, and seeing off several schemes that weren’t, locals might be excused for accepting a compromise solution. Instead, residents group Save New Barnet (SNB) are determined not to settle for a scheme that, as

...

A new planning application is in for the Whalebones site. The plans have been scaled back from 152 to 114 homes, but in most other respects are similar to the one we objected to in 2019. To be clear: the Barnet Society doesn’t object to some housing tofund reprovision for the artists, bee-keepers and the current tenant farmer, and for maintenance of the estate. But the Trustees want way more than that. Our Committee is minded to object again, and encourages you to submit your own objections

...

In a break with a tradition that dates back for a century or more, Barnet Parish Church of St John the Baptist is to set up a mixed-voice choir alongside its long-standing choir of men and boys.

Ewen Hall in Wood Street was transformed for an action-packed evening when the newly established Barnet Amateur Boxing Club held its first show event attracting amateur boxers from nearby clubs in the London area.

An Islamic educational charity has paid over £4 million to purchase the vacant 1,000 seat Brethren's meeting room at the Arkley end of Mays Lane, Barnet.

Charging points for electric vehicles are to be installed in the pavements of several side roads close to Barnet town centre -- and applications are being made for even larger self-standing charge points in front of the Everyman cinema and in East Barnet village which would be partly financed through video display advertising. 

A fascinating insight into the life of wealthy middle-class households who set up home in the flourishing township of New Barnet in the late 1880s has emerged after research by family historians.

My web post on 25 September about the crucial importance of minimising carbon emissions from Barnet’s existing housing stock looked at the challenge of upgrading the environmental performance of two houses on the Council’s Local Heritage List. This post shows what can be done to a more typical home in our borough.

Bringing to life the gaiety and rough and tumble of Barnet Fair -- said to be have been one of the the noisiest and naughtiest in Victorian London -- is the challenge facing High Barnet's amateur dramatic group, The Blue Door Theatre Company.

Within two weeks of hearing about a planning application for residential caravans on Green Belt farmland in the Dollis Valley, well over 500 objectors registered their opposition, backing a campaign mounted by residents of Mays Lane and surrounding roads.

 

In Barnet, the biggest cause of climate change is housing. Homes emit around 50% of the carbon released in our borough. Radically reducing those emissions by upgrading the environmental performance of our homes is the most urgent and useful thing that many of us can do. It will also generate employment, substantially reduce our energy bills and – done properly – improve our health.

Many of the motorists hurrying past beside the edge of Monken Hadley Common have probably never stopped to take a walk or had a chance to enjoy an historic and incomparable green space on the boundary of Greater London.

Volunteers collected over 65 kilogrammes of surplus apples from trees in the back gardens of houses in Sebright Road -- all destined for foodbanks and self-help groups across the London Borough of Barnet.

Families with young children have been moving to the London Borough of Barnet because of the strong performance of its secondary schools -- a strength recognised at the annual "Celebration of Excellence" at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School.

In his first campaign since becoming the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet, Dan Tomlinson has collected over 300 signatures in a petition opposing plans to close railway station ticket offices at New Barnet and Oakleigh Park.

Enforcement cameras at road junctions in and around High Barnet which were vandalised when the Ultra Low Emission Zone was extended to the outer London boroughs appear to be back in working order.

Tim Edwards, the headmaster who led Queen Elizabeth's Boys' School, Barnet, through what became a difficult but short-lived era as a comprehensive school, has died at the age of 98.

Barnet Council's strategic planning committee has given the go ahead for the construction of a two-storey clubhouse and floodlights at the Byng Road playing fields even thought it would result in "substantial harm to the sense of openness" of surrounding Green Belt countryside.

A baby bank which provides nappies, formula milk, clothes and other essentials for babies and small children has opened a new base which is ready to help needy and vulnerable families living in Barnet, Hertfordshire, and nearby London boroughs.

After a year's work by volunteers helping to build temporary stables, classroom and an arena, the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Nagus Narenthira, celebrated the official launch in Mays Lane, Barnet, of the new home of an equine therapy centre which assists challenged youngsters.

Barnet U3A choir gave a spirited curtain raiser for a Wellbeing Day organised by Barnet Council to promote support services and help advertise community drop-in events for elderly, needy and lonely residents.

Hertsmere Borough Council celebrated in style to launch the 84B -- the reintroduced bus route between Potters Bar railway station and High Barnet which reinstates a missing service and provides a vital connection to Barnet Hospital.

Another sign of the mounting opposition to plans to replace much of The Spires shopping centre with blocks of flats was the strength of a Saturday morning protest in Barnet High Street.

Sitting with her dog beside Jack's Lake at the height of the Covid pandemic, New Barnet opera singer Ilona Domnich had a flash of inspiration. Could a wooded glade at the water's edge in Monken Hadley Common become an auditorium for an outdoor concert.

Barnet is having to adjust to becoming a potentially troublesome gateway to the Ultra Low Emission Zone, With this status have come problems: several cameras have already been vandalised and despite the introduction of two charge-free corridors around High Barnet, it is feared some motorists will inevitably become confused.

Housebuilders Hill say they are finalising a fresh planning application to redevelop former farmland on the Whalebones state in the Wood Street Conservation Areas, close to Barnet Hospital.

Hertsmere Borough Council has agreed to pay a subsidy of £600 a day for the re-introduction of an hourly bus service -- the 84B -- to reconnect Potters Bar to High Barnet.

Within a week of discovering development taking place within protected Green Belt woodland a group of Arkley residents have mobilised themselves to demand action from Barnet Council to prevent unauthorised house building.

Access to well-used footpaths through protected Green Belt woodland off Rowley Lane, Arkley, is being blocked by fencing and other obstructions. Trees and undergrowth are also being cleared.

A route and timetable have now been published for a replacement 84-bus service between Potters Bar and High Barnet, which is due to start on Monday 4 September, the day many schools go back.

A five-year tale of mystery and intrigue over a derelict public house in New Barnet has been brought into fresh focus in the wake of the drama and controversy surrounding the fate of The Crooked House in the Black Country.

Four buses already terminate or stop at the main entrance to Barnet Hospital in Wellhouse Lane -- and a fifth will be added to the list if Hertsmere Borough Council finally gives the go ahead to restoring the 84 service.

Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football Club hopes finally to obtain planning permission in mid-September for a two-storey new clubhouse to replace its antiquated and dilapidated changing rooms at the Byng Road playing fields.

After the High Court ruled in favour of the extension of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone to outer London, ULEZ warning signs are now being put in place to remind drivers that there are cameras ahead of them.

A united front is being organised to oppose any attempt to reconstruct The Spires shopping centre with blocks of flats which it is feared could tower above the town centre and dominate the High Barnet skyline.

If the closure of railway ticket offices goes ahead as planned, the Rail Delivery Group says redeployment of the workforce will extend the hours staff will be on duty to assist passengers at the busiest stations.

Imagine having a 15-metre-high 5G telephone mast just a few steps from the backdoor. That is the prospect facing High Barnet resident Alison Gaymer whose home backs on to a small strip of land at the junction of Wellside Close and Wellhouse Lane.

Young football fans who besieged the England team's hotel in Hendon during the 1966 Football World Cup are being asked to identify themselves as part of a charity fund raiser in aid of Cancer Research.

Transport for London cameras are being installed at road junctions and vantage points around High Barnet in readiness for the the planned introduction of Tuesday 29 August of the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone which will impose a £12.50-a-day levy on older vehicles.

Musicians and singers aged from six to sixty-plus rounded off the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival with a final concert celebrating the life of local music teacher the late Jean Middlemiss.

Pupils of different faiths played their part in the annual commemoration day service for Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School at Barnet Parish Church.

The Totteridge Academy has been voted the top secondary school of the year by the prestigious Times Educational Supplement in recognition of the leaps the school has made in improving the progress made by its pupils.

There could hardly have been a more enthusiastic celebration of the Barnet Vale community and its determination to secure the refurbishment of their historic former cricket pavilion.

After standing empty for the last two years one of High Barnet's iconic High Street buildings has a new owner who has plans to convert the premises into a Costa coffeehouse.

As the annual Barnet Medieval Festival continues to grow in popularity, so does the number of local children who get dressed for the occasion in full military attire ready for battlefield duty or in other medieval costumes.

A medieval fashion show with displays of 15th century attire was just one of the innovations on the opening day of the Barnet Medieval Festival at Byng Road playing fields.

An hourly bus service to reconnect High Barnet with Potters Bar might be up and running by September following a decision by Hertsmere Borough Council to provide funding for the route.

Preparations are well underway for the annual Barnet Medieval Festival over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 10-11 -- and among the innovations this year will be a medieval fashion show displaying the costumes and attire of nobility and royal courtiers.

After months of deadlock and mounting frustration among protestors, a government minister has finally stepped in to try to broker an agreement to reinstate the missing link in the 84 bus route between New Barnet and Potters Bar.

The Barnet Vale Festival on Sunday 25th June is a free drop-in community event at the superb but dilapidated art deco pavilion in Tudor Park, Barnet EN5. It is organised by The Friends of Tudor Park and Pavilion (FoTPP), a group aiming to refurbish the pavilion as a new multi-functional hub for the community; and is a Barnet Society project.

A review to be conducted by the Metropolitan Police might lead to a reprieve for High Barnet police station which was closed to the public some years ago and which is among several police stations said to be surplus to requirements.

High Barnet publican Veronica McGowan has played a leading role in the selection of the London finalist for the Rose of Tralee International Festival which is to be held in County Kerry in August.

The London Festival of Architecture (LFA) is a month-long celebration of architecture and city-making that takes place every June across London. This year, for the first time, Barnet is an official destination in the LFA’s exciting and varied programme of events around the theme ‘In Common’. Several are coming up in the north of our Borough.

A second block of flats -- next to a seven-storey block which has already received planning permission -- could add to the transformation which is taking place in Moxon Street, High Barnet, where industrial workshops and warehouses are being replaced with residential and other new development.

Pride of place among a record turn out of over 100 classic and vintage cars that filled the upper deck of The Spires' car park was a 1980s version of the Arkley sports car.

Local musicians young and old are to have pride of place at the final concert of this year's High Barnet Chamber Music Festival and their event is in memory of a celebrated local music teacher, the late Jean Middlemiss.

All that appears to remain of a secret wartime listening post at Arkley is a dilapidated Nissen hut in Rowley Lane which nearby residents fear might be demolished to make way for new housing.

 

After publicity by the Barnet Society, the organisers of the Barnet Classic Car Club have tracked down an example of the elusive Arkley sports car which will be on display at the club's annual show on Sunday 14 May on the top deck of the car park at The Spires shopping centre.

Bell ringers at the parish churches of High Barnet and Monken Hadley -- which have both been strengthened recently by new recruits -- rang peals of bells over the holiday weekend to proclaim the Coronation of King Charles III.

Coronation quiches seemed to be outnumbered by sponge cakes, all decorated imaginatively with flags and other royal regalia, at many of the street parties which were held in and around High Barnet to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III.

High Barnet's historic alms houses have set an example to the town, with homes for elderly residents bedecked with bunting and regal floral displays to mark the Coronation of King Charles III.

Barnet's classic car owners are revving up for their tenth annual show and are on the look-out for a sports car enthusiast who might own one of the rare 1970s Barnet-made sports cars, the Arkley SS.

While there might be uncertainty about the future of The Spires shopping centre, independent traders in High Barnet are showing once again that the High Street can be reinvigorated and present appealing options for shoppers.

High Barnet's magnificent pink marble drinking fountain, now in full working order, is once again the centre of attraction at the top end of the High Street, welcoming walkers, and visitors to the delights of Hadley Green.

Local authority cutbacks across North London and Hertfordshire are reinforcing the need for strong and effective civic organisations -- and have provided the impetus for a close working relationship between the Barnet Society and the Enfield Society.

When the owners of The Spires shopping centre unveiled revised plans to redevelop much of their High Barnet site with blocks of flats up to six storeys high, there was a barrage of challenging, even hostile questions.

A chorus of "Restore the 84" was the chant of 40 or so angry passengers who assembled at the bus terminus at The Spires, High Barnet, to campaign for the restoration of the 84 bus service between New Barnet and Potters Bar.

A group of High Barnet retailers are demonstrating yet again the ability of the High Street to reinvent itself. A ground-breaking zero waste shop, Kronos and Rhea, which was forced to close last year, is now about to become a boutique for three traders who have combined forces to re-open the empty premises.

A year after the death of a Barnet author of children's stories, her first book - Odd Fox Out - has been published by her husband Tony Barnes and its publication was celebrated with a launch party at Waterstones book shop in The Spires.

After consultations with nearby residents, neighbouring organisations and other users of Byng Road playing fields, an application has now been submitted for planning permission for a new two-storey clubhouse for Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Club.

Yet another revised scheme to build houses and flats on the woods and farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet, has been shown to local residents at a public exhibition held by the estate's trustees and their developers Hill Residential.

Irving Wardle, one of the most distinguished theatre critics of his generation, who in recent years appeared in several theatrical productions at The Bull Theatre in High Barnet, has died at the age of 93.

Enjoy a glass of locally brewed craft beer or real ale for a final few afternoons and evenings at the Urban Alchemy bar in the Chipping Work Shop in Barnet High Street before its last day of trading on Sunday 26 March.

Developing Barnet as "a borough of fun" is the objective of Barnet Council and to help achieve this there are to be increases in the number of people who are allowed to attend events in some of the borough's 200 parks and open spaces.

A fresh application to redevelop some of the woods and farmland at Whalebones in Wood Street, High Barnet -- but this time with fewer new homes -- is about to be made on behalf of the trustees of the estate.

Barnet appears to be leading the way among outer London boroughs in the speed with which cameras and equipment is being installed by Transport for London for the introduction of the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone which will impose a £12.50-a-day levy on older vehicles.

With persistent warnings of shortages of fresh vegetables there seems to be even greater enthusiasm for grow-your-own produce -- and that was certainly the vibe at an event organised by Barnet's Incredible Edible campaign aimed at encouraging home cultivation in gardens and on unused land.

For 30 years Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet -- which is celebrating its 450th anniversary -- was at the apex of a clash between opposing education policies which were being pursued by Labour and Conservative governments, and which at the time split the country.

Despite the pace of new building in Barnet, most of our existing homes fall well below the environmental standards we need to meet to avoid climate catastrophe. At last week's Barnet Society debate on Better Homes for Barnet, Dave McCormick of Barnet Friends of the Earth gave advice on what residents can do to save energy, minimise waste and make Barnet more sustainable. Below is a summary of Dave's presentation.

Tributes from former colleagues, fans and fellow sports journalists to the legendary BBC football commentator John Motson have been reflecting on his fondness for Barnet Football Club where the young Motson cut his teeth as a cub reporter on the Barnet Press.

Action to thwart the onward advance of tower blocks around High Banet and close to the Green Belt was a shared objective of a panel of politicians and architects at a Barnet Society discussion on future housing needs.

A steep increase in crimes recorded by the police in and around High Barnet during the last 12 months -- and especially since the start of the year -- is a matter of real concern says the group that monitors the response of the town's Safer Neighbourhood Team.

BBC Television were present on Hadley Green to record the final inspection and handover of a newly-restored pink granite water fountain which will once again offer the chance of a refreshing drink of water after being out of order for the last 50 years.

Barnet Vale residents are being consulted about possibilities for restoring long-abandoned changing rooms used by New Barnet Football Club and finding ways to bring the building back into community use.

After years of dereliction, Barnet Homes have published proposals for sites in Moxon Street and Whitings Road for public consultation. The designs are better than previous schemes for the same sites approved several years ago, but never built. They’re also more imaginative and sensitive than almost any the Barnet Society has seen for a long time. We support them, and hope you will too.

Residents in the north of Barnet have recently felt besieged by new housing developments. We want more – and decent – homes for elderly as well as first-time buyers, but much of what is offered is unimaginative, out of scale and character with our neighbourhood, and mostly unaffordable. Surely we can do better? Brook Valley Gardens – nearing completion – shows one promising way forward.

Patience is the watchword among staff and volunteers at the Rainbow Centre on the Dollis Valley estate as they wait for Barnet Council to refurbish a dis-used sports pavilion to provide a new base for community activities.

Angry Potters Bar residents joined forces to form a mass protest to promote their campaign for the restoration of the 84 bus service between Potters Bar and New Barnet which was withdrawn by Transport for London last year.

After standing proud and erect for almost a century and a half, Hadley Green's magnificent drinking fountain is in pieces, awaiting restoration and getting re-connected to the water supply.

Another milestone has been passed on the long and challenging road towards re-furbishing and re-opening the historic cricket pavilion in Tudor Park, New Barnet

A High Barnet community dance group which had to close during the covid emergency is building back attendances at its weekly sessions and hopes more residents will come along and give it a go.

After almost a decade being the proprietor of her own beauty salon, Paige Candler is saying farewell to Barnet High Street and has plans to establish an online business.

Poundland is about to open its new store in The Spires shopping centre -- at 9am on Saturday 28 January -- an event for some Barnet shoppers that will be up there with the opening of a branch of the fashion chain H&M in 2017.

A much-troubled plan to build flats on the former gas works site in New Barnet has joined The Spires shopping centre as one of those projects where developers might have no alternative but to respond to the views of local community groups if they are to have any chance of gaining planning approval.

A High Barnet centenarian who is often seen out and about on his four-wheel mobility scooter shopping in the High Street is still receiving congratulations weeks after celebrating his birthday.

Property company BYM, owners of The Spires, have supplied Barnet Council with more details of their plans to redevelop the shopping centre to include blocks of flats of up to six storeys in height.

Motorists who took a short cut across Monken Hadley Common to avoid road closure notices have turned much of the grass into a muddy morass and left deep tyre marks -- even damaging the much loved cricket pitch.

 

Millie the Waitrose cat -- this time in bronze -- has resumed her role as High Barnet's most popular feline character, checking out customers at The Spires shopping centre.

Barnet Choral Society has started rehearsals under its new musical director Rory McCleery -- and his choice for their first concert of 2023 plays to the choir's great tradition of performing baroque music.

Despite an ongoing planning dispute about building over 500 homes on the former gas works site in New Barnet, developers Citystyle Fairview are seeking the go ahead for the construction of two blocks of flats on land fronting onto Victoria Road.

Recent monitoring of water quality has renewed concern about the risk of sewage pollution in Pymmes Brook -- seen here on its way through Oak Hill Park, East Barnet.

BYM Capital, owners of The Spires shopping centre, are drawing up plans for a major redevelopment to rebuild much of the existing precinct to provide blocks of flats above shops and cafes and also to construct new homes on adjoining land.

A new book exploring the history of Queen Elizabeth's School -- or QE Boys as it is affectionately known -- is to be published in March next year.

Squatters have taken over empty offices in Barnet High Street -- just weeks after a group departed from a similar squat in a former restaurant.

Chipping Barnet's foodbank is experiencing a surge in demand: the number of households dependent on food parcels has almost doubled since the summer and an appeal has gone out to Christmas shoppers to donate what they  can.

A scheme which is being proposed by Barnet Homes could transform the top end of Moxon Street be creating a car-free mews with two rows of terraced houses to provide a total of 21 new homes.

An evening session for designing and making Christmas wreaths brought a festive spirit to a community pop-up event at the Chipping Work Shop in Barnet High Street.

Local authorities will have greater freedom about implementing government housing targets following a Conservative revolt in the House of Commons led by the Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers.

Barry Rawlings, Labour leader of Barnet Council, is increasingly hopeful of a breakthrough in the campaign to the get the restoration of the 84-bus service between Barnet and Potters Bar.

Despite a cold, grey day the Mayor of Barnet Councillor Alison Moore got the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre off to a flying start by cutting the ribbon in the middle of the High Street.

Two vacant retail unts in The Spires, Barnet, are to be taken over as the site for one of the revamped Poundland stores which are being opened in shopping malls and town centres across the country.

Four key roads serving High Barnet -- which are just within the borough boundary -- have been excluded from the new vehicle emissions zone for the whole of Greater London.

A children's competition which is being organised with the help of shops along the High Street is part of the promotional build-up for this year's Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 4 December.

Householders in roads in Mill Hill, Arkley, High Barnet, and Hadley Wood are being offered a free connection if they sign up to a Swedish company which is installing a new fibre broadband service.

Planning approval has been refused for opening an adult gaming centre in the former TSB bank building on Barnet High Street.

A one-woman road safety campaign to persuade Barnet Council to consider introducing 20 mph speed limits on all residential roads in the borough was going nowhere until the issue was raised at a Living Streets event organised by the Barnet Society.

With public houses said to be closing at the rate of one a day across the country, licensed premises along Barnet High Street are doing what they can to buck the trend, each with a distinctive offer to potential customers.

As more of Barnet Council's services are withdrawn from outsourcing contractors Capita, New Barnet community activist John Dix feels increasingly vindicated that his "sniff test" was correct: that the Capita deal was a costly mistake for the council taxpayers of Barnet. 

An application to build 13 blocks of flats on the former gas works site in New Barnet has ended in another embarrassing defeat.

Theresa Villiers blames government house building targets for putting pressure on local councils to accept "entirely inappropriate" high-rise developments in suburban neighbourhoods like Barnet.

Squatters who have taken over a former restaurant in Barnet High Street might soon be having to contend with a new owner of the property. The three-storey building is in the process of being sold with a guide price of £875,000.

A fourteen-year dispute about redeveloping the former gas works site in New Barnet is about to kick off again in the High Court when housebuilders Citystyle Fairview will try to overturn the decision of a planning inspector.

There has been widespread support from within the film and television industry for a planning application to almost double the size of the Sky Studios Elstree complex which is currently nearing completion at Borehamwood.

A bingo premises licence has been approved for a former bank building in Barnet -- but the key decision has yet to be taken on whether Barnet Council will give planning permission for an adult gaming centre in the High Street.

Clearing years of accumulated rubbish and litter from derelict farmland off Mays Lane, Barnet, is another step towards establishing a new equine therapy centre for troubled youngsters.

Britannia Parking has taken over from NCP as the operator of the multi-storey car park at The Spires shopping centre in High Barnet.

After violent incidents on two successive Saturday afternoons -- an imitation firearm was brandished in the High Street and a stabbing in the nearby recreation ground -- there could hardly have been a more opportune moment for some reassuring words from High Barnet's Safer Neighbourhood Team.

A crowdfunding campaign has been started to help meet extra expenditure involved in plans to restore Hadley Green's pink marble drinking fountain which has been out of order for the last 50 years.

Barnet's former town hall, which is now the North London Coroner's Court, has been a backdrop for television news reports and press photographs that have gone round the world.

Julian Stewart, the longest serving independent trader in Barnet High Street, is about to retire after 43 years in business.

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Following the dismissal of an appeal to demolish 33 Lyonsdown Road and replace it with 20 flats, we thought its future would be safe – but we were wrong. It’s scheduled for demolition on 1 October 2022. Since 2017, we’ve campaigned to save this beautiful Victorian villa, and in 2020 succeeded in getting it added to Barnet’s Local Heritage List.

Barnet Environment Centre is celebrating the official opening of its newly installed fully accessible paths around the perimeter of its seven-and-a-half-acre nature reserve off Byng Road.

After lying empty and unused for the last four years, the former site of Barnet Market has been purchased by BYM Capital, the property investment company which owns The Spires, the adjoining shopping centre.

Honey bees in the Barnet locality are among the many beneficiaries of the numerous parks, open spaces and the fields and woods in the Green Belt land that encircles much of the town.

Volunteers picking fruit for foodbanks were delighted on a return visit to the gardens of three houses in Sebright Road, Barnet, to find an extra fine crop of apples -- all thanks to the way the trees had been pruned earlier in the year.

 

These are critical times for London’s Green Belt. But Barnet still has many open spaces where the illusion of countryside is remarkably unspoiled. Eight of them – all in Totteridge or Mill Hill – are on new videos that you can view on the website of the London Green Belt Council (LGBC).

A book of condolence for the death of Queen Elizabeth II has been opened at Barnet Parish Church and will be available for signing until the state funeral on Monday 19 September.

Having a wash down after a rugby match in Barnet can be quite a spectacle to behold. Mud-splattered players are still having to jump into one of two huge communal baths inside their dilapidated clubhouse at the Byng Road playing fields.

There could hardly have been a more poignant moment at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School, Barnet. Within less than half an hour of the official announcement of the Queen's death, headteacher Violet Walker had to preside at the annual prize giving at a school which had an especially close association with her reign.

Ponies and traps with their owners and admirers assembled on Hadley Green in an attempt to maintain the spirit of the historic Barnet Horse Fair which by tradition is held early in September but which is without a regular site.

Alan Parish, assistant organist at St John the Baptist Church, Barnet, for over half a century, was at the console as an accompanist for a valedictory choral evensong to celebrate what was described as his remarkable contribution and exemplary dedication.

Flags, bunting and even a "royal" visit were the order of the day at Barnet Market to help celebrate the 823rd birthday of its royal charter and the first anniversary of its new-found trading freedom.

Public consultation over an application for an adult gaming centre in Barnet High Street has been re-opened.

Food banks across the London Borough of Barnet are being supplied with surplus apples and pears which are being picked by the volunteer group Barnet Community Harvesters.

A new two-storey clubhouse and an improved layout of four rugby pitches will transform Byng Road playing fields if planning approval is obtained by Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football Club.

Two new hospitality ventures are hoping to boost evening trade in Barnet High Street - a cafe bar with a special line in cocktails and a pop-up bar offering locally brewed craft beers and real ale.

After months of negotiation and trial and error a site has finally been agreed for a small bronze statue commemorating High Barnet's feline celebrity, Millie the Waitrose cat.

Local councils in London and the Home Counties are currently planning to allow building on more than 48,000 acres of the Green Belt, according to a major new report by the London Green Belt Council (LGBC). That’s huge: the equivalent of the combined area of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden and Enfield – or of 60 Hampstead Heaths.

After a nine-day Public Inquiry last month in Hendon Town Hall, a Planning Inspector has dismissed Citystyle Fairview’s appeal against Barnet Council’s refusal of 539 flats on the former gasworks site. It’s a major victory for New Barnet Community Association and its supporters, including the Barnet Society, with important implications for other big developments in our neighbourhood.

National Car Parks has refused to comment on speculation that its contract to operate the NCP car park at The Spires Shopping Centre in High Barnet is about to be relinquished or even terminated.

Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, has stepped in to support residents in a renewed attempt to stop the demolition of 33 Lyonsdown Road, New Barnet, a locally-listed Victorian villa which the Barnet Society and other heritage groups have been campaigning to save since 2017.

The Lord Nelson, tucked away off Wood Street, High Barnet, is the 2022 Runner Up Pub of the Year in the annual contest organised by the Enfield and Barnet Campaign for Real Ale.

Two stalwarts have stepped down after 20 years' campaigning with the Barnet Society -- High Street champion Gail Laser and long-standing committee member Andrew Hutchings.

After remaining empty and disused for the last four years, a buyer has finally been found for the abandoned car park that was once the home of Barnet Market -- and what was for a brief time due to have become the site of a Premier Inn.

After 30 years in business the A1 Clay Shooting Ground just north of Arkley has closed -- raising questions as to the future use of another large site in the Green Belt between Barnet and the M25 motorway.

Urgent action is needed to save 33 Lyonsdown Road following Barnet Council’s recent decision to allow its demolition. Together with local residents, the Barnet Society has been campaigning since 2017 to save this beautiful Victorian villa but the owners have used the permitted development route to apply to knock down the locally listed building.

After a two-week inquiry into the latest plans to redevelop the former gas works site in New Barnet, a planning inspector will have to decide whether developers Citystyle Fairview should be allowed to squeeze in 168 more flats than were originally agreed in 2017.

New Barnet's Salvation Army Hall is about to be demolished  a poignant reminder of the many local connections with the movement's founder, General William Booth, who lived in Hadley Wood until his death in 1912.

Converting the former Grasvenor Avenue Infant School to take pupils with special education needs will help meet the lack of places within the Borough of Barnet for children with learning difficulties.

Record temperatures and an unprecedented red alert heatwave warning are claimed to be further justification for opposition to a scheme to build high-rise blocks of flats on the former gas works site at New Barnet.

For the first time in a decade Tudor Park Pavilion was brought back to life hosting a Picnic for the Pavilion for the residents of Barnet Vale...well almost! Supporters of the campaign to refurbish the dilapidated pavilion could still only look in from the outside at what used to be a much-loved focal point for the community.

Barnet Council has intervened on planning and licensing grounds to ensure a full hearing of the views of local residents before a decision is made on whether to allow an adult gaming centre to open in Barnet High Street.

A concert by pupils at Queen Elizabeth's Boys School was another first for the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival which is now in its second year.

A planning inspector has given the go ahead for Barnet House, the twelve-storey vacant office block in High Road, Whetstone, to be converted into 260 flats with affordable workspace on the ground floor.

An artist's impression illustrates how Green Belt fields off Mays Lane, Barnet, are to be transformed into London's first purpose built equine therapy centre where challenged youngsters will be able to interact with specially trained horses.

Barnet parish church is to host the first concert of this year's High Barnet Chamber Music Festival -- and the two soloists on the opening night, French horn player Annemarie Federle and tenor Brenton Spiteri have been busy rehearsing.

Barnet Council, now under Labour control, is intent on building a new relationship with the borough's residents to ensure improvements in key areas such as planning, public amenities, bus services and the protection of the Green Belt and open spaces.

London's first purpose built equine therapy centre  -- where challenged youngsters interact with specially trained horses -- is to be established at derelict stables in Mays Lane, Barnet.

Barnet Council has rejected plans for the installation of a 20-metre high 5G network telephone mast on the approach road to Barnet Hospital, close to the mini roundabout at the junction of Wellhouse Lane and Wood Street.

An application is being made under the Gambling Act to open a bingo hall on Barnet High Street in the historic building that was most recently a branch of the TSB bank and which was formerly the offices of the Barnet Press weekly newspaper.

Barnet Medieval Festival's spectacular re-enactments, attracting ever-loyal audiences, are generating increased interest in the role played by the two Battles of St Albans, as well as the Battle of Barnet.

Displays by mounted knights in armour and men at arms were another first at the increasingly popular Barnet Medieval Festival, now in its fourth year.

The Barnet Society is collecting photographs and stories that captured the fun and friendliness of the many street parties held over the four-day Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

A veteran High Barnet motorcycling enthusiast, 86-year-old Peter Biles -- who bought his first motorbike just before the Coronation in 1953 -- was one of the veterans taking pride of place in the pageant The Times of Our Lives on the final day of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Whitehall and The Mall.

With fine weather on bank holiday Friday, Platinum Jubilee street parties were the order of the day, and the party planners were delighted with the turn out.

Objectors to a plan to install a 20-metre high 5G network phone mast on the main approach road to Barnet Hospital say it would have an overbearing impact on residents in nearby roads and perhaps become a potential health hazard.

With so few outlets available for small shopkeepers and with so little space for new businesses and shared working, Chipping Barnet Town Team has decided to take the initiative and open temporary accommodation for budding entrepreneurs in a prime location.

A newly opened recital hall at Queen Elizabeth's School for Boys is to host three concerts to be held in July as part of the second annual High Barnet Chamber Music Festival.

Opening the new £4 million Signature care home in Wood Street, High Barnet, was the first official duty for the newly installed Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Alison Moore.

What is being billed as The Big Picnic on Saturday 4 June on the lawn beside Barnet Parish Church will be one of the highlights of local celebrations for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend.

Hadley FC, the oldest football club playing in Barnet, have won promotion to a higher league.

Hadley Green's pink marble drinking fountain -- out of order for the last 50 years -- might possibly secure a new lease of life and once again offer walkers and even their dogs a refreshing drink of water.

Barnet High Street is to lose one of its convenience stores -- the Sainsbury's Local at 146 High Street is to close later this year.

Barnet Council is to charge £790 during the summer months to remove grass clippings from High Barnet's two bowling greens -- way above the £210 that was charged last year.

After investing £22 million in building a 100-apartment luxury care home in Wood Street, High Barnet, the Signature Care Homes group has now embarked on a marketing drive to attract future residents.

Golfers with disabilities assembled at The Shire golf course in St Albans Road, Barnet, for the launch of the Cairns Cup, a new international disability golf competition between teams from Europe and the USA.

Labour has taken overall control of Barnet Borough Council for the first time since the London boroughs were created in the 1960s -- and High Barnet is one of the former Conservative strongholds that now has two Labour councillors.

Barnet High Street is busily adapting to changes in trading patterns that developed during lockdown, and which seem to be here to stay given the ability of so many employees to work from home.

Transport for London has rejected a plea for out-of-service buses to offer a skeleton 84 service when heading back and forth between Potters Bar bus garage and stops where services start and terminate in High Barnet.

Organ and piano pieces by the celebrated Barnet organist and composer William Ralph Driffill were played for the first time in probably 100 years at a recital commemorating the centenary of his death.

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An application to demolish a much-loved heritage landmark in New Barnet has once again been thrown out by the planning system, but the building is now at serious risk from vandals.

Knights on horseback are to feature for the first time in military re-enactments at the fourth annual Barnet Medieval Festival to be held in mid-June at the Byng Road playing fields. 

Residents were delighted to welcome back to High Barnet the celebrated chewing gum artist Ben Wilson who spent a day refreshing a trail of tiny pavement illustrations that starts outside his parents' former home in Carnarvon Road and continues round the corner into Alston Road.

A two-century old gravestone in Monken Hadley churchyard was the final stop on a guided walk around locations associated with inspirational women from Barnet's past.

Barnet Council has refused planning permission for a 50-megawatt electric battery array in the green heart of the borough. An earlier application for a gas peaking plant nearby was withdrawn last year. Mill Hill’s Green Belt has been saved for the moment – but if the UK is serious about reaching zero-carbon, an alternative may still need be found somewhere in the vicinity.

An online election hustings is being organised by local pressure groups in the run-up to the May council elections to promote what they believe should become a shopping list of environmental targets for a newly elected Barnet Council.

Street parties, ceremonial tree plantings and the lighting of the beacon on top of Monken Hadley church tower are just some of the local events being arranged to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June.

Bus passengers mourning the loss of the 84 service from New Barnet to Potters Bar have taken to social media to express their anger.

Last night Barnet Council’s Strategic Planning Committee unanimously approved conversion of the existing building into a 90-place school for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), despite concerns on the part of the Barnet Society. We wish it well, however – and hope it will trigger use of King George’s Fields for outdoor education, and perhaps a Forest School.

After missing out on so much during the Covid.19 pandemic, Barnet Choral Society are in final rehearsals for a belated 80th anniversary concert -- a performance of one of the great challenges of choral singing, Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.

The bridegroom at this fashionable Monken Hadley wedding early in the last century was William Ralph Driffill, who became an admired organist and composer.

Chemotherapy patients receiving treatment at Chase Farm Hospital will benefit from two new cooling cap systems to be purchased with funds raised by Barnet and District CancerLink.

Saving rainwater is becoming ever more important in the face of global warming and our unusually dry summers...so Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road has installed a giant water butt to capture and store all it can.

A recital is to be held at St Mark's Church, Barnet Vale, in April to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of a celebrated organist and composer who lived in Barnet and whose organ and piano scores reflected the musical fashions of the Victorian era.

Eighteen months ago, the Barnet Society wrote that flouting of planning laws at 1 Sunset View and 70 High Street would be tests of Barnet Council’s will to enforce its planning decisions. Both owners appealed against Enforcement Orders, and both have lost. The decisions are significant victories over the degradation of Barnet’s Conservation Areas.

After the go ahead was given last month for controversial plans to build tower blocks of flats on the two car parks at Cockfosters tube station the government has intervened at the last minute to halt the project.

Volunteer working parties have managed to clear fallen branches and mark with hazard tape some of the twenty or so trees on Monken Hadley Common which were brought down in Storm Eunice.

To celebrate women's history month two guided walks are being held to raise awareness of the buildings and places that are associated with inspirational women from Barnet's past.

Sheila Hunt, who for almost fifty years was an inspirational leader for the Girl Guides movement in High Barnet, has died at the age of 93.

Pieces of medieval pottery and broken roof tiles have been discovered during a three-day archaeological dig at the rear of traditional sweet shop Hopscotch at 88 Barnet High Street.

Family history enthusiasts might be able to help in the search for memories, reflections or even photographs of school days in Barnet in the 1920s and 1930s.

A second attempt to get approval for an enlarged development of blocks of flats on the former gas works site at New Barnet has been refused -- and for now Barnet's largest brownfield site will continue to remain unused.

Of all the curiosities in High Barnet, perhaps the one which evokes the greatest pleasure is a collection of intricate tiny houses which decorate a tree stump in St Albans Road.

New premises are to be found for the neighbourhood police teams serving the wards in and around High Barnet before the Metropolitan Police goes ahead with the sale of the police station in the High Street.

A day's work pruning some of the trees which produce fruit for Barnet's foodbanks was the latest initiative for volunteers of Barnet Community Harvesters.

Hertfordshire County Council has stepped in to save much of the 84 bus service between St Albans and New Barnet station -- but a rescue deal only applies to the St Albans to Potters Bar section of the route and it looks like leaving Barnet residents without a vital service.

Tree planting and litter picking were two initiatives in what became a weekend of community action organised by the Barnet Society and the Barnet Residents Association. 

Brewer and pub retailer Greene King have given an assurance that a proposed refurbishment of the Mitre Inn in Barnet High Street will be carried out with the "utmost respect" for an historic 17th century coaching inn.

"Dogs and cats welcome" is the invitation that awaits customers at Nika, an innovative pet cafe which has opened on Barnet High Street.

Passengers who use the 84 bus service between New Barnet station and St Albans have launched a petition because of the threatened withdrawal of the route from the Metroline schedule.

Hertsmere Borough Council has withdrawn plans for housing and other development across vast tracts of Green Belt land to the north and west of Barnet following an outcry from residents about the loss of countryside.

An iconic building in Barnet High Street -- the much admired art deco frontage of what was once a Montague Burton menswear shop -- is about to get a new lease of life when the upper floor is converted into a soft-play area for toddlers and small children.

The Barnet Society has consulted its members about the current planning application to convert a former office block into a school for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 83% of respondents opposed the application, and only 6% supported it. We have therefore decided to object to it.

After two multi-million-pound property deals in High Barnet last year, the one to watch in 2022 is the sale of Barnet Police Station which is one of the surplus properties due to be sold off by the Metropolitan Police.

Volunteer working parties are supporting the Barnet Society's latest tree planting initiative -- to create a 300 to 400-metre-long hawthorn hedge that should blossom each May and enhance still further the appeal of Barnet Hill.

Hadley FC, the oldest football club playing in Barnet, are about to launch a £200,000 appeal for the installation of an all-weather Astro turf pitch at their ground in Brickfield Lane, Arkley.

Charges are to be introduced for parking at the Old Courthouse Recreation Ground -- an expense for parents of small children who drive to the infants' playground next to the Old Courthouse Café

Winter tree planting is well underway -- and volunteers will be busy in the next few weeks on Barnet Hill and at other sites across the Borough of Barnet.

A renewed attempt to get planning approval for an additional storey to be added to two blocks of flats in Alston Road, Barnet, has again been rejected on the grounds that the enlarged buildings would be out of keeping with the neighbourhood.

Instead of a traditional corner shop, Chesterfield Parade in Bells Hill, now hosts a specialist shop selling what the proprietor believes is the widest range of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free produce and products available in High Barnet.

Cyclists heading out of London have always enjoyed the challenge of riding up Barnet Hill -- and a survey carried out exactly 100 years ago showed there was even greater enthusiasm for tackling the climb back in the 1920s.

Anyone walking along the footpath at the junction of Alston Road and Carnarvon Road should make the effort to search out a fascinating trail of 21 illustrations by a celebrated pavement artist who was brought up in Barnet and whose miniature paintings on blobs of chewing gum have gained international recognition.

 

Recent years have seen a wave of roof extensions across Barnet, usually providing extra space for existing homes. Richard Court in Alston Road (above) exemplifies a new variant of Permitted Development introduced by the government last year. You have until Thursday 23 December to oppose it, and below we tell you how to do so. 

 

Plans to build four chalet-style houses on the site of a former stables and paddock have been been rejected by a planning inspector because of the impact they would have on the woodland and fields south of Arkley, across the Dollis Valley towards Totteridge.

Staff at the Rainbow Centre on the Dollis Valley estate are busy preparing food parcels, seasonal hampers and presents for needy families in what might be the food bank's last Christmas in their current premises in Dollis Valley Drive.

Festive lighting around the bandstand at The Spires shopping centre is not just a celebration of Christmas and the New Year but also a more personal reminder for friends and supporters of the Barnet charity Cherry Lodge Cancer Care.

An appeal has been launched for the renovation of Monken Hadley's historic church house which will involve reconstructing and modernising the interior so that it can be used for a wider range of community events.

After it was closed and boarded up ten years ago, the dis-used Tudor Park Pavilion is at last edging closer to the day when it could provide Barnet Vale with a much-needed amenity space and leisure facility.

Unlike the experience of many local communities that were forced to cancel festive events, the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre went ahead as planned and was well supported given the showery Sunday weather.

"We are back on the map at last" was the cry that went up at the unveiling of three roadside signs declaring "Welcome to Arkley Village".

Plans are afoot to upgrade Barnet Council's free-to-use tennis courts -- which include six courts just off Mays Lane and others at Tudor Park Sports Ground, Victoria Recreation Ground, and Oak Hill Park -- and then introduce a booking system and charges for playing tennis.

Rehearsals are well underway for the children's show at the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 5 December -- a welcome return after the loss last year of the town's festivities due to the Covid.19 lockdown restrictions.

Campaigners against high-rise blocks of flats being built on tube station car parks -- including High Barnet, Finchley Central, Cockfosters and Arnos Grove -- staged a spirited protest during the last question time session for the Mayor of London at City Hall.

With the return of many more passengers on the London Underground, the book-swap bookshelf at High Barnet tube station is proving so popular it has almost run out of books.

An ancient ditch in the woods along the northern boundary of Monken Hadley Common has been reinstated after the area was cleared of builders' rubble that had been dumped on the land.

A hand-coloured tribute from a six-year-old Barnet schoolgirl was added to the wreaths of poppies laid around the war memorial at Barnet Parish Church during the Remembrance Sunday Service.

Ambitious plans to develop and expand the twice weekly Barnet Market have been given the go ahead by BYM Capital, the new owners of The Spires shopping centre.

One of the top priorities for High Barnet's dedicated team of police officers -- the Safer Neighbourhood Team -- is to respond to complaints about anti-social behaviour in the High Street including begging on the pavement and disturbances involving rowdy youngsters.

A renewed attempt to secure planning approval to build 152 houses and flats on the Whalebones fields and woods has been rejected by a government planning inspector, Jonathan Price.

By the spring of next year and the second anniversary in March of the start of lockdown there should be a carpet of daffodils on the lawn in front of Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School.

After missing out on singing together and being forced for so long to rehearse via Zoom, the Barnet Choral Society are preparing for a stylish comeback presenting a performance of Verdi Requiem at their first concert for two years.

Above is the Green Belt between Barnet and St Albans. It’s the site of Bowmans Cross, a new settlement planned by Hertsmere Council. It will eventually have 6,000 homes for around 15,000 people – nearly as many as live in High Barnet ward. It will be a net-zero carbon, self-sustaining community, and the sketch above shows lots of trees. But if Hertsmere’s draft Local Plan is accepted, over 10% of Hertsmere’s (and also effectively Barnet’s) Green Belt will be lost forever.

A government decision is expected before the end of the year on the future of the Grasvenor Avenue Infant School where staff and parents have already been warned about its possible closure in July next year.

Secondary school pupils who play an instrument or who are studying music are being invited to take part in a young composers' competition organised by the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival.

After Premier Inn abandoned its plans to build a new hotel on the former Barnet Market site, the empty land is back on the market for potential redevelopment with flats and townhouses.

A former warehouse and office block in Moxon Street is to be converted into a special needs school for up to 90 children with autism if Barnet Council gives the go ahead.

Signature at Barnet, a new care home with 100 apartments, which is due to open for residents in March next year, will become the largest nursing home in High Barnet.

After missing out last year, the High Street will be closed to traffic again for the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 5 December.

Residents and admirers of High Barnet have every encouragement to enter a competition to write the best "Love Letter to London" -- after all this is said by many to be the most historic town within Greater London.

Closed circuit television and a steel security fence have been installed along a stretch of the St Albans Road to deter fly tippers who for years have taken advantage of a notorious dumping ground.

For the first time since it was opened 30 years ago the top deck of The Spires car park became a place to linger, look and admire.  Lined up was an impressive display of vintage and classic cars.

Two inspired community projects -- encouraging community gardens and collecting unwanted fruit -- celebrated their initiatives by combining to hold a joint workshop to produce local apple juice.

Fewer entries than usual at the annual show organised by the Barnet and District Beekeepers Association were only to be expected after so much unseasonal weather but there was praise as well for the standard achieved.

Back in February the Barnet Society thought it had helped save this remarkable Locally-Listed Victorianvilla, when the Council unanimously refused its demolition in favour of 20 flats. But the developer has appealed against the decision, and you have until Wednesday 29 September to add your voice to preserve this building from the wrecking ball.

You can read about the dramatic refusal of the planning application in February here:

https://www.barnetsociety.org.uk/component/k2/lyonsdown-roars

...

Jimmy Greaves, the legendary English footballer who has died at the age of 81, is held in great affection by fans of Barnet Football Club who remember seeing him play at Underhill in the 1977-78 football season.

Fog of War, a play written around the life of a community of local women living through the sound and fury of the 1471 Battle of Barnet, had its premiere in the historic setting of the garden of Monken Hadley Church.

A welcome return of his annual garden fete -- together with rides for children around his miniature railway track -- were another sign of life returning to normal at the Wood Street home of retired Barnet family practitioner Dr Ian Johnson.

A plan to construct as many as six blocks of flats over the car park and storage yard at High Barnet tube station appears to have been abandoned -- at least for the foreseeable future.

After its cancellation last year, Barnet Medieval Festival returned with a superb display of medieval history and a stylish re-enactment of Wars of the Roses combat which provided a magnificent in-character celebration of the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet.

After the cancellation of so many social events during the last 18 months because of the Covid.19 pandemic, the welcome return of the Barnet Medieval Festival with its battlefield re-enactments kicks off what promises to be a packed programme of weekend attractions for the rest of September.

A visit by a planning inspector to the Whalebones woods and farmland rounded off a week-long public inquiry into the future of a large open space that provides a green buffer between Arkley and High Barnet.

A determined campaign has been launched by the Hadley Wood Association to fight plans for 160 homes to be built on Green Belt land -- one of a series of Green Belt housing developments being proposed by Enfield Council.

A spirited plea to preserve one of High Barnet's prominent green spaces was heard at the opening day of a public inquiry into plans to build 152 houses and flats on the Whalebones fields and woodland.

An open day at the Grow Farm at Totteridge Academy in Barnet Lane was a chance to see the transformation of an empty field into a community farm where local school children are taught the practicalities of food cultivation and have an opportunity to build up agricultural skills.

On the eve of a critical public inquiry, Barnet Council has withdrawn its main objection to plans to build 152 homes on fields and woods in the Whalebones estate, Wood Street, Barnet.

Six iron arrowheads recovered from the site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet are on display for the very first time at the recently re-opened Barnet Museum -- a must see exhibit for anyone hoping to attend the Barnet Medieval Festival in mid-September

After missing out last year, members of the Barnet Classic Car Club are raring to go -- ready to parade up Barnet Hill and along the High Street to the annual vintage and classic car show which has grown from strength to strength in recent years.

After months of agonising uncertainty, Barnet Medieval Festival is definitely going ahead for a re-scheduled weekend of events and attractions on Saturday and Sunday 11-12 September at the Byng Road playing fields.

After closing its doors to the public four years ago, High Barnet Police Station is to disappear altogether from the High Street.

A research project at University College London into the role of slavery in shaping British history has highlighted unlooked for -- almost accidental -- reminders of the slave trade in some of the historic street names of High Barnet.

JCDecaux, which claims to be the world's largest outdoor advertising contractor, is promising local authorities it wants to help declutter town centres -- and then promptly abandons this pledge by pressing on with its controversial application for two advertising and communication hubs on the recently widened High Street pavements of High Barnet.

Gary Murphy, High Barnet's most celebrated licensee of recent times, has given up his lease after having spent the last 13 years establishing The Mitre as a public house recognised across North London for its real ales and craft beers.

On Tuesday 13 July, the Barnet Society held its first Open Meeting on topical local issues via Zoom. Around 50 members of the Society and general public participated. This is what we discussed.

Simon Smith who spent the last 16 years managing over 60 of High Barnet's historic almshouses has taken early retirement from his role as clerk to the trustees of the Jesus Hospital Charity.

After the success of the inaugural season of concerts arranged by the High Barnet Chamber Music Festival plans are already being drawn up for a repeat event next year.

Four high-rise blocks of flats proposed for Cockfosters Station car park would have such a grave impact on the local landscape, the Save Cockfosters from Tower Blocks campaign is hoping to enlist support from residents in Barnet and the rest of the surrounding area.

Swifts which migrate to High Barnet for the summer months have lost one of their greatest admirers and staunchest guardians: Tim Friend who encouraged fellow householders to follow his example by installing swift nesting boxes has died at the age of 71.

present main

Recent passers-by will have noticed, a beautifully calligraphed poem in the window – and a definite lack of presents through the window of the much-loved shop “The Present” at the Hadley end of the High Street.

Chipping Barnet is a great base for some glorious countryside walks, and the best are described in Rambles Round Barnet – two volumes published by the Barnet Society. The good news is that Volume I has just been reprinted in a limited edition. The bad news is that some of the walks are threatened by development, so walk them while you can.

walking.jpg

The Barnet Society’s AGM on 1st July gave me the opportunity to highlight the range of work we have done in the past, and continue to do, to enhance Barnet’s green environment.

A 1960s self-built house, described by the Barnet Society as being "uncompromisingly modern" for its period, was used for shooting scenes for a six-part thriller Ragdoll from the producers of Killing Eve.

Another chapter has closed in the history of a much-admired art deco building in Barnet High Street, the former Montague Burton menswear shop, that has been used most recently as a dance studio.

Probably the oldest transport cafe in Barnet - the Hole in the Wall on the Great North Road - has ceased trading, a victim of the difficulties which lockdown has imposed on the catering trade.

Barnet Council's highways department is preparing a new set of policies for the future safeguarding and maintenance of historic structures such as horse troughs and street signs.

A warehouse on the Queen's Road industrial estate off Wood Street, High Barnet, is being converted into a temporary studio for filming scenes for a new six-part television thriller Ragdoll from the producers of Killing Eve.

Developers seeking to build 554 homes on the former gas works site in New Barnet have released new images to show how the height and density of the proposed tower blocks has been reduced in a fresh attempt to gain planning approval.

A rubberised footpath around the perimeter of the Byng Road Nature Reserve will finally allow wheelchair users and people with disabilities and limited mobility the chance to visit a highly popular natural trail.

Evidence of a fresh sewage spill in Dollis Brook was an unexpected - and unpleasant - find when the DollisBrookers carried out their first litter pick along Barnet's Dollis Valley Greenwalk.

A Barnet charity that advises and assists cancer patients - and which is celebrating its 25th anniversary - hopes the gradual easing of lockdown will speed up the resumption of its support services and especially its fund raising activities.

Hill Residential Ltd and the Trustees of the Gwyneth Cowing estate, whose planning application for 152 homes on the Whalebones fields was refused last November, have appealed against Barnet Council’s decision. Their case will be heard at a 5-day public inquiry starting on 31 August. It is a major test of Barnet's planning policies on green spaces and Conservation Areas.

Nearby residents and pillar box enthusiasts are urging the Royal Mail to replace one of High Barnet's historic post boxes which was demolished during a car crash at the junction of Manor Road and Wood Street.

Objectors to the building of 152 new homes on the Whalebones farmland in Wood Street, Barnet, are rallying opposition ahead of a public inquiry in the autumn.

Fly tipping of garden rubbish and even builders' rubble has become a worrying problem along the edges of Monken Hadley Common - and the worst offenders are a few of the owners of the priciest properties in roads such as Parkgate Crescent, off Camlet Way, and Fairgreen, off the Cockfosters Road.

Albert Bone who in 1959 opened the first fruit and vegetable stall at what was then Barnet cattle market has died at the age of 95.

Keen photographers in the Borough of Barnet are being invited to submit entries to a European photographic competition which is being organised by Barnet's twin town Le Raincy, a suburb of Paris.

Dollis Valley Greenwalk, one of Barnet's precious green open spaces, is about to get some extra care and attention from volunteers anxious to enhance its biodiversity and ensure its future wellbeing.

Protecting the historic townscape around Barnet parish church, Hadley Green and Monken Hadley requires the constant monitoring of planning applications - a task that is becoming no easier thanks to cuts made by Barnet Council.

A star baker from Channel 4 did a roaring trade selling home-made cakes and pastries at New Barnet's first zero-waste market.

Dorina Cardosi, a welcoming face for so many years behind the counter at Dory's cafe, Barnet, has died at the age of 86.

A Help for Heroes fundraiser which hopes to attract the support of local cyclists is being organised by Andy Perrin, a wounded Army veteran who lives off Mays Lane Barnet.

A property development company specialising in office-to-residential conversions has bought the Spires shopping centre and its five-acre site between Barnet High Street and Stapylton Road for £28 million.

Barnet Council has given the go ahead for the forecourts of four businesses in Leicester Road, New Barnet, to become the site of a ground-breaking zero waste market selling produce assembled and made from surplus food, flowers, and other recycled materials.

A hunt is on for women, children and former staff who might be able to unlock memories of one of the less publicised roles of 33 Lyonsdown Road, New Barnet, the listed Victorian villa that is under the threat of demolition.

Violinist Charlie Lovell-Jones who is to perform at the opening concert of the inaugural High Barnet Chamber Music Festival in July visited the parish church to familiarise himself with the setting and acoustics.

Electric go-karts and a bouncy castle were just two of the attractions at a free fun evening to attract new recruits to the 1st Barnet Boys' Brigade and Girls' Association.

New Barnet's distinctive - but badly discoloured - war memorial is one of six within the borough which is to be cleaned and restored by Barnet Council.

After having missed out for so long on the thrill of attending live performances a treat is in store with the return this summer of five open-air shows by Theatre in the Park at Oakhill Park, East Barnet.

The future of 33 Lyonsdown Road New Barnet hangs in the balance as the last the property guardians have left the villa. This locally listed building has been threatened with demolition by its owners, Abbeytown Ltd, who unsuccessfully applied to build a five-storey block of flats on the site.

Community action to clean and oil the extra long bench in Church Passage has spurred Barnet Council to act: its street scene department has carried out a power wash of a section of the paving to remove grease and grime left by accumulated food stains.

Celebrations to mark this year's 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet will gain added impetus next month with the release by the Royal Mail of eight commemorative stamps illustrating scenes from the Wars of the Roses.

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The  Spring edition of the Barnet Society newsletter is now available to non-members.

 Distributed in paper form by a team of volunteers to all our members, it's a vital insight into life in and around Chipping Barnet. It is also a wealth of interesting and thoughtful local content.

As a society, there's lots of work to do that we try to fit in alongside our jobs, and other interests. We are keen to encourage new generations to join us; making sure we best represent the people who live in our area of

...

April is the most important month in the history of High Barnet station -- the first steam train pulled out on 1 April 1872 and the first tube train left for Charing Cross on 14 April 1940 after the much-delayed extension of Northern Line electrification. 

A memorial service at Hadley Highstone marked the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet -- starting a year of commemorative events which all being well will include a return in September of the highly successful Barnet Medieval Festival.

A band of volunteers spent the afternoon scrubbing down High Barnet's most popular street art fixture -- the long teak bench that extends for much of the length of Church Passage and provides a welcome resting place for one and all.

Land Registry documents hold the answer to at least some of the mystery surrounding the ownership and future of High Barnet's vacant market site: the land is now owned by Aberdeen City Council which purchased the site for £4 million in April 2019.

Barnet High Street is once again resplendent with heraldic banners from the Wars of the Roses -- just one of the many ways in which the local community will be celebrating this year's 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet.

Developers preparing revised proposals for tower blocks of flats on the former gas works site in New Barnet say they have "learned lessons" from their previous failure to get planning approval.

Resident guardians who are having to leave a Victorian mansion in New Barnet that has been their home for the last five years fear for the safety of the building while a planning dispute drags on.

Critical questions about the future of the town centre will have to be addressed by Barnet Council if plans go ahead to replace much of the Spires with blocks of flats.

A socially distanced service, the chiming of the parish church bell and a minute's silence marked the centenary of Chipping Barnet war memorial.

The Spires shopping centre in Barnet High Street is up for sale for £25 million and the agents are promoting the option of a new owner possibly replacing some of the shops with several five-storey blocks of flats.

After being roundly refused planning permission last year and failing to get the support of the Mayor of London, developers are again inviting residents to offer ideas and opinions on fresh proposals for a massive housing scheme on the New Barnet gas works site.

Winning a national award is another accolade for Barnet calligrapher Gwyneth Hibbett whose skills are on display on five historic information boards which have been installed in the High Street by Barnet Museum.

After a High Court ruling that College Farm, Finchley, should remain an agricultural tenancy, a fresh campaign has been launched to see if the farm can be re-stocked and re-opened to the public.

Barnet Council is under renewed pressure to carry out a full survey of repairs required to restore the dis-used Tudor Park cricket pavilion in New Barnet.

A report into the four-year project to discover the site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet explains why a team of military historians still cannot provide answers to the mystery surrounding the precise location of an epic confrontation during the Wars of the Roses.

The Bull Players' performance of Fog of War -- their contribution to the commemorations to mark the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet -- is to be staged in mid-September in the historic setting of the garden of Monken Hadley church.

A commemorative booklet has been published by Barnet Museum and Local History Society to mark the 100th anniversary of the erection of the Chipping Barnet war memorial. 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has decided not to overrule Barnet Council in the dispute over plans to redevelop the Whalebones fields and woodland with the construction of 152 new homes.

Cleaning and repairs to Hadley Highstone herald the start of what promises to be a year of events to mark the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet which will include the return in September of the Barnet Medieval Festival.

Gladsmuir pond, a much-loved feature of Monken Hadley Common, is being recolonised by smooth and great crested newts which are returning following their winter hibernation in the nearby woods and grassland. 

Contractors laying a new water main across Monken Hadley Common have started the most delicate part of the work -- constructing a 17-metre long tunnel under the historic arched gateway along the footpath that leads to King George's Field.

Music lovers are in for a post-pandemic treat: plans are well advanced for a series of concerts at Barnet parish church in early July aimed to take advantage of a possible easing of lockdown.

Research by a local historian provides a fascinating insight into the occupations and everyday life over a century ago among the several hundred families who lived in a respectable working-class enclave close to Barnet town centre.

Our teenagers and young adults could be among the greatest casualties of Covid-19. The Plan must offer them something, whether work experience or youth-focused leisure attractions.

 

PVC plastic advertising signs hung from lampposts -- including possibly along the full length of Barnet High Street -- might become a new way of generating income for Barnet Council.

The town centre must become more child-friendly. Only if families have reasons to come here that appeal to their children, not just to parents’ need to work or shop, will it become important in their lives.

Barnet Council's Planning Committee A has agreed unanimously to reject an application to demolish 33 Lyonsdown Road in New Barnet and to replace it with a block of 20 flats.

Something Green

Barnet has precious green open spaces, mature woodlands, streams and wetlands. Last year brought home what we stand to lose with climate change and bad building development. Surely this is the moment to invest in green initiatives.

33 lyonsdown

One of New Barnet’s earliest buildings is facing the threat of demolition despite having been placed on Barnet Council’s Local Heritage List only last year. We urge the Council to reject the planning application and protect it for future generations.

Something Old

Barnet’s identity is founded on its distinctive history and building heritage. We must do something to draw the attention of more residents and potential visitors and investors to our existing assets.

Something New

NEW – What an amazing and exciting word, full of hope and invigoration, isn’t that exactly just what we all need right now! NEW investment, NEWly recreated, NEW experience.

The Council is consulting on a Community Plan to help regenerate the High Street area. This is your chance to have a say. The Barnet Society offers some guidance.

Bringing to life the daily toll of women working in a medieval kitchen is at the heart of a new play that depicts mounting tension as local inhabitants readied themselves for the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

Winter tree planting is in full swing in Barnet's green spaces and in the surroudning green belt. A new hawthorn hedge has been extended on Barnet Hill.To the north-east of Trent Park, 50,000 young trees are being planted to help restore Enfield Chase. Across the borough, Barnet Council has planted over 700 trees during the last 12 months on roadside pavements and verges.

Barnet Council’s environment committee is examining the feasibility of using small parks and green spaces across the Borough of Barnet as possible sites for installing solar panels or electricity storage units for renewable energy.

News of the plan – which could result in reduced public access -- has met with an angry response from residents and conservationists.

Champions of Barnet's history, heritage and culture are determined to ensure that town does all it can -- despite covid.19 restrictions -- to commemorate the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Barnet.

swans

People walking across the Shire London golf course during lockdown are being urged to act responsibly after repeated reports of swans and geese being harassed by dogs running off the lead.

community plan

The Plan is out for online public consultation until 19 February. You’re invited to comment on the key principles of the plan, and to choose five project ideas for further development.

Barnet census

Family historians keen to research the lives of people living in Barnet in the 1920s have only twelve months to wait before the release of the much-anticipated 1921 census and its wealth of information about life in the aftermath of the First World War.

botannika

Just as the New Year lockdown was announced, the proprietors of High Barnet's newest brasserie, Botannika, went ahead with their planned opening -- offering a take-away menu and a range of bread and cakes.

monken mead 2

In 2020 the Barnet Society celebrated 75 years since its foundation. But our founders would be shocked at how their neighbourhood has altered.

North London Coroner's  Court

Barnet’s former town hall, opposite St John’s Church, provides a positive reminder of the imaginative uses which can be found for redundant municipal property. This iconic building has now completed three years as the home of the North London Coroner’s Court and its future seems assured.

New frontage for Barnet Museum

Barnet Museum has been fighting for its life since December 2010 when the Council announced that it would be withdrawing its funding.

The Black Horse

Like so much of the rest of the country High Barnet is losing its historic public houses at an alarming rate. The Black Horse at the junction of Wood Street and Union Street is the latest to boarded up but Punch Taverns say the closure is only temporary and the company’s “priority is to reopen the pub as soon as possible.”

Church Passage

Some long-awaited summer sunshine in late July provided the final seal of approval for Barnet’s town centre uplift and the newly-created meeting and seating area beside St John’s Church.  Instead of a line of forbidding holly bushes there are now new walkways and benches, sweet smelling lavender in freshly formed flower beds, and an attractive beech hedge to provide some privacy.

Cat Hill proposal

A major planning application for the redevelopment of the former Middlesex University campus at Cat Hill in New Barnet was rejected by Enfield Council in March 2012.

Union Street School

An exhibition was held in mid-January to show plans for the proposed redevelopment of St Martha's Convent Junior School on Union Street prior to a planning application being made.

Redevelopment plans

Noah’s Ark Childrens’ Hospice has received planning consent for reserved matters for their proposed redevelopment of Barnet Countryside Centre (the former Curriculum Centre) in Byng Road.

Barnet Court House

In 2011 an application to demolish the Barnet Court House and replace it with a modern block of flats was refused by the Council and that decision was subsequently upheld at appeal.

View from Church  Tower

People have again been enjoying the view from the top the tower of our parish church, St John the Baptist.

Sites along Barnet Lane

The constitution of The Barnet Society requires us to seek to protect the Green Belt around Chipping Barnet. Indeed that was the Society’s founding purpose.

Dollis Valley Proposal

Proposals for the phased redevelopment of the Dollis Valley estate are advancing.  The overall development will be in five phases, spread over a period of about five years.  There will eventually be approximately 630 new homes of which some 390 will be for sale, including intermediate sale, and at least 230 rented.

Barnet Xmas Fayre stalls

The Fayre on the first weekend in December was a very good event this year – despite the weather being bitterly cold – with many people getting out and enjoying all that was on offer.

The Barnet Society has made representations to Barnet Council over the latest stage of the Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework (LDF).

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 Street at the top of Barnet Hill over a year ago and the new Barnet College having opened last September, the Council have made very little progress on the proposals.

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 use and the other for use as a car park on non-market days.  The scandalously-neglected site will be due for a new surface, storage and welfare facilities for stallholders.