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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

IMG 0017

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

33 apr2022

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

bs spring thumb2

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.”

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.

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.