Professional singer Iain Mackenzie with his daughter Poppy lead a community sing song which has become part of the regular Thursday night clap for NHS workers held by residents of Carnarvon Road, High Barnet. Each week during the 8pm Thursday clap sisters Lois and Maggie stand with their parents outside Barnet Hospital waving their rainbow posters in support of medical staff tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading Imaginative community support for Barnet Hospital staff
High Barnet publican Gary Murphy, licensee of the Mitre, has gone viral in a campaign to force pub owners to back down and agree to a rent holiday while the coronavirus lockdown continues.
After attracting over 400,000 views of his tweet, #norentnopub, he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s programme You and Yours, was interviewed by the Daily Telegraph and then featured on BBC tv’s London News..
Continue reading Twitter boosts Mitre landlord’s plea to help pubs survive
Protective wooden boarding has been installed across the art deco windows of the Barnet Everyman — a sure sign that a trip to the cinema is out of the question for weeks, if not months to come.
At the front of the building, in place of the daily programme of films, there is a bold message of praise for front line staff tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
“Barnet Hospital and local key workers: You are amazing.”
Less than six months after its official opening the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in Byng Road, Barnet, is facing a financial crisis following a dramatic collapse in donations due to the cancellation of fund-raising events and activities during the coronavirus lockdown.
Hospices across the country are reporting a catastrophic drop in income. Noah’s Ark is facing a shortfall of more than £2 million, more than half its annual target of £3.5 million obtained through gifts and donations.
Continue reading Noah’s Ark plea for urgent lockdown fund raising
High Barnet volunteers who love to sew are joining the nationwide effort to produce protective clothing for hospital and care home staff tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Scrubs — the pyjama-style clothes worn by medics — face masks and laundry bags are among the items being sent to a hub in Kentish Town which then offers additional supplies to hospitals, care homes and hospices across north and north-west London.
Continue reading Sewing enthusiasts helping the NHS fight coronavirus
High Barnet publican Gary Murphy, licensee of the Mitre, is at the forefront of a campaign by landlords to force pub owners to back down and agree to a rent freeze while the coronavirus lockdown continues.
Greene King charge Mr Murphy £8,000 a month in rent. Unless it is suspended, he fears that he and other landlords will end up thousands of pounds in debt.
Continue reading High Street landlord backs demand for rent freeze for pubs
Specialist shops along Barnet High Street — as well as numerous take-away food outlets — are determined to try to continue trading in the wake of the continuing lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
Three niche businesses — Hopscotch (sweets, loose tea and cake-making supplies), The Present (gifts and homeware) and Wanders Shoes — are mong the latest to offer collection and delivery services in response to telephone and online orders.
Continue reading Home deliveries offer lifeline to High Street traders
Locked and taped-off playgrounds are a poignant reminder of the impact that the coronavirus self-distancing restrictions are having on the opportunities for children to exercise and enjoy themselves.
High Barnet’s most popular parks and playing fields, including Ravenscroft Park, the Old Courthouse Recreation Ground, Byng Road playing fields and of course Hadley Green and Hadley Common, are all open and are being well used.
Continue reading Life in Barnet under lockdown: children losing out
Cultivating an allotment is one of the few outdoor activities that is still permitted during the coronavirus lockdown and thanks to the current run of fine, dry weather Barnet’s plots have never been busier or looked in better shape.
Strict rules on self-discipling and site hygeine apply and allotment holders are literally keeping themselves poles apart.
Continue reading Strict self-distancing and safety rules at Barnet’s allotments
Barnet householders and families were out in force to join the second nationwide Thursday evening clap for carers in support of NHS workers treating patients during the coronavirus pandemic.
The turnout was especially strong in the streets around Barnet Hospital — part of the Royal Free Hospital Foundation — where residents clapped on the doorsteps, blew whistles, banged saucepans and even at one house played a trumpet.
Continue reading Barnet Hospital staff get rousing round of applause
There could hardly be a more opportune moment for a determined push to host new productions and attractions at the Bull Theatre in the hope they might appeal to audiences in High Barnet and widen public support.
In view of the nationwide theatre shutdown imposed by the coronavirus crisis, numerous events will have to be rescheduled and organisers are being reminded that there is an ideal town centre location available for hire.
Continue reading Advice wanted on widening the Bull Theatre’s repertoire
After feedback from a public exhibition in January, the Victoria Quarter housing development on the former gas works site in New Barnet has been scaled back slightly by lowering the height of the proposed blocks of flats and by making a small reduction in the number of new homes.
A 14-storey tower block has been cut to ten storeys and most of the blocks will now be seven storeys high instead of eight.
Planting trees on Barnet Hill has been one of the great achievements of the Barnet Society — and it is still work in progress with a row of Hawthorn being the lastest.
A working party succeeded — a few weeks before the introduction of coronavirus restrictions — in planting a total of 50 Hawthorn whips with stakes and protective shields along the boundary fence of the Vale Drive clinic.
Barnet’s highly successful medieval festival, due to have been staged during the last weekend in May, is just one of the many local events that are having to be postponed or cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis.
Organisers have rescheduled this year’s festival from its original date of May 30-31 to the weekend of September 19-20.
Only around 20 shops and retail outlets are still open for business along the entire length of Barnet High Street during the second week of the tightening squeeze being imposed by the coronavirus lockdown.
Shoppers are few and far between and the only other sign of activity has been two workmen — complete with face masks, and at a safe distance — adding the final touches to the pavement widening.
Continue reading Shutters down and closed shop doors in Barnet High Street
A massive pile of rubble, beams and planks was all that was left of Barnet’s blot of the landscape – the derelict nurses’ home for the former Victoria Maternity Hospital in Wood Street.
Hadley Football Club, which is aiming to become a regular home attraction for many more Barnet football fans, faces two critical New Year fixtures in its bid to gain promotion to the next level of the National Football League.
Continue reading Top-of-the-table fixture for Hadley Football Club
A triptych featuring Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst – which was on display at the Barnet Guild of Artists’ annual exhibition – has pride of place in the entrance to the Reel cinema in Boreham Wood.
An appeal to provide a Christmas present for children living in poverty across the Borough of Barnet is hoping to distribute well over 300 parcels each containing a gift.
Continue reading Barnet’s Secret Santa appeal for children in need
A new leaflet has been published that brings together all the contact details and opening times for urgent medical attention and hospital care that will be available across the Borough of Barnet during the Christmas and New Year holiday.
Continue reading Medical care and advice over festive season
Fraud officers from Barnet Council have conducted a sweep of cars parked in Barnet High Street and surrounding roads as part of a stepped-up campaign to detect fraudulent use of disabled blue badges.
Theresa Villiers, Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet since 2005, has been returned to the House of Commons with a slightly increased majority after a closely fought general election contest against Labour candidate, Emma Whysall.
Plans for the station land have been scaled back, as Nick Jones reported on 7 November. But unless more radical improvements are made, the Barnet Society will oppose them.
Continue reading High Barnet Station – our response to the revised proposals
The fate of the car park at High Barnet tube station and a critical shortage of general practitioners across the borough were two local issues – in addition to Brexit and climate change – that produced lively exchanges at the Chipping Barnet constituency election hustings.
An ambitious and imaginative portrayal of local history delighted packed audiences at a Son et Lumiere held at Monken Hadley to celebrate the 525th anniversary of the parish church of St Mary the Virgin.
Continue reading Monken Hadley celebrates its role in Barnet history
Deciding to close Barnet High Street for the annual Christmas fair was an inspired initiative that has paid handsome dividends in sustaining a great community spirit says the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock.
Continue reading Praise for Christmas fair in traffic free High Street
Motorists tooted their horns and pedestrians waved back when children at Underhill School held up their “Save Our Planet” posters all along the school fence in Mays Lane, Barnet.
Continue reading Children have their say on saving the planet
A ban on the anti-social drinking of alcohol in Barnet High Street and other public spaces around the town centre took effect at the beginning of November.
Continue reading Order to curb street drinkers in High Barnet
High Barnet’s feline celebrity, Millie the Waitrose cat, might well re-appear early next year – in the shape of a small bronze statue by local sculptor John Somerville.
Continue reading Millie the cat: tough call for local sculptor
A petition has been launched to try to persuade Barnet Council to improve road safety between the Spires shopping centre and Chipping Barnet library by upgrading the pedestrian crossing so that it is controlled by traffic lights.
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