New Barnet’s new leisure centre and library – complete with a 25 metre six-lane swimming pool and a state-of-the-art gym – was opened by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Caroline Stock
New centre for swimming and keep fit
Author: Nick Jones
School farm at Totteridge Academy
A school and community farm in a six-acre field next to Totteridge Academy is a step closer to being established after the success of a fund-raising appeal.
Design of quality proposed for Whalebones – so why does the Barnet Society oppose it?
A planning application (19/3949/FUL) has been submitted to build 152 new homes and a replacement artists’ and bee-keepers’ studio on the Whalebones site.
Plans for attracting High Street shoppers and visitors
Construction work has started on the pavement build outs in Barnet High Street – an improvement which community groups have campaigned for and which could be backed up by other measures proposed in Barnet Council’s draft growth strategy plan for the borough.
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Classic car show with a view
Barnet’s annual classic car show has a new venue this year – the vast open top deck of the NCP car park at the Spires shopping centre.
Eyesore on point of demolition
High Barnet’s long-standing blot on the landscape, the derelict nurses’ home on the Marie Foster Centre site, is finally about to be demolished.
Boosting High Barnet’s bat population
Barnet Environment Centre is planning to install three bat boxes to help increase the biodiversity of the Byng Road nature reserve.
Barnet’s knife bin for saving lives
A large bin for the safe disposal of all bladed weapons and instruments has been installed in Union Street, High Barnet, in support of the drive to curb the rise in knife crime.
Healthy walks exploring Barnet’s historical heritage
Councillor Caroline Stock, Mayor of Barnet – and the borough’s wellbeing champion – launched the first of six healthy heritage walks which are being promoted by the council to encourage exercise and an interest in historic points of interest.
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High Barnet SOS: Save Our Swifts
Swifts swooping and squealing high overhead have always been a regular sight in parts of High Barnet, but some local ornithologists fear these summer visitors are diminishing in numbers because of a lack of suitable nesting places.
Hadley Woodland Bathing
It’s 6pm on a Friday evening, the week has been a challenge, I’m tired and looking forward to the calm of the weekend and my wife asks if I would like to go for a walk in the woods.
Proposed Playing Fields Hubs are serious threat to green belt
The Council’s proposed master plan for Barnet and King George V Playing Fields, and especially its building on Barnet Playing Fields, would be a gross intrusion into the Green Belt.
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A new Act of Parliament needed to safeguard Hadley Common
Hadley Common, thought to be the seventh largest stretch of common land in Greater London, might soon be freed from archaic legal constraints that date back over 250 years to the reign of George III.
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Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice to offer state-of-the-art care
After years of fund raising, office and care staff have moved into The Ark – the new, purpose-built home of the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice which is rapidly nearing completion at the Byng Road nature reserve.
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Stop Barnet Council From Gagging Residents
The Barnet Society invites you to sign the Change.org petition below. Although the subject may seem outside our normal area of interest, it is important that we should be able to voice our concerns fully to the Council when necessary.
Kick starting High Barnet’s budding entrepreneurs
Business advice, digital training, even possible mentoring, were all on offer at the first Barnet Business Expo which attracted a wide range of potential entrepreneurs anxious for guidance on how to start up on their own.
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Residents criticise “inhuman” conversion to studio flats
A plan to convert a three-storey commercial warehouse in Moxon Street, High Barnet, into a complex of 107 self-contained studio flats has attracted a flood of hostile criticism from neighbours and nearby residents.
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A fond farewell from generations of loyal customers
Customers queuing out into the street, a free donut with every purchase and champagne for the staff – a great finale for the last day of trading at Victoria Bakery, a High Barnet institution for the last 50 years.
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“Tenacity” of local publican helps other landlords
High Barnet publican Gary Murphy, landlord of The Mitre for the last ten years, has won a significant victory over the Pubs Code Adjudicator that he hopes will ease the financial difficulties facing many of the 15,000 landlords in England and Wales.
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Residents oppose tube station flats
Well over 100 residents attended a meeting at St Mark’s Church to launch a campaign to oppose Transport for London’s plans to build up to seven blocks of flats providing 450 new homes on land around High Barnet tube station.
New housing planned for High Barnet tube station
Transport for London has commissioned plans for the construction of over 450 new homes on land around High Barnet underground station.
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Barnet is now London’s go-to medieval festival
Barnet’s second medieval festival proved such a success that the organisers are confident they have laid the foundations for an annual event that could become London’s top attraction for Wars of the Roses military re-enactors and enthusiasts.
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Closure of historic Barnet bakery
Victoria Bakery, a High Barnet institution for well over half a century, is closing down after the retirement of its owner James Freeman, a fifth-generation baker.
High density housing for High Barnet station?
According to a circular being distributed around Chipping Barnet, proposals are being developed to ‘improve’ the area around High Barnet station. These will include new public space and new homes, including affordable homes.
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Battle painting unveiled at Spires’ celebration
A new oil painting depicting the 1471 Battle of Barnet by local painter Keith West was unveiled in the Barnet Museum shop in the Spires – one of the events being held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of High Barnet’s shopping centre.
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Surplus flowers don’t go to waste
A pioneering New Barnet project for re-using supermarket flowers that have passed their sell-by dates is hoping to secure Lottery funding to expand its work teaching flower arranging to young offenders and residents at care homes.
Heraldic banners promoting Barnet Medieval Festival
Wars of the Roses heraldic banners, which are on display the full length of Barnet High Street, will provide a spectacular welcome for visitors to the second Barnet Medieval Festival to be held over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, June 8 and 9.
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Monken Hadley road closure
Motorists face a ten-week closure of the road through the historic gates at Monken Hadley in order to allow Thames Water to carry out much-delayed repair work to a sewer that collapsed earlier this year.
Barnet gift shop scoops up top prize
After 18 years of hard graft building up custom for her Barnet High Street gift shop, former actress Louise Rolfe has won a top accolade for highly rated independent retailers.
Farming experience for Totteridge Academy
A school farm to be established in a 5.8 acre-field next to Totteridge Academy, in Barnet Lane, is to start off with a mini flock of Shetland sheep and several beehives.
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