A plan to deposit landfill on the golf course that takes in part of the site of the Battle of Barnet has alarmed the Battlefields Trust.
Old Fold Manor Golf Club at Monken Hadley is drawing up proposals to re-landscape the 900 yard stretch of the course which runs parallel to the St Albans Road.
Several thousand properties in and around High Barnet’s conservation area have been left without any clear explanation from British Telecom as to when – if ever – their premises will get a superfast broadband connection.
Six months ago planning rules were relaxed to speed up the installation of new high-speed optical fibre broadband cabinets, but British Telecom is still telling customers that it can offer no precise timescale because of “delays agreeing cabinet locations with your local council”.
Old and new photographs of local buildings and views have been brought together in Barnet Then and Now, a new book on the local history and topography of what is now the London Borough of Barnet.
After a lengthy closure the Old Court House recreation ground has a functioning café once again.
A new tenant has reopened the business after a major refurbishment and is hoping that High Barnet will embrace the café culture that has proved so popular at Trent Park in Cockfosters and at Oak Hill Park in East Barnet.
In recent years visitors to the children’s playground, which is such a well-loved attraction at the Old Court House park, have looked in vain when hoping to purchase refreshments.
The café had presented a sorry sight, and the enclosed garden that surrounds it, was neglected and overgrown
….hoping that High Barnet will embrace the café culture that has proved so popular in other locations…
Opening 26th OctoberNow the building has been refitted, the lawns cut and the new proprietor Ms Sophia Tufail is hoping to install additional decking to extend the outside seating area.
Her long-term plans for the café include the possibility of obtaining a licence to stage outdoor events such as the occasional hire of a bouncy castle for children or perhaps small concerts in the summer months.
If planning permission can be obtained, and Barnet Council offers support, the café might be extended to include toilets for use by the public as well as customers.
Ms Tufail said that she hoped it might be possible eventually to follow the example of the Oak Hill Park café and obtain a licence to serve alcoholic drinks with meals.
The refurbished café will be officially opened by the Mayoress of Barnet Councillor Wendy Prentice on Saturday 26 October.
An application is to be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund to see if it would agree to pay for an archaeological dig to try to locate the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet.
Glenn Foard, a landscape archaeologist who led the survey to determine the location of the Battle of Bosworth, would carry out the excavation on behalf of the Battlefields Trust.
Continue reading Archaeologists to find real site of Battle of Barnet
Whitings Hill is hardly likely to rival New England in the fall, but two plantations planted almost 20 years ago by the Barnet Society are now resplendent with mature trees and are presenting a vibrant display of autumn colours.
Tucked away between Quinta Drive and Mays Lane, the Whitings Hill open space might be unfamiliar to many High Barnet residents, but it is a tranquil setting and a walk to the top of the hill is highly recommended.
After a seven-week absence Barnet Market is about to return to its original site which has now been resurfaced and smartened up after a £100,000 improvement scheme.
Traders hope the first Saturday market – on 9 November – on what in years gone by was Barnet’s cattle market is the end of six years’ disruption.
Continue reading Barnet’s historic charter market back in its traditional setting
Rarely has the presence of a mechanical digger been welcomed with such enthusiasm as greeted its arrival on the site of Barnet Market, heralding the start of a long-promised and much-delayed resurfacing and improvement.
Seeing contractors working on the site after so much disappointment in the past was in itself a “terrific victory”, says Chris Smith of the Friends of Barnet Market, who has campaigned so energetically on behalf of both stallholders and shoppers.
Continue reading “Terrific victory” for Friends of Barnet Market
As part of the preparations to deliver Barnet’s new waste and recycling service, Barnet Council will be training all waste service collection staff in the week beginning the 7 October. A Press Release from Barnet Council stated today.
This means that residents will not have their recycling collected during this week while staff members get prepared for the new recycling service which starts on the 14 October.
While work is underway resurfacing Barnet Market, its temporary home is the area around the bandstand outside Waitrose supermarket at the Spires shopping centre.
Shoppers visiting the market on Saturday morning (21.9.2013) were handed leaflets announcing that at last the William Pears property group is to start its £100,000 upgrade of the site.
While work is under way resurfacing Barnet Market its temporary home will be the area around the bandstand outside the Waitrose supermarket at the Spires shopping centre.
hoppers visiting the market on Saturday morning (21.9.2013) were handed leaflets announcing that at last the William Pears property group is to start its £100,000 upgrade of the site.
A road realignment, a possible new zebra crossing and extra footpaths are being proposed at the junction of Wellhouse Lane and Wood Street to provide greater safety for both vehicles and pedestrians.
A bus terminus outside Barnet General Hospital for the 263 route – and also most recently for the 307 – has led to an even greater flow of traffic along Wellhouse Lane, and its junction with Wood Street, already busy with ambulances, has become increasingly hazardous for pedestrians including hospital outpatients and pupils at Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School.
Continue reading Road improvements planned at Wood Street accident black spot
Barnet residents are about to face what looks like becoming a game of musical chairs among the wheelie bins and containers which proliferate in the frontages of houses and flats across the borough.
Out go the black and blue recycling boxes . . . to be replaced as from October 14 by a blue wheelie bin for all recyclable material.
Continue reading Barnet’s multiplying wheelie bins…black, green and now blue
Reorganise chaotic approach to High Barnet tube station to provide space for a bus service direct to the Spires and Barnet Hospital – plea by the Barnet Society.
Transport for London is being urged by the Barnet Society to carry out a full investigation into the possibility of running a bus service from High Barnet tube station to the Spires shopping centre and then on to Barnet General Hospital.
The council is proposing to change the way that decisions are taken and introduce a Committee System form of governance. Barnet are currently operating an Executive System of governance.
Under this system, the majority of decisions in the council are taken by the single-party Executive (or Cabinet) either in the Cabinet meeting or by individual Cabinet Members.
After a rising chorus of protest from local community and residential groups, Barnet Council has finally issued an enforcement notice requiring the removal of timber cladding to the frontage of a former cafe and shop in Church Passage, just off the High Street.
Continue reading Council enforcement notice on ‘Swiss Chalet’
After having originally threatened to appeal against a High Court ruling that it had acted unlawfully in doubling charges in controlled parking zones, Barnet Council has now agreed to make refunds and take no further legal action.
Continue reading Barnet Council finally backs down after High Court defeat
A successful petition has helped to stop Barnet Council from appealing against the High Court ruling on controlled parking zones.
Continue reading Clamped! how petition spurred council to give up fight
High Barnet’s most popular children’s playground in the Old Court House recreation ground could become even more inviting if a new tenant can be found for the vacant park café.
Continue reading Sad café: Old Court House park in need of refreshment
For well over 60 years the Victoria Maternity Hospital served the people of the Barnets, but today there is scant recognition of the vital role it once played in the area.
Continue reading Know any famous people born in Barnet’s maternity hospital?
Footpath closure affecting ‘Rambles Round Barnet’ Part 1.
Update to infomation.
Barnet Market’s improved site should be open for business by September, ready to attract new stall holders.
Continue reading Barnet Market improvements ready by September
The Spires’ new owner wants to create a more ‘enticing’ entrance from the High Street that would attract more shoppers – and that may include the removal of the twin spires.
Continue reading The Spires shopping centre: will the twin spires have to go?
Resurfacing the site of Barnet market and installing basic facilities for the stallholders is the first test of the William Pears Group, new owners of the Spires shopping centre.
Continue reading Barnet market: now it’s up to Spires’ new owners to deliver
High Barnet residents have been invited to come up with ideas to use the facilities at the Wood Street campus of Barnet and Southgate College, which was rebuilt two years ago at a cost of £48 million.
Continue reading Barnet and Southgate College: ‘Our doors are open’
In the two years since the Barnet Society began protesting about derelict NHS buildings nothing has changed. The abandoned Marie Foster Home in Wood Street is still an eyesore, and so is the fire-ravaged former nurses’ home at Arkley.
Continue reading Barnet’s derelict NHS buildings: Same tired excuses
A donation of £750,000 will enable work to start this summer on the construction of a new eco-friendly environment centre for Barnet and the site clearance needed for the new Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice.
Continue reading Go ahead for Barnet environment centre rebuild
North London’s much-troubled plan for handling municipal rubbish and waste is out for consultations once again.
Barnet Society publication ‘Rambles Round Barnet’ is the no 1 local best-seller at Waterstones Barnet!
A fresh start for retailing in Chipping Barnet: the Spires shopping centre has been purchased by the William Pears Group, one of Britain’s biggest privately-owned property groups which keeps a low profile but has its roots in north London. Contracts have been exchanged and the sale of the shopping centre by UBS Triton is due to be completed by late April.
Why not become a member? Receive our latest newsletter hot off the press four times a year, and support our work with a membership.
If you have some local news, history or want to bring something to our attention please email us.
Lucy Bridgers posted a comment on Pub of the year award regained by The Mitre as Barnet’s real ale enthusiasts voice concern over closures in neighbouring Enfield
Dougie posted a comment on With a decision likely within weeks, BringBarnetBack step up their campaign for Barnet Football Club to return to Underhill
Michael Griffin posted a comment on Pub of the year award regained by The Mitre as Barnet’s real ale enthusiasts voice concern over closures in neighbouring Enfield
Anne Stern posted a comment on Plain clothes police proving more effective in tackling Barnet’s shoplifting and drug users than uniform patrols in High Street