News from The Barnet Society

Customers were welcomed back in Barnet High Street and the Spires shopping centre on the first day of the easing of lockdown restrictions on shopping. Most of the leading chains were open for business.

Last month the Barnet Society launched an email consultation of its members about the current planning application to build 652 flats in the Victoria Quarter. 100% of our respondents so far are opposed to it. This would be the biggest development in the environs of Chipping Barnet for over half a century.

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus lockdown at the end of March, High Barnet's stalls market is back in business, leading the way for the re-opening of shops in the Spires shopping centre on Monday 15 June.

Barnet Gate Wood is one of Chipping Barnet’s extraordinary but under-visited green assets – and if you go now you’ll find an incredible froth of purple rhododendron bloom.  Barnet Gate Wood is an ancient wood in Arkley, just south of Barnet Road and west of Hendon Wood Lane.

Transport for London's plan to extend the route of the 384 Cockfosters to High Barnet bus service to Edgware, via Arkley and Mill Hill (Apex Corner), is meeting strong opposition because it would take a more direct route and serve far fewer streets.

Swifts have again been seen swooping and squealing high overhead in High Barnet -- aerial summer visitors that are an especially welcome sight in Fitzjohn Avenue where at least two pairs are thought to have chosen sites for nests.

After almost a year's trial and error, local sculptor John Somerville finally feels ready to display his clay model of High Barnet's feline celebrity, Millie the Waitrose Cat, before she is cast into a small bronze statue.

Neve Mayes,star trumpet player at Dame Alice Owen's School, marked the start and finish of the Victory in Europe Day two minute silence for residents in Fitzjohn Avenue, with her mother making sure the timings were correct.

Church services streamed live online have become a regular Sunday morning point of contact for worshippers staying at home under lockdown. Christ Church, High Barnet, is trying to widen its reach by inviting the public to post requests for prayers.

A pub on wheels offering a freshly pulled pint of stout delivered straight to the door is proving to be a popular lockdown innovation for a High Barnet landlord.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.