News from The Barnet Society

British Telecom reworks its ever-lasting litany of excuses and is finally being forced to admit to internet customers in High Barnet that it has no intention of honouring a much-repeated undertaking to deliver a high-speed broadband service.

After raising the staggering sum of half a million pounds, work has started on the first phase of an ambitious project to transform what was once Christ Church School into a drop-in facility for the elderly and a centre for the benefit of the wider community.

Tucked away at the end of Leecroft Road, unseen by many local residents, are the Thomas Watson Cottage Homes, which celebrate their centenary this July.  Barnet’s charitable housing for the poor and elderly has a long and distinguished history, and a special place in the local townscape.

Two local history projects connecting Barnet’s past to the present day have been officially unveiled at Barnet Museum as part of its annual Tea in the Park celebration in Courthouse Gardens.

Facelift for the Spires to be finished by the spring ready for Carluccio’s restaurant to open next summer.

Even before the completion of its fitting out, an application has been made for planning permission to almost double the size of a new private hospital which is to open in Moxon Street, High Barnet. Hadley Wood Hospital is due to open shortly and will be owned and managed by a team of local specialist consultants.

Parents of children due to start school from 2016 onwards are being urged to sign a petition to support a campaign to establish a new Church of England free school for High Barnet.

Just imagine the bustle and activity of 1898 when such was the competition in the High Street of Barnet that shoppers had the choice of eleven butchers, including one pork butcher and two poultry dealers! Today only one shop remains, the Butcher’s Hook.

British Telecom has been forced to admit that there will be another lengthy delay in providing a fast broadband service to up to 3,000 High Barnet households.

Around 2,000 boys from across London and the Home Counties are again expected to apply to study at Barnet’s award-winning Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’ School, which has just begun the selection process for the 180 places that will be available in September 2015.

Seventy-five years ago workmen from a local building contractor, W. Foster & Sons, were asked to complete a highly unusual task: they had to restore the unique appearance of one of Chipping Barnet’s oldest residences.

When customer satisfaction is the only protection against the tsunami of change that is sweeping through so many of Britain’s high streets, few Barnet traders can match the long-standing loyalty of local residents for the refreshments served at Dory’s cafe, still going strong and now in the hands of the third generation of an Italian

Underhill stadium, home ground of Barnet Football Club for over a century, is to be sold.  News that the club’s chairman Tony Kleanthous has put the Bees’ former stadium up for sale will be a disappointment for the campaign Back2Barnet that has been fighting to get professional football restored to the town.

Glenn Foard, a celebrated military archaeologist, is to spend a day assessing the prospects for a new bid to obtain funding for an archaeological excavation to determine the precise site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet. An earlier application was rejected by the Heritage Lottery Fund on the grounds that it needed to be better prepared.

Transport for London has turned down a suggestion by the Barnet Society that by slightly extending the final destination of the 34 bus service (Walthamstow Central to Barnet) there could be a reorganisation of bus stops at the top of Barnet Hill and an easing of traffic congestion.

Feasibility study begins on future use of abandoned Marie Foster Home: could it become the site of a new GP surgery for High Barnet?

One of the many vacant frontages along Barnet High Street is about to get a new lease of life as a pop-up shop where aspiring independent traders, artists and voluntary groups can display samples of their work, goods and crafts.

New look for Spires shopping centre: a continental cafe-style culture for Barnet High Street? A computer-generated image released by the Williams Pears property group gives an impression of the proposed new-look entrance to the Spires shopping centre and an outside seating area in front of a new Carluccio’s restaurant.

Barnet Council has promised that a heritage officer will carry out an inspection in Church Passage in the “very near future” in an attempt to resolve continuing disagreement over cladding on the frontage of retail premises in the heart of the High Barnet conservation area.

Barnet Council has almost £150,000 available which could be spent immediately on improving the road junction at the top of Barnet Hill, if only an agreement could be reached on how best to ease traffic congestion and make it safer for pedestrians.