News from The Barnet Society

High Barnet's celebrated road sweeper Dougie Shrubb, who carried on working long after retiring age, has finally called it a day at the age of 71. Fond farewells were the order of the day along the High Street as he emptied bins and cleared up litter for one last time.

A residents' campaign to "Save The Spires" is urging Barnet Council to intervene to provide safeguards about the long-term future of High Barnet's shopping centre amid continuing uncertainty about the financial status of its owners.

The deadline for comments on the planning application to build 114 homes on the field shown above is Tuesday 12 December. Barnet planners have already built them into the draft Local Plan, and we must work on the basis that they are likely to recommend approval of the plans.

Barnet's iconic and historic Tudor Hall -- originally the schoolhouse for the free grammar school granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1573 -- is up for sale and is being advertised by the agents Colliers as an "exceptional investment opportunity".

Barnet's annual Christmas Fayre defied the weather and brightened up a rainy Sunday as crowds thronged the High Street and supported events and attractions at venues around the town centre.

Revealing and then photographing the faces and spaces behind the front doors of shops and traders in and around Barnet High Street became the 2023 project for local resident and photographer Simon Hollins.

Residents of Salisbury Road could hardly believe their eyes when they saw contractors re-installing white lines and parking bays -- the long-promised final task before the re-opening of their road after five miserable weeks of mayhem.

Copies of a picture book which the Princess of Wales donated to High Barnet's newly opened baby bank proved a popular choice once children from needy families started choosing presents at its Christmas pop-up shop.

Original scripts, lyrics and music all bringing to life the rich history of Barnet Fair combined to provide a memorable production of "The Boy I Love" which delighted packed audiences at The Bull Theatre.

Final preparations are being made for the annual Barnet Christmas Fayre on Sunday 3 December which will fill the High Street with over 100 stalls and feature a wide variety of seasonal events and attractions in nearby venues around the town centre.

High Barnet's community dance group D2D -- Dare to Dance -- are one of the groups preparing for a North London dance festival early next year. Generations Dance Day will be open to all ages and abilities with free entry at the artsdepot in North Finchley on Saturday 17 February.

BYM Capital, owners of High Barnet's shopping centre The Spires, have become insolvent. Administrators appointed by the High Court are now in charge of the company.

High Barnet is being asked to nominate its change makers --inspirational figures with local connections whose contributions to society deserve to be highlighted as part of a borough-wide celebration being organised by Create London.

Bugler Alexander Hill sounded the Last Post after wreath laying at the Remembrance Sunday service at the High Barnet war memorial at the parish church of St John the Baptist. Thirty-nine wreaths were laid on behalf of the armed services, Barnet Council and numerous local dignitaries and organisations.

Zimmer frames, crutches and surgical boots left unused in lofts and garages around Barnet are just some of the surplus mobility aids which are being rounded up and sent off to help amputees injured in the war in Ukraine thanks to the efforts of a Friern Barnet pensioner.

A government U-turn on plans for the closure of railway ticket offices across England will come as a relief to passengers, especially the elderly and the disabled, who use stations around High Barnet on the Great Northern Railway and Thameslink lines.

Concern is growing that – nearly a month after a major planning application for 114 homes on the Whalebones fields was submitted – neighbours have yet to be formally notified by the Council. Barnet residents have until only until Tuesday 14 November to look at the plans and make their own comments, for or against.

If a fund-raising campaign is successful, there will be more of a carnival like atmosphere at this year's Barnet Christmas Fayre to be held on Sunday 3 December with professional entertainers hopefully welcoming visitors as they walk up and down the High Street.

High Barnet's Byng Road allotments celebrate their 85th anniversary next year -- and for 66 of those years Peter Morris has been tending his plot with the same determination and enthusiasm as when he started out as a teenager.

The Victoria Quarter illustrates – barely believably – the extraordinary lengths to which some developers go these days to cram housing onto their sites.