News from The Barnet Society

Renewed uncertainty about the future of the White Lion on St Albans Road has led to a successful bid to persuade Barnet Council to declare that the pub is a community asset of value to local residents.

Violet Walker, the new head teacher at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, has every justification for her assertion that she felt instantly at home on taking up the head-ship at the start of the new academic year in September.

The purchase by a property company of Barnet’s former British Legion hall at the corner of Moxon Street and Tapster Street has opened up for residential redevelopment another swathe of land immediately to the east of the High Street.

 Two Victorian measuring jugs from a former public house in High Barnet have turned up mysteriously in the archives of St Peter’s Church at Formby on Merseyside.

A set of painted wall tiles revealed during building work at 89 High Street Barnet depict a dairy maid holding her pail, with cows and chickens in the background.

Number 89, the community-run pop-up shop selling local arts and crafts that was in the High Street until a few months ago, has reopened round the corner at 10 Union Street, and now trades under the name room 89.

Teachers, parents and volunteers are hard at work trying to convert an area of neglected woodland into an outdoor classroom for pupils at the Pavilion Study Centre in Meadway, High Barnet.

Some six or seven years ago the Barnet Society was solidly involved in the early public discussion and consultation on this project.

Walkers who have enjoyed following the popular trails featured in the Barnet Society’s Rambles Round Barnet guides are now being offered step-by-step outdoor guidance and narration instructions on an app that is available free on smartphones.

Dr Gillian Gear, who fought a heroic battle to save and maintain Barnet Museum when Barnet Council withdrew its financial support, has died after undergoing treatment for some weeks at Watford General Hospital.

A training weekend for local metal dectorists in a freshly ploughed field off Kitts End Lane has kicked off an archaeological investigation to determine the precise site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471.

Fibre4Barnet, the pressure group set up by Ken Rowland to try to force British Telecom to complete the rollout of high-speed broadband to the whole of High Barnet, says a possible wait of up to two years for further improvements is “totally unacceptable”.

Almost 30 small businesses and workshops with premises on land behind Barnet High Street may have to relocate within months to make way for a massive redevelopment.

After a determined campaign by local residents the “mighty oak” of Whitings Road has been saved from the axe. Barnet Council has approved a tree protection order and, more importantly, has agreed to change its plans for the approach road to a proposed housing development on land next to Whitings Hill Primary School.

Parking Wars on ITV The Barnet Society's campaign for a 30 minute free parking period in the High Street is featured in the latest series is Parking Wars at 8pm on ITV 1 on Thursday 15 September.

“Pineapples, two for a pound!” – father and son David and Tyler Bone have both been shouting out prices for fruit and vegetables at Barnet Market since before they were ten, and together they are carrying on a tradition that was started by David’s father Albert in the 1950s.

After months of campaigning by the Barnet Society, British Telecom have finally given an assurance that it will improve the broadband service in High Barnet by upgrading at least half the cabinets that need to be fibre enabled.

Decorating the High Street with the banners of medieval noblemen might be one of the ways to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Barnet of 1471 if support can be obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Barnet High Street has been bedecked once again with flowering hanging baskets. But please do not be fooled into thinking Barnet Council deserves the credit for adding this splash of colour to the town centre.

Queen Elizabeth I’s charter of 1573 provided for ‘boys and youth’, but it was not until 1888 that Barnet got a school for girls.  Its oldest buildings are not just a gentle monument to a pioneering educational movement, but fine examples of the Arts and Crafts style.