News from The Barnet Society

Since the start of the year police officers in the neighbourhood team for High Barnet and Barnet Vale have spent most of their time in plain clothes targeting persistent offenders including shoplifters and drug dealers and have made a total of 55 arrests.

A concerted police operation targeting shoplifting in Barnet High Street and around the Everyman cinema has resulted in 47 arrests in the last five months – far more than the total number of arrests made during the previous three years.

The UOE Store group which operates a chain of franchised Post Offices around London and the Home Counties – including at Potters Bar and East Finchley -- is to take over the operation of Barnet Post Office.

Planning applications have been approved for changes to several of the iconic buildings at the historic heart of High Barnet’s conservation area. Work is to start in late April on a “makeover” at the town’s oldest coaching inn, The Mitre.

Barnet Post Office is to become a franchise operation along with another 107 crown offices across the country where the Post Office is to cease its own management and staffing. Applications to run these businesses as a franchise are currently being considered. New owners could be in place by the end of September.

Yet another smiling recipient...but the days are numbered at High Barnet’s free book shop which is desperately looking for new premises as it is under notice to leave The Spires shopping centre.

When responding to the debate over the two most controversial development applications to have emerged since he was elected Labour MP for Chipping Barnet seven months ago, Dan Tomlinson is insisting he will maintain his neutrality.

An online directory of shops in Barnet High Street -- together with listings for other traders and businesses in and around the town centre -- has been launched on the Love Barnet website.

The first of eight trees have been planted in the High Street. They are the bitter-sweet culmination of a very long campaign by the Barnet Society and other local organisations.

A Barnet Museum information sign that told the history of the coaching taverns that once lined Barnet High Street was removed within days after Barnet Council’s highways department declared it was a hazard for pedestrians.

Another three telephone boxes with illuminated advertisements are being proposed for Barnet High Street – much to the anger of residents who fear they will add to street clutter just when the pavements are being widened to make it easier for shoppers.

Victoria Bakery, a High Barnet institution for well over half a century, is closing down after the retirement of its owner James Freeman, a fifth-generation baker. Bread was first recorded as being baked at 83 High Street, Barnet, in 1884, and the Freeman family have been baking in north London since the 1820s.

Wars of the Roses heraldic banners, which are on display the full length of Barnet High Street, will provide a spectacular welcome for visitors to the second Barnet Medieval Festival to be held over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, June 8 and 9.

After 18 years of hard graft building up custom for her Barnet High Street gift shop, former actress Louise Rolfe has won a top accolade for highly rated independent retailers.

Yet another change of owner of a Barnet High Street shop with a distinctly checkered history, has evoked memories of the day the premises were destroyed in what become known as the “Great Fire of Barnet” of August 1908.

Injecting fresh life into High Barnet’s distressed High Street is a challenge for retailers, but two women entrepreneurs believe that their offer of a frequently-changing range of craft goods and products is proving popular.

High Barnet’s most precocious feline – Millie, the 17-year-old tabby that has made a name for herself at the Spires shopping centre – is clocking up ever more online fans. After being diagnosed by the vet as having a thyroid problem, Millie is now on medication and back to her usual self.

SaveTheHighStreet.org – which is campaigning to help shopping centres that are facing challenging times – is to hold a series of advice sessions in High Barnet on Wednesday 12 December.

Creating a play area for children combined with space for community activities in the centre of High Barnet is the aim of local resident Joanne Merchant, mother of two small boys.

Barnet Council has backed down from its decision to charge a High Street newsagent an extra £1,800 a year in council tax for having a free-to-use cash machine installed in the shop window.