Plans for a five-storey block of flats and a three-storey office block are the main features of an extensive residential and commercial redevelopment that will reshape the townscape behind shops in Barnet High Street.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If permission is granted to demolish the empty After Office Hours bar next to the Bull Theatre, the Barnet Society says there must be stringent planning conditions, and time for a proper archaeological investigation.
A campaign to save what has been dubbed the “mighty oak” of Whitings Road has made significant progress.
Two High Street premises will be extended to include flats if planning permission can be obtained from Barnet Council – and both applications have already sparked controversy.
You’d think that planning controls in the Green Belt and Conservation Areas would be stricter than elsewhere. No longer.
A yellow ribbon is tied around the trunk, and the words “save me” have been sprayed onto the bark of a healthy 100-year old oak tree which Barnet Council intends to cut down as part of a housing scheme in Whitings Road.
When work starts in October on a survey and excavation to find the site of the Battle of Barnet of 1471, local residents and schoolchildren will have their chance to play a part in the great upsurge in interest in medieval history that has occurred since the discovery of King Richard III’s remains in a Leicester car park.
Continue reading New finds may throw light on Barnet’s history
Barnet High Street is once again bedecked with flowering hanging baskets – their arrival was delayed by the late spring and they are still in need of some more warm weather!
Barnet Football Club’s vacant stadium at Underhill is to be demolished to make way for a proposed new free school – Ark Pioneer Academy – that would eventually accommodate more than 1,800 pupils.
Continue reading Underhill stadium: site for new six-form-entry academy school
Work could start as early as January next year on High Barnet’s largest housing development since the opening of the Dollis Valley estate. If planning permission is obtained, Linden Homes plan to construct over 100 new homes on the vacant Elmbank site that extends from Barnet Road, Arkley, almost to Barnet Hospital.
Barnet Council has been accused by supporters of the Campaign for Real Ale of acting in an underhand way in rejecting an application to grant community asset protection to the now closed Old Red Lion public house at the bottom of Barnet Hill.
Six candidates have been nominated for the Chipping Barnet constituency in the general election on Thursday 7 May – a seat currently held by Theresa Villiers, who has been the Conservative MP for the constituency since 2005.
Barnet Council is being urged by the Campaign for Real Ale to prevent the demolition of the Old Red Lion public house, at the bottom of Barnet Hill, by declaring it a community asset for the use of local residents.
A group of feisty women, happy to be renowned for their stubbornness, gathered in Union Street, Barnet, for a ceremony marking the start of construction on a unique project – the first purpose-built co-housing scheme of its kind in the country.
Continue reading UK’s first purpose-build co-housing starts in Barnet
Another of High Barnet’s oldest public houses is to close – the Old Red Lion, at the bottom of Barnet Hill, is to serve its last pint on Saturday 28 February, following its sale by the Hertford brewers McMullen and Sons Ltd for housing development.
Suggestions that the White Lion pub in St. Albans Road is threatened with closure, and that the site may be sold off for housing, have been denied by Fuller’s Brewery’
Catering and tourism students from Barnet and Southgate College are gaining work experience at High Barnet’s newest pop-up shop, a family-friendly tea shop that has opened in the Spires shopping centre.
Continue reading Catering skills of Barnet students put to test
Planning vote goes against Guns & Smoke. Guns & Smoke, a new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet parish church, has failed to obtain planning permission for its illuminated frontage in Church Passage.
High Barnet’s much-coveted green belt is to be featured in a seven-minute television documentary being filmed by students from City University’s department of journalism.
Continue reading Green belt stars in students’ TV documentary
High Barnet’s “impossible” parking controls are forcing another independent trader out of the High Street.
Guns & Smoke, the new American-style bar and grill opposite Barnet parish church, faces what looks like being a decisive shoot-out at Hendon Town Hall early in the new year.
A mini-roundabout and an additional zebra crossing are being proposed by Barnet Council to improve road safety for motorists and pedestrians at the junction of Wood Street and Wellhouse Lane.
For the last 50 years Barnet children have needed to go no further than Wood Street to catch a glimpse of a scene that brings to life that much-loved nursery rhyme “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.
Barnet church has its clock back at last! For almost a month High Barnet residents looked in vain when needing to check the time, but the tower of the town’s famous landmark is resplendent once more.
Green Belt surrounds Chipping Barnet on three sides, and the Barnet Society was founded in 1945 to protect it. As London grows, we believe it – and the natural landscape adjoining it – is likely to be even more appreciated. But while the Society’s default setting is to oppose any development on or next to it, we won’t carry weight if we blindly oppose any change; and if a proposal meets the highest design and sustainability standards, we welcome it.
Why not become a member? Receive our latest newsletter hot off the press four times a year, and support our work with a membership.
If you have some local news, history or want to bring something to our attention please email us.
Northern line briefing
⚠️ Travel news: there is a 27 minute interval between trains on the Northern line this morning ⚠️
NEW: Christchurch Spinney in High Barnet threatened by new building
Barnet food waste caddies will arrive from Jan-Mar 2026! 🍽️ Ready for the new service - pop in leftovers & put it out for weekly collections from 30 Mar 2026. Find out more and win £100 vouchers here: http://www.barnet.gov.uk/foodwaste
Tickets for our home fixture against Cambridge United in the Vertu Trophy are now on sale! 🎟️
Come down and cheer on the Bees on Tuesday the 21st, for our final group stage fixture! ⚽️
Secure your tickets below! 👇
#BarnetFC🐝
Paul posted a comment on Protecting green spaces – how serious are our politicians?
Glynn Francis posted a comment on Free book shop has returned to The Spires – and Barnet residents are again being asked to donate surplus books or bookshelves
Tracy Meyrick posted a comment on Protecting green spaces – how serious are our politicians?
FrienBarnetBee posted a comment on Planning inspector is being asked to reconsider Barnet Council’s rejection of plans for Barnet Football Club’s return to Underhill