News from The Barnet Society

A lifetime’s fascination with the work of the prominent early Baroque painter Caravaggio has led to an unexpected twist in the career of High Barnet painter and art lecturer Keith West.

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.

Chipping Barnet constituents filled most of the pews in St John the Baptist’s Church on Thursday evening, 20 March 2025, to tell Transport for London (TfL) what they thought about their proposal to build 300 flats next to High Barnet Station. After a passionate and occasionally acrimonious meeting, the TfL team will have no illusions about local opposition to their development. But the audience were also left in no doubt that – barring unforeseen constructional challenges or political events – we have little chance of securing more than a few tweaks to the design of the buildings or their outdoor spaces.

A small village community of flats and bungalows established by two Holocaust survivors has provided a home over the decades for hundreds of students from all over the world – an achievement celebrated with a visit by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou.

Following the recent public consultation about proposals for this highly prominent site, Dan Tomlinson MP is holding a meeting for residents to share their thoughts with the landowner, Transport for London (TfL).

We wholeheartedly support the principle of Barnet Football Club returning closer to its historic roots, and we can see some potential benefits for Chipping Barnet as well as the Club. But we have severe reservations about key aspects of the Club’s case.

Arkley’s much admired volunteer litter picker is having to admit defeat when confronted with an abandoned ULEZ camera pole which was left lying on the grass verge after being cut down during a wave of sabotage.

Motorists and bus passengers are facing severe disruption for the rest of March because of the closure for sewer repairs of Barnet Road, Arkley – the main road from High Barnet towards Arkley and Borehamwood.

Leaflets promoting Bring Barnet Back are being distributed across the town as the campaign hots up to persuade Barnet Council to approve plans for a new football stadium at Underhill.

Preparations are well underway for the most ambitious programme so far for the popular summer season of concerts beside Jack’s Lake at Monken Hadley Common. Since the festival was launched in 2021, there has been ever growing support for the open-air musical evenings which are held in a woodland glade beside the lake.

A guided tour of New Barnet’s much-cherished community garden by Wendy Alcock, founder of the Incredible Edible campaign, was a highlight of the group’s annual seed swap at St John’s United Reformed Church.

Claire Fisher’s first play – Mary Livingstone, I Presume? – tickles the audience with a joyous array of gossip and small talk between the Hadley Green gentry of yesteryear, their servants and the townspeople of Barnet. The Bull Theatre was packed with highly appreciative audiences for the latest production by the Blue Door Theatre Company.

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.

Revised plans for blocks of flats to be built over the car park at High Barnet tube station show that the highest would be ten storeys in height. A total of five blocks ranging from eight to ten storeys would be constructed alongside Barnet Hill with the tallest opposite the lower entrance to the tube station.

This is the new front page of the Barnet Society's website -- a long-planned upgrade of our online presence. We have made it easier to use with improved access and simpler procedures for new members joining the society.

Barnet and Southgate College students on creative and media production courses can now gain hands-on experience in tv, sound and animation at the Studio, a new multi-media production facility at the college's Barnet campus.

High Barnet is at a crossroads over future developments. Members of the Barnet Society are about to get an opportunity to debate key issues and hear the views of the Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson.

If Transport for London gets the go ahead to build four high-rise blocks of flats alongside Barnet Hill, they will transform the approach to the town from Underhill. Plans for redeveloping the land around High Barnet tube station to provide 300 homes have now been updated.

Restoring the 140-year-old organ at Barnet parish church is proving a massive task -- well over 2,000 organ pipes are having to be individually cleaned and if necessary repaired before they can all be re-assembled.

Barnet Football Club has completed another stage in its attempt to gain approval from Barnet Council for the construction of a 7,000-seat stadium on playing fields at Underhill.