Welcome

Morning, Finchley! Summer continues, so this week we chase the shade with a guide to the area's best ice cream, plus a packed events list.

In the Lowdown: Kosher Kingdom's comeback, a Royal Academy star and Ben Stiller filming down the road. Enjoy.

🍦 Finchley's Coolest Scoops: Where to Chill This Summer

The heatwave may be slightly breaking, but we are still fully invested in summer. There is really only one sensible response to weather like this: ice cream.

Whether you want a proper sit-down sundae, a cone to eat on a park bench or a scoop of the good Italian stuff, we have scooped up three of the best places to cool down within easy reach of Finchley.

Grab your sunglasses, because summer always tastes a little better with a cone in hand.

1. Sundaes Gelato, N3.

​Sundaes Gelato on Ballards Lane is the local go-to for freshly made gelato, piled high into sundaes alongside waffles, crepes and proper coffee. It is open from the morning until late, so it works just as well for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up as for a post-dinner wander. Grab a cone and stroll, or settle in for the full dessert works.

2. Creams Cafe, N12.

Down on the High Road, Creams Cafe serves towering sundaes, gelato, waffles, and thick milkshakes late into the evening. With a menu the length of your arm and a buzzy, laid-back feel, it is a reliable crowd-pleaser for kids, teenagers, and grown-ups with a sweet tooth alike.

3. Worth the trip: Oddono's, Hampstead, NW3.

A little further afield, multi-award-winning Oddono's in Hampstead makes its gelato in-house using the finest ingredients, from Sicilian pistachios to Madagascan vanilla. It is well worth the short hop when you fancy the real thing, and you can happily walk it off afterwards with a stroll on nearby Hampstead Heath.

Wherever you head, eat it fast before it melts. Stay cool, Finchley. 🍦

Events

ARTS

Monday 27th July

​Arts and Crafts with Artist Jackie Siaw Smith | Mon, Jul. 27 | 10:30 am to 12:30 pm | Chipping Barnet Library, 3 Stapylton Rd, EN5 4QT | £10 | Local artist Jackie Smith runs classes for adults and seniors at Chipping Barnet Library. Paint your own personalised herb garden pot.

Thursday 30th July

​Arts and Crafts with Anna van der Poorten | Thu, Jul. 30 | 11:30 am to 1:30 pm | Claremont Park Cabin, NW2 1AJ | Free | Celebrate flowers, wildlife and the natural world through hands-on workshops, making flower-themed artwork, handmade fans, bee and butterfly hats and nature collages as part of Summer in the Park.

MUSIC

Saturday 25th July

​Rap Workshop with Redz Man | Sat, Jul. 25 | 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm | Edgware Library, Hale Lane, HA8 8NN | £4 | UK artist Redz Man blends storytelling with layered wordplay, drawing on his Congolese roots to explore growth, identity, faith and resilience. Part of the Read to the Beat! Summer Reading Challenge 2026.

Thursday 30th July

​Open-Air Thursdays: SeaChange | Thu, Jul. 30 | 7:30 pm | Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill, N6 5HG | £16.50 | Enjoy an uplifting evening of vibrant world jazz with the award-winning quartet SeaChange, out in the open air at Waterlow Park.

NATURE

Thursday 23rd July

​Orchard Tree Labelling at Watling Park | Thu, Jul. 23 | 10:00 am to 1:00 pm | Watling Park, Colchester Road, HA8 0QY | Free | Join Action for Silk Stream for a free three-hour botanical workshop labelling the orchard trees at Watling Park.

Saturday 25th July

​Pick Your Own Flowers | Sat, Jul. 25 | 10:00 am to 2:00 pm | GROW Farm, Totteridge | Free entry, from £4 per jar | Pick Your Own Flowers is back at GROW. Book a free ticket, choose a jar and cut your own malope, sunflowers, cosmos and cornflowers, all chemical-free. Proceeds support young people and the local community.

SHOPPING

Saturday 25th July

​The Little Children's Market | Sat, Jul. 25 | 10:30 am to 12:00 pm | Enfield Grammar Upper School, EN2 6LN | £2.50 | A huge nearly-new sale with bargains for newborns up to age 11. Free parking on site and a free shopping bag for the first 50 buyers. Cash only.

SPORTS

Saturday 25th July

​The Play-Offs at The 108 | Sat, Jul. 25 | 11:00 am to 1:30 pm | The 108, Brent Terrace, Brent Cross, NW2 1LT | £10 | Ready for a challenge? A fun, fast-paced month of social sport for adults, going head-to-head in padel, baseball batting challenges, and a team bootcamp.

​Cycletastic - Fix, Learn, Ride at Clitterhouse Farm | Sat, Jul. 25 | 1:40 pm to 4:00 pm | Clitterhouse Farm Project | Free | A friendly DIY bike repair session. Bring your bike and use Cycletastic's tools, stands and spare parts with guidance from experienced volunteers, from punctures to a full tune-up.

THEATRE

Friday 24th July

​Camden Acting Workshop Club Night | Fri, Jul. 24 | 7:30 pm | 37 Chalk Farm Rd, Chalk Farm, NW1 8AJ | Free with donation | Camden Acting Workshop's first Club Night at the Libra, a one-night mix of drama and comedy improvisation and semi-structured scenes with live music. Contains some adult content.

Events - Book Ahead

Saturday 8th August

​Flute Recital by Helen Skelton with Andrew Palmer (piano) | Sat, Aug. 8 | 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm | St Mary-at-Finchley Parish Church, London, N3 1TR | Free, retiring collection | The music of Mozart and Piazzolla alongside newer lyrical works by Mel Bonis and Ken Paige, performed by flautist Helen Skelton with Andrew Palmer. Drinks served after the concert; doors from 5:30 pm.

Saturday 15th August

​Mindful Candle Making Workshop | Sat, Aug. 15 | 11:00 am to 1:00 pm | Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm, Claremont Road, NW2 1AP | £25 | Slow down, craft your own beautiful soy wax candle and embrace some mindfulness practices.

Sunday 16th August

​Smadi Sessions Presents Roots Vibration Sound System | Sun, Aug. 16 | 3:30 pm to 10:00 pm | Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm, Claremont Road, NW2 1AP | £11.55 | Smadi Sessions brings you a Sunday Service housed in empathy, inclusion, resilience, community, education, and spirit-lifting vibrations.

Local Lowdown

Filming

• Lights, camera, Primrose Hill. Hollywood star Ben Stiller was spotted filming a Netflix drama on Chalcot Road, where a staged bus crash transformed the street outside the Princess of Wales pub. During the heatwave shoot, he posed for selfies with local children, and producers donated to a nearby charity.

Reopening

• Good news for Golders Green shoppers. Kosher Kingdom, gutted by a major fire back in May, has announced it will reopen soon in Russell Parade, delighting regulars who called the news the best ever and hailed the store the heart of the community.

Blooming

• Fancy a grander day out? One of London's oldest garden squares, Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, reopens on Monday after a £25m makeover, transformed into a climate-resilient haven with 150,000 new plants, woodlands, wetlands and a wildlife education centre. Worth leaving Finchley for.

Playing

• Colindale families, this one is for you. Barnet Council is consulting on a new £400,000 playground for Heybourne Park, promising climbing nets, slides, swings, roundabouts and picnic areas for all ages, from toddlers to teenagers. Have your say before 6th August.

Sculpting

• Local talent is turning heads in Piccadilly. Sachelle Davis, a 17-year-old Barnet and Southgate College student, has seen her ceramic sculpture celebrating the beauty of Afro hair chosen for the Royal Academy's Young Artists' Summer Show, picked from over 25,000 entries. You can visit and vote for free.

Finchleyite: The Phoenix Cinema

If you want to escape the heat in style, there is nowhere lovelier than the Phoenix Cinema on East Finchley High Road.

Opened as the East Finchley Picturedrome back in 1912, it is London's oldest continuously running cinema, and its beautiful barrel-vaulted, art deco auditorium is Grade II listed.

Run as a much-loved community charity since 1985, the Phoenix shows the best new releases, cult classics and independent films, and runs schools and youth programmes, all while keeping its single screen gloriously old-fashioned in the best possible way.

On a scorching afternoon, a cool, dark seat and a great film is hard to beat.

Long may our little Finchley picture palace shine.

Editors' Note - From Tessa

Enjoyed watching England beat France to come 3rd on Saturday night. So many fabulous goals.

Although we are Scottish/Irish/Australian in the Davis Family, we were cheering England on - nice work!

Also, let us know about local events or local news. We curate our content to keep it a 5-minute read, so can't include everything we're sent.

You can now get a guaranteed (paid) listing for local events or local lowdown/news items.

​And email us with any projects or ideas you'd like us to write about.

Tessa Davis Sasha Frieze