Welcome

Morning, Finchley!

Half term starts this week, so grab the kids and go legend-spotting on Barnet’s new art trail.

Plus a makeover for the O2 Centre, the council’s brand new estate agency, and our honorary Finchleyite, the late Jeffrey Archer.

🎨 Walk of Fame: Barnet’s Legends Art Trail

Welcome to Barnet Legends - an art trail with a series of 21 handcrafted, commemorative artworks. Map here.

Designed by Edward Crooks, it’s sited on public buildings, each artwork spotlights an individual who enriched the borough and the world around us through music, film, design, sport, art and more.

From unsung heroes through to those with global acclaim, these legends were chosen by the community to reflect the creativity, innovation and diversity of the borough.

Check out just some of the legends – many we’ve written about in Finchley Now.

· Birt Acres1854–1918. Built and operated the camera that filmed Britain’s first motion picture, here in Chipping Barnet. Chipping Barnet Library

· Cecil Belfield Clarke1894–1970. Doctor and Black civil rights activist. Developed the formula for children’s medicine dosage. Lived in Barnet. Chipping Barnet Library

· Winifred Atwell1914–1983. Renowned Trinidadian ragtime pianist and the first Black musician to reach UK No.1. Lived in Whetstone. Osidge Library

· Daulat Jiwa 1923–2020. Founded Barnet Asian Women’s Association to empower and advocate for women in the local community. Friary House

· Oliver Postgate1925–2008. Created popular children’s television programmes: Bagpuss, The Clangers and Ivor the Engine. Lived in Finchley. North Finchley Library

· Celia Fiennes1662–1741. Trailblazing woman who wrote about travelling through every county in England on horseback. Lived in Mill Hill. Mill Hill Library

· Muriel Matters 1877–1969. Activist who boarded an airship from West Hendon to drop ‘Votes for Women’ leaflets over London. Brent Cross West Station

· Vera Lynn1917–2020. Singer, known as ‘The Forces’ Sweetheart’. Her music lifted spirits during the Second World War. Lived in Barnet. RAF Museum

· Harry Beck1902–1974. Designed the London Tube map and influenced the design of transit maps in cities worldwide. Lived in Finchley. Finchley Church End Library (indoors)

· Amy Winehouse1983–2011. Critically-acclaimed singer and songwriter who wrote her first album ‘Frank’ while living in East Finchley. Finchley Youth Theatre

· George Michael1963–2016. Born in East Finchley and became a global pop music icon, philanthropist and LGBTQ+ rights campaigner. Finchley Youth Theatre

Grab a map, get your walking shoes on, enjoy exploring. 🎨🎨

Events

ARTS

Monday 19th October

​Connections | Mon, Oct. 19 | From 9:00 am | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | Free | Claire Weinstock's drawings and prints explore the world through familiar forms found in the home and the natural environment.

Tuesday 20th October

​Mill Hill Poetry Society | Tue, Oct. 20 | 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm | Mill Hill Library, NW7 | Free | If you write poetry or just love reading it, come along and share.

Wednesday 21st October

​Highgate Watercolour Group Annual Art Exhibition 2026 | Wed, Oct. 21 | From 11:00 am | Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill, N6 5HG | Free | 21 artists show more than 250 framed works in the historic setting of Lauderdale House.

Thursday 22nd October

​Hop Skotshne Klezmer Band | Thu, Oct. 22 | 7:45 pm to 9:35 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £19 | Inventive new takes on classic Jewish wedding music, on an emotional journey into the world of klezmer.

COMMUNITY

Wednesday 21st October

​Haunted Hampstead Guided Walking Tour | Wed, Oct. 21 | 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm | Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 1LT | £23.46 | Stroll through the dark passages and streets of Hampstead, then explore haunted pathways across the Heath.

KIDS

Friday 23rd October

​Dear Zoo | Fri, Oct. 23 | 2:00 pm to 2:55 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £15 | Rod Campbell's much-loved book comes to life with puppetry, original music and lots of audience interaction. Runs Fri 23 to Tue 27 Oct, various times.

​On Ice at Brent Cross | Fri, Oct. 23 | Daily, 45-minute sessions on the hour | John Lewis Car Park, Brent Cross Shopping Centre, NW4 3FL | From £13, skate hire included | The ice rink is back at Brent Cross until 3 January, with marshals and skate aids for first-timers. Pre-booking recommended.

Saturday 24th October

​Creepy Creatures with Wildfangs 2026 | Sat, Oct. 24 | 10:00 am to 10:30 am | Lewis of London, Galley Lane, Barnet, EN5 4RA | From £4.95 | Get up close to some of nature's creepiest crawlies in this interactive session for brave little explorers and curious grown-ups.

THEATRE

Thursday 22nd October

​Scummy Mummies: Hot Mess | Thu, Oct. 22 | 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £19 | Helen and Ellie are back, covering everything from menopause to mansplaining and teenagers to Tinder, with new songs, sketches, stand-up and sparkly new catsuits.

Saturday 24th October

​Open Mic Night | Sat, Oct. 24 | 7:00 pm | The Bull Theatre, High Street, Barnet, EN5 5SJ | £10.69 | The Bull Theatre puts the spotlight on Barnet's talented young singers at its regular under-18s open mic.

Events - Book Ahead

Saturday 28th November

​Makers & Indies Christmas Market | Sat, Nov. 28 | 11:30 am to 3:00 pm | Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street, Barnet, EN5 5SJ | Free entry | Shop for handmade and hand-selected gifts from local makers and independents.

Saturday 5th December

​Aladdin: The Christmas Pantomime | Sat, Dec. 05 | 11:00 am | The Bull Theatre, High Street, Barnet, EN5 5SJ | £15 | Join Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, Wishy Washy, Widow Twankey and the Genie for a family panto packed with laughter, music and audience participation.

Sunday 6th December

​A Voyage Round My Father | Sun, Dec. 06 | 6:00 pm | Holly Park Road, Friern Barnet, N11 3HB | £12 | John Mortimer's autobiographical play about a son and his brilliant, blind barrister father, from the 1930s to 1961.

Local Lowdown

Rescuing

• Firefighters came to the rescue on Hadley Green. After a dozen carp died in the drought-hit Brewery Pond, London Fire Brigade pumped in mains water to save the survivors. The council is now looking at ways to aerate the pond so it doesn't happen again.

Revamping

• The O2 Centre on Finchley Road isn't going anywhere just yet. Owner Landsec has announced a multimillion pound refurbishment, with better public spaces and new leisure and food options, and the centre stays open throughout. Its 1,800-home redevelopment has slipped again.

Letting

• Barnet Council is now in the property business. Bumblebee Property, the UK's first council-owned estate agency, has opened a shop in New Barnet on East Barnet Road, next to Sainsbury's. Profits go back into council housing services, and empty-home owners can get grants of up to £40,000.

Appealing

• High Barnet's Bull Theatre opened its home-grown wartime drama, set in the old Barnet Odeon, to a sell-out crowd. Now it needs some help itself: an emergency £10,000 appeal for maintenance and running costs has raised nearly £3,000 so far.

Spotting

• Half term, sorted. Shops along Finchley Central’s high street are each displaying a historic photo of their premises from the Finchley Society archives. Spot them all and log your finds via the QR codes on the free Finchley Central Heritage Trail, running Monday 19 to Friday 30 October.

The Finchleyite: Jeffrey Archer

We’re claiming him as an honorary Finchleyite!

Bestselling novelist and former politician Jeffrey Archer, who died on 5 October aged 86, was born just down the road in Holloway, north London, in 1940.

Admittedly, his family moved to Somerset when he was just two weeks old – but that’s close enough for us.

Archer went on to live a life worthy of one of his own bestselling thrillers. A Conservative MP, party deputy chairman and member of the House of Lords, his political career was derailed by scandal, culminating in a prison sentence for perjury in 2001.

But it was storytelling that made him a household name. His 1979 blockbuster Kane and Abel sold an estimated 34 million copies, with his books selling more than 300 million worldwide.

In a final plot twist, Archer died just one day before the publication of his last novel, Adam and Eve.​

Not bad for a Holloway boy.

Editors' Note - From Tessa

Went to support Davis Child #2 doing his refereeing this weekend. Excellent skills being build in leadership and projecting confidence.

Aiming for ref promotion this season. Watch this space.

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.

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

Tessa Davis Sasha Frieze