Welcome

Got some great local honey suppliers, brilliant GCSE results for Barnet - and happy birthday to the Night Tube.

And here's to a cooler week - although this weekend was what we *used* to call hot weather.

🍯 Hive Five for Finchley Honey

Finchley – and the surrounding area –‘s apiaries are buzzing.

Local honey comes with a bit of neighbourhood pollen — which is why some people swear by it for seasonal allergies, although the science is still mixed.

Unlike heavily processed supermarket honey, local honey is usually raw or lightly filtered, helping retain pollen and other natural compounds linked to anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

And with hotter, drier summers producing less nectar, some mass-market honey may contain more honeydew honey — made from sugary secretions left by aphids and other insects.

Here's three local producers.

1: Hendon Honey is a small, hobbyist, honey producer run by the Carmels, in Hendon.

Yoni and Abigail have been keeping bees since 2019. Their local honey bees live in hives of up to 50,000 bees, each headed by a single queen bee. At the end of the summer, the excess honey is collected and gently filtered without any further processing.

5% discount for Finchley Now readers with code FINCHLEY5.

2: Miel de Lucie is run by Lucie Chaumeton, a beekeeper in East Finchley.

Former City quant, she started keeping bees at home in 2017. Her beehives expanded and she started generating a profit. For the last 2 years, she has been donating all her profits to the Finchley Foodbank. Last year, she was awarded the Advanced Theory Certificate awarded by the British Beekeepers Association.

​Call or email for orders. ​

3: Highgate Honey is co-founded by structural engineer Helen Rogers.

From a single Highgate rooftop hive in 2013, this family-run beekeeping venture has grown across North London.

Rather than blending honey for consistency, each hive is harvested and jarred separately in small batches, capturing the changing flavours of local gardens, trees, parks and flowers throughout the summer.

Their Finchley Honey has a few jars left.

Perfect Jewish New Year gift for those of you celebrating.

Have a sweet day. 🍯

Events

ARTS

Tuesday 1st September

Shared Reading at Colindale library | Tue, Sep. 01 | 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm | Colindale Library 7 Bristol Avenue Colindale NW9 4BR | Free | Take part in the National Year of Reading! Take turns reading passages from poems and prose, practice reading aloud and delve deeper into the texts, or come along to listen! | more info​

Tuesday 1st September

Lens & Canvas – Beyond the Frame | Tue, Sep. 01 | 10:00 am to | 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, N12 0GA | Free | An eclectic mix of photography and artwork by Debbie Jaye and Richard Szerman. | more info.​

Tuesday 8th September

​In The Brain | Tue, Sep. 8 | 7:30 pm | artsdepot, North Finchley | £19 | Hofesh Shechter's new full-length work for Shechter II is an invitation to let go, to move, to surrender to the music and be swept away in rhythm. A dreamlike, club-like, timeless state where euphoria unfolds

COMMUNITY

Sunday 30th August

Love Your N21 Sunday Market | Sun, Aug. 30 | 10:00 am to 3:00 pm | The Sidings, Winchmore Hill. Next to the train station | Free | Love your N21 market is back with local stalls of delicious food, live music and a family friendly atmosphere. | more info.​

Monday 7th September

North London U3A Open Morning | Mon, Sep. 7 | 10:00 am to 11:30 am | St Margaret's Church, Victoria Avenue, N3 1BD | Free | Check out the U3A offer to retired and semi-retired people from Finchley, Highgate and Muswell Hill, or further afield. Group activities range from literature and languages to more energetic activities, such as yoga and walks, we also organise purely social events. | www.nlu3a.org.uk​

MUSIC

Wednesday 26th August

Musical Afternoon with Operatic Tenor Geoffrey Strum | Wed, Aug. 26 | 3:00 pm | A wonderful hour of classical and musical theatre favourites | Birchgrove Ayrton House | Assisted Living Retirement Home Mill Hill | £5 | call Helen on 07384 466840 or email activities@ageukbarnet.org.uk

SPORTS & WELLBEING

Saturday 5th September

New Barnet Amateur Gardeners Garden Show | Sat, Sep. 5 | 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm | St John’s Church hall, Mowbray Road, New Barnet EN5 1RH | £2) | Come along for Floral Art displays, flowers, fruit and vegetables, homemade cake, local honey, bulbs. A horticultural delight | more info​

THEATRE & FILM

Saturday 29th August

Dirty Dancing at Finchley Lido Leisure Centre | Sat, Aug. 29 | 6:15 pm to | Great North Leisure Park, London, N12 OGL | £10 - £14 | Grab your dancing shoes and your best 60s-inspired outfit — Finchley Lido Leisure Centre is bringing the magic of Kellerman's to North London for one unforgettable summer evening! | tickets​

KIDS

Saturday 29th August

AOBA Family Fun Day | Japanese Culture Experience | Sat, Aug. 29 | 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm | The Leahy Hall – Large Hall, St Mary at Finchley , 30 Hendon Lane, London N3 1TR | Free , but book ticket here. | Join us for a fun family-friendly event inspired by Japanese culture.

Monday 7th September

Children's Drawing & Painting | Mon, Sep. 07 | 4:45 pm to | Lauderdale House | Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill N6 5HG | Taster: £7.50, full term £195 | Each week children will build on their skills learnt in previous weeks, developing their confidence and ability. More info​

Events - Book Ahead

Thursday 17th September

The Art of Renewal: A Rosh Hashanah Printmaking & Upcycling Workshop | Thu, Sep. 17 | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | JW3, 341-351 Finchley Road, NW3 6ET | £2 | A creative Rosh Hashanah craft workshop centred around renewal, second chances and self-expression. Combining craft and art history, explore the use of Jewish symbols in art and culture before carving your own stamps to upcycle old clothes and accessories with fabric ink. | tickets​

Friday 18th September

DKMS Charity Golf Day | Fri, Sep. 18 | Finchley Golf Club, Nether Court, Frith Lane, NW7 1PU | See website | Blood cancer charity DKMS holds its first charity golf day at Finchley Golf Club to mark Blood Cancer Awareness Month. Limited spaces remaining. | https://www.dkms.org.uk/​

Thursday 15th October

Henry Ibe: A Tribute Through Art at Colindale library | Thu, Oct. 15 | 2:00 pm | Colindale Library 7 Bristol Avenue | Free | Exhibition showcasing the work of Henry Ibe, a Nigerian-born artist and long-term resident of Colindale, whose lifelong passion for art began in childhood. Featuring a collection of striking 2D artworks and 3D sculptures, the exhibition highlights his distinctive creative practice, including works finished in fibreglass and bronze. | More info.

Local Lowdown

Shooting

• Barnet Council is putting the finishing touches to a new 3x3 basketball court at West Hendon Playing Fields, near Goldsmith Avenue. It’s set to open by the end of next week, joining recently refurbished tennis courts as part of wider plans to revitalise the park.

Strengthening

• TfL’s two-year revamp of Brent Cross Flyover starts September 24, with the A41 cut to one lane each way. The £10.8m scheme will strengthen the ageing structure, replace barriers and waterproofing, remove the 7.5-tonne limit and safeguard this key junction for decades, for years ahead.

Celebrating

• Barnet pupils are celebrating a strong GCSE year, with 82% achieving grade 4 or above and 41% securing top grades of 7 and above — well ahead of national averages. Bishop Douglass students were among the standout results. Barnet ranks 5 out of 33 London Local Authorities – map here.​

Dividing

• Daisy Green’s new Parliament Hill café is dividing opinion after replacing the D’Auria family’s 45-year-old institution. Some customers praise the food, atmosphere and friendly service, while others complain of high prices, poor service and chain-cafe standards. The controversial takeover followed a 25,000-signature local campaign.

Partying

• Happy birthday to London’s Night Tube, which has turned 10 after carrying 67 million passengers since launching in 2016. The overnight service now runs across six lines on Fridays and Saturdays, averaging more than 81,000 journeys a night and becoming a fixture of London life.

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

London has a colourful new cultural landmark with the opening of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell.

Founded by the much-loved illustrator - 93 years old, still draws every day - the centre opened a couple of months ago inside the restored New River Head waterworks.

Billed as the world’s largest dedicated space for illustration, it features three changing galleries, free displays, an illustration library, creative studio, gardens, café (run by Deeney’s) and shop.

Visitors can explore original work from Blake’s archive alongside contemporary artists and international collections, with activities for all ages.

The centre aims to celebrate illustration’s power to tell stories, share ideas and help people see the world differently.

Worth leaving Finchley for? Short walk from Angel tube, perfect last-week-of-the-holidays outing.

Editors' Note - From Sasha

Well hello, it's been a little while. Tessa has been fabulously holding the fort while I was on bereavement leave, and I'm happy to be back.

Spent a few very uplifting days a little inland from the North Norfolk coast - stayed in a beautiful location whose gardens looked good despite the weather. And saw the eclipse over these very trees.

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