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Aside from the scorching weather - we've got locals with King's Birthday Honours and an award winning East Finchley pub.

🏅Finchley's Finest Get Royal Recognition

Last week saw The King’s Birthday honours – we’ve combed the list to find people with Finchley and surrounding area connections (do send us email of more!)

Finchley resident, Raymond Simonson, the chief executive of the Jewish community centre for London, JW3, received an MBE for services to Jewish communities and to community cohesion.

Raymond said “at a time when division feels all too common, this recognition strengthens my belief in the importance of bringing people together through culture, conversation and community.

Totteridge resident, David Dein, who as well as serving as a senior executive for Arsenal football club was one of the key individuals behind the creation of the Premier League, founded the Twinning Project in 2018, a charity which partners local professional football clubs with prisons to rehabilitate offenders and reduce reoffending rates. He received an OBE for services to football and charity.

Children’s author Julia Donaldson has been made a dame DBE. The Gruffalo writer received the honour in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to literature, with more than 50 million books sold globally. Born in London in 1948, Dame Julia grew up in Hampstead and studied drama and French at Bristol University.

​Mark Richard Beattie JP was awarded an MBE for services to the administration of justice - he’s a Magistrate on the North London Bench.

​Professor Robert Stephen Rubin OBE, chair of Pentland Capital Limited and Pentland Group Limited, received a CBE for services to interfaith relations and to charity. He is the founding president of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

​Dominic Dodd was awarded a CBE for Services to the NHS. He is Former chair of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, both serving North London.

Celebrated industrial designer, artist and architect Professor Ron Arad, has been awarded a CBE for services to art and design. Hampstead resident, with a design practice located in Chalk Farm.

Congrats to all - community is where it's at.🏅

Events

ARTS

Thursday 25th June

​Northanger Abbey | Thu, Jun. 25 | 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm | Keats House, 10 Keats Grove, NW3 2RR | £20 | A delightful open-air, family-friendly dramatisation of Jane Austen's gothic novel in the beautiful garden of Keats House. Bring a picnic and rug; some chairs and refreshments available.

COMMUNITY

Saturday 27th June

​Brent Cross Town Monthly Book Club | Sat, Jun. 27 | 11:00 am to 2:00 pm | Brent Cross Town Visitor Pavilion, 145 Claremont Road, NW2 1FE | Free | Make 2026 the year you fall back in love with reading. This new book club celebrates North London's literary legacy with a curated selection of recent reads by writers who live and work in the area.

FOOD

Wednesday 24th June

​Alfresco street food from around the world | Wed, Jun. 24 | 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm | 145 Claremont Road, London, NW2 1FE | Free entry | Neighbourhood Square welcomes a line-up of local food vendors to help you make the most of the sunshine, including award-nominated Himalayan street food specialists serving hand-crafted steamed dumplings and lunch boxes.

MUSIC

Thursday 25th June

​Jazz on the Tea Lawn: John Crawford Latin Quintet | Thu, Jun. 25 | 8:00 pm | Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill, N6 5HG | £15.50 | Join the Tea Lawn for a rich, layered and deeply expressive performance of Latin jazz fusion.

NATURE

Saturday 27th June

​GROW Open Day 2026 | Sat, Jun. 27 | 10:00 am to 3:00 pm | GROW Farm at The Totteridge Academy, Barnet | Free - £6 | A day of learning and fun for everyone. Explore the farm and learn about agroecology through farm tours, nature activities, delicious food, fresh produce, pick-your-own flowers and more. Solidarity pricing is available, with free tickets for those who need it.

OLDER PEOPLE

Friday 26th June

​Age UK Barnet: Monthly Bingo | Fri, Jun. 26 | 2:00 pm | The Ann Owens Centre, N2 8LT | £3 | A chance to have fun, enjoy some friendly competition and connect with others.

SPORTS

Thursday 25th June

​Brent Cross Town: Family-friendly garden games | Thu, Jun. 25 | 10:00 am to 5:00 pm | 145 Claremont Road, NW2 1FE | Free | Gather friends and family and while away a relaxed summer's day with free lawn games in Neighbourhood Square, including urban boule, chess, bean bag toss and quoits.

SUSTAINABILITY

Tuesday 23rd June

​Earth Fest | Tue, Jun. 23 | 106 Arlington Road, Camden, NW1 7HP | Free | A vibrant, free-to-attend celebration of sustainability for the wider public, with live music, hands-on workshops, family-friendly activities and inspiring brand showcases that make sustainability accessible, engaging and fun.

THEATRE

Wednesday 24th June

​Free Cinema Screening: Tiny Forest (London Climate Action Week) | Wed, Jun. 24 | 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm | Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley | Free | Earthwatch, the charity behind the Tiny Forest programme, hosts a free screening about the Miyawaki method used to create these small urban forests. A great way to connect with London Climate Action Week and meet others interested in community action, nature and climate.

Thursday 25th June

​Boudica | Thu, Jun. 25 | 7:30 pm | Little Wood Open Air Theatre, NW11 6QS | From £10 | AD 61. Rebellion is stirring in the Roman province of Britannia. Rome has refused Boudica her throne as Queen of the Iceni, and now she wants revenge, and she is bringing an army. By Tristan Bernays.

Events - Book Ahead

Monday 17th August

​Zumerfest Yiddish Summer Festival | Mon, Aug. 17 | 9:30 am to 8:00 pm | East Finchley, N2 | From £45 | A week-long festival celebrating klezmer, song and dance. Young people can come and develop their music skills at the various klezmer workshops.

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Tuesday 8th September

​In The Brain (Shechter II) | Tue, Sep. 8 | artsdepot, North Finchley | £19 | Hofesh Shechter's new full-length work for Shechter II is an invitation to let go, to move and to be swept away in rhythm, journeying to a dreamlike, club-like, timeless state where movement takes over, and euphoria unfolds.

Sunday 13th September

​The Hideout | Sun, Sep. 13 | 11:30 am to 12:15 pm | artsdepot, North Finchley | £13.75 | A vibrant, daring mix of circus, parkour and heartfelt storytelling capturing the highs and lows of making a new friend. Through breathtaking acrobatics and playful physical theatre, Luca and Maya navigate trust, boundaries, competition and connection.

Local Lowdown

Filming

Streamlining

• Householder planning applications could soon move twice as fast. Barnet is one of three councils piloting a national AI planning tool built with Google DeepMind, aiming to halve processing times. Decisions stay with officers; the AI just handles the legwork on straightforward cases.

Welcoming

• Finchley has made history. Finchley Progressive Synagogue is the UK's first Synagogue of Sanctuary, a national award recognising its refugee and asylum support, from a Rainbow Lunch Club for LGBTQ+ guests to a group helping men housed in a local hotel rebuild their lives.

Inventing

• Local young inventors are turning heads on the national stage. Four Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School students were named runners-up at the Big Bang Competition 2026, one of the UK's biggest science and engineering contests, for their project The Click Check in the intermediate technology category.

Towering

• More height, fewer affordable homes. Camden looks set to approve taller towers at the O2 Centre masterplan, with some blocks reaching 17 storeys. Landsec blames spiralling costs; the revised plan cuts affordable homes by 92, leaving just 100 of 651 for low-income families, while adding 135 at market rates.

The East Finchleyite: The Windsor Castle

East Finchley’s Windsor Castle has been crowned home to the UK’s best pub landlords.

Eamonn England and Arina Piskunova, who took over the historic pub in The Walks in 2022, were named national pub licensees of 2026 by the British Institute of Innkeeping.

Judges praised the couple’s leadership, support for staff, care for customers, financial management and commitment to the community. They beat more than 800 nominees before impressing three judging panels in London.

Since reopening after a major refurbishment, the Windsor Castle has become a thriving neighbourhood hub, offering seasonal British food, independent beers, quizzes, painting classes and folk sessions.

The award follows recognition from McMullen, which named it pub and food pub of the year earlier in 2026.

Editors' Note - From Sasha

Saw Arthur Miller's The Price at Marylebone Theatre this week. lucky to get tickets for the extended run.

Brilliant production. Timeless play. What is the price of the choices you make?

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Tessa Davis Sasha Frieze