Welcome

Morning, Finchley!

August is here in full sun, so this week we are chasing the perfect beer garden and a cold pint.

There is also a rare solar eclipse on Tuesday, plenty to do with the kids, and a very famous former neighbour to celebrate. Enjoy the sunshine.

🍺 Pints In The Sunshine: Finchley's Finest Beer Gardens

The sun is finally behaving itself, and there is no better way to enjoy a Finchley afternoon than with a cold drink under an open sky. So grab your sunglasses, round up your favourite people, and let us take you on a little tour of the best beer gardens Finchley has to offer.

Start in East Finchley at The Bald Faced Stag, which reopened after a smart refurbishment and now boasts one of the area's biggest gardens, complete with a beautiful central tree, heaters for cooler evenings and a rotating cast of London independent ales.

A few minutes away, The Old White Lion hides a genuinely splendid garden behind its old coaching-inn frontage, all picnic tables, patio chairs and outdoor snugs, and it does one of the finest al fresco Sunday roasts in north London.

Over in North Finchley, The Bohemia is home to the London Brewing Company, so the beer in your glass may well have been made a few feet away. Its sunny beer yard comes with ping-pong and a genuinely huge fridge of guest cans.

Round the corner, the wood-panelled Elephant Inn pairs Fuller's ales with a much-loved upstairs Thai kitchen, so you can graze while you sip.

For a garden with a story, head to The Clissold Arms on Fortis Green, where teenage brothers Ray and Dave Davies played their very first gig as The Kinks. The large garden is the perfect spot to raise a glass to Finchley's rock and roll history.

Wherever you land, please sip responsibly, tip your bar staff, and soak up every last drop of this Finchley summer. See you in the garden.🍺

Events

ARTS

Wednesday 12th August

​Cityscapes in Collage at Chipping Barnet Library | Wed, Aug. 12 | 10:00 am to 12:00 pm | Chipping Barnet Library, 3 Stapylton Road, EN5 4QT | Free | Artist Zahra Tharani returns with a new masterclass. Create your own black-and-white landscapes using collage and mixed media. A Loving Life event for older adults.

Sunday 16th August

​Flow and Write: Yoga and Creative Writing | Sun, Aug. 16 | 10:45 am to 12:45 pm | 10 Keats Grove, NW3 2RR | £18 | A Keats House workshop: synchronise breath and movement in a gentle yoga flow, then use journalling and creative prompts to spark ideas. No experience needed.

FOOD

Monday 10th August

​Art Against Knives - Munch Spot | Mon, Aug. 10 | 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm | 162 High Road, N2 9AS | Free | This summer Art Against Knives hosts the Munch Spot at 162 High Road. Monday to Thursday, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, enjoy a free hot meal, a live DJ and creative activities.

KIDS

Tuesday 11th August

​The Lost Island Mystery at Finchley Church End Library | Tue, Aug. 11 | 10:30 am to 11:30 am | Finchley Church End Library, 318 Regents Park Road, N3 2LN | £6 | An interactive drama workshop exploring the world of stories through drama and play, with a craft and activities. Suitable for children aged 3 to 7.

MUSIC

Wednesday 12th August

​Shake & Make Tambourine Workshop at Colindale Library | Wed, Aug. 12 | 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm | Colindale Library, 7 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4BR | Free | Craft, decorate and shake your own tambourine, then learn simple beats and play along to favourite songs. Suitable for age 6+. Booking essential.

Thursday 20th August

​Open-Air Thursdays: She'Koyokh Quartet | Thu, Aug. 20 | 7:30 pm | Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill, N6 5HG | £16.50 | Join the She'Koyokh Quartet for an evening of vibrant klezmer and traditional music.

NATURE

Thursday 13th August

​Pathway to Calm | Thu, Aug. 13 | 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm | St Mark's Church, 56 Potters Road, EN5 5HY | £5 | Feeling overwhelmed or stretched thin? This weekly drop-in meditation offers a calm, supportive space to stop, breathe and reconnect.

Saturday 15th August

​East Barnet Village: a guided walk | Sat, Aug. 15 | 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm | Meet at the war memorial, junction of Cat Hill and Church Hill Road, EN4 8SY | £15 | A fun and fascinating historical walk through ancient and modern East Barnet, including one of the oldest churches in London and an award-winning park.

SPORTS

Friday 14th August

​Basketball 3 X 3 Fridays | Fri, Aug. 14 | 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm | Saracen's High School, Corner Mead, Lanacre Avenue, NW9 4AS | Free | A fun, competitive weekly 3x3 basketball competition for teens: stay active, build confidence and develop teamwork.

THEATRE

Monday 10th August

​A Very Divine Election | Mon, Aug. 10 | 9:00 pm | 26 Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT | £14 | A Camden Fringe horror-comedy following Adam Arkell, newly promoted at a notorious ad agency, as he is drawn into running the campaign of a radical anti-advertising party. A sinister descent into symbolism and mindless consumerism.

Events - Book Ahead

Saturday 19th September

​Pick Your Own Flowers | Sat, Sep. 19 | 10:00 am to 2:00 pm | The GROW Farm at The Totteridge Academy, Barnet Lane, N20 8AZ | Free | Choose your own flowers from sunflowers to dahlias, then pick and arrange a bunch in a jar to take home. A wonderful activity for all ages, with a produce stall on site.

Sunday 20th September

​Phoenix Cinema - Guided Tour | Sun, Sep. 20 | 10:00 am to 10:45 am | 52 High Road, N2 9PJ | Free | Tour one of the country's oldest cinemas, with a barrel-vaulted ceiling and Art Deco wall reliefs by Mollo and Egan. Grade II listed, and part of Open House.

​Rabbit & Rey and The Lost Things | Sun, Sep. 20 | 11:00 am to 12:00 pm | artsdepot, North Finchley, N12 0GA | £13.75 | Meet Rey, an imagination expert and glorious misplacer of everything, and Rabbit, in a playful family show about all the things we lose.

Local Lowdown

Watching

• Look up (safely) next week. London gets a 90 per cent partial solar eclipse on 12 August, the biggest since 1999, running from 6.17pm to a peak at 7.12pm. Never look directly, use certified eclipse glasses or pinhole projection, and find a clear western horizon.

Renewing

• North London's busiest junction is finally getting fixed. Transport for London has secured £10.8m to renew the ageing A41 Brent Cross flyover at Staples Corner, with enabling works starting this month and main repairs from late September. Over 120,000 vehicles use the interchange daily.

Sailing

• Fancy a nautical day out down the line? Around 50 historic vessels, from Dunkirk Little Ships to Thames sailing barges, will moor at St Katharine Docks for the free Classic Boat Festival on 12 and 13 September. Hop aboard, meet owners and enjoy live music.

Clearing

• Debt can happen to anyone, and help is close to home. Two Barnet churches, Christ Church and The Stable, run a free Christians Against Poverty debt centre that has helped 47 local people clear more than £700,000 in five years. No judgement, any faith welcome.

Crafting

• Fancy adding a stitch to Remembrance? Stephens House and Gardens, with Finchley WI, is inviting knitters and crocheters to make poppies for a community installation that will cover the House throughout November. Patterns are online, and there will be a day to bring your poppies along.

Finchleyite: George Michael

Before the stadiums and the sequins, one of Britain's greatest pop voices was just a kid in East Finchley. George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in 1963) grew up locally and, as a teenager, formed his first band with schoolfriend Andrew Ridgeley before the two became Wham!

From Careless Whisper to Faith, he sold more than 100 million records, and he was quietly generous too, giving to countless charities and causes throughout his life.

He died in 2016, but his songs still drift across Finchley gardens and kitchens every summer.

Next time Last Christmas comes on, remember: that voice started right here in N2.

Editors' Note - From Tessa

It's been a quiet week this week with only one out of three Davis children in situ over the weekend. Gearing up to hit Europe for the summer holidays though.

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