Welcome

Morning, Finchley!

This Friday Finchley Now turns three, so we've dug out our all-time favourite stories, from a bus lane win to the birth of British yoga.

Plus Finchley Memorial loses its pharmacy, High Barnet's old post office goes residential, and an East Finchley dog rescue gets its moment.

🎂It's Our Third Birthday

On Friday 2 October, Finchley Now turns three.

That's well over a hundred Monday mornings, and more than 3,000 of you who open, click, forward and write in.

Thank you.

To celebrate, we dug back through the archive for the stories you loved most, and the ones we loved writing.

1. The bus lane that wasn't

When Barnet Council scrapped the Regents Park Road bus lane, a 500-strong residents' WhatsApp group that had leafleted, written letters and lobbied councillors for months erupted in delight. Community in full force.

2. Where British yoga began

Our first bit of detective work. On 19 June 1961, BKS Iyengar taught the UK's first open Iyengar yoga class in a sitting room on Fitzalan Road, encouraged by Yehudi Menuhin. Three students turned up.

3. College Farm's comeback

After 25 years behind locked gates, College Farm could finally reopen, thanks to a new partnership between College Farm Trust and the Jeremy Coller Foundation. The most hopeful news the farm has had in a generation.

4. Royalty on Church Lane

The Duke of Edinburgh strolled through East Finchley, visiting David Broome's five-time award-winning garden on Church Lane and stopping to chat with neighbours and the team at Jennie Mann Florist.

5. A pint-sized victory

North Finchley's London Brewing Company won CAMRA's Winter Beer of Britain with Beer Street, an amber rye bitter brewed at The Bohemia on Tally Ho Corner.

6. Because we know you love a property story

A short hop south, there was a real castle on Frognal for £6.95m, and an £11.25m house with its own Japanese pavilion and koi pond. Window shopping only, sadly.

Which was your favourite? Hit reply and tell us, and tell us what you'd love to read in year four.

A reminder

We work on this as a side-gig, because we love Finchley (and the surrounding areas).

We convene the community to spread good vibes about local initiatives and activities.

We love it when you share your subscriber link and give more people the Joy of Finchley Now.

We want to hear from you – local events and local news.

And we’re very open to sponsorship – 3k+ engaged subscribers with open rates around 40% and click through rates at around 6% average.

Thanks for reading – and happy birthday to us. 🎂

Events

ARTS

Saturday 3rd October

​Ceramics in the City | Sat, Oct. 03 | 11:00 am to 4:00 pm | Museum of the Home, 136 Kingsland Road, E2 8EA | Free | The annual ceramics fair and exhibition returns to the Museum of the Home, celebrating world-class artistry.

Wednesday 7th October

​Tea Bag Folding at South Friern Library | Wed, Oct. 07 | 11:00 am to 12:30 pm | South Friern Library, Colney Hatch Lane, N10 1HD | Free | A relaxing introduction to the paper-folding craft of tea bag folding (no tea bags involved), creating intricate designs for handmade cards and gifts.

COMMUNITY

Thursday 1st October

​Silver Surfers: Computer Drop-In for Adults | Thu, Oct. 01 | 2:30 pm | Highgate Library, 1 Shepherds Hill, N6 5QJ | Free | Bring your laptop, phone and questions, from WhatsApp to Instagram, to the monthly computer drop-in run by Friends of Highgate Library.

Saturday 3rd October

​Pergola and Hill Garden Guided Walk | Sat, Oct. 03 | 11:00 am to 12:00 pm | Hill Garden and Pergola, Inverforth Close, NW3 7EX | Free | Discover one of Hampstead Heath's hidden gems on a guided walk through the Hill Garden and Pergola, led by the City of London Corporation.

Sunday 4th October

​Japan Matsuri | Sun, Oct. 04 | 10:00 am to 8:00 pm | Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN | Free | The UK's biggest annual festival of Japanese culture, food and drink, once a year in the heart of town.

KIDS

Friday 2nd October

​Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape | Fri, Oct. 02 | 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £15 | Almost completely blind, Toto the cat has incredible ninja skills, a big heart and a nose for adventure, heading out on daring night-time missions with her cheeky brother, Silver.

MUSIC

Thursday 1st October

​Tell Me Who I Am | Thu, Oct. 01 | 7:30 pm | Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 1LT | £22.38 | Soprano Eleanor Penfold and pianist John Cuthbert explore personal and collective nostalgia in a recital touching on childhood, innocence and folk music traditions.

Saturday 10th October

​Folk Night @ St Mary-at-Finchley: Magic Number vocal ensemble | Sat, Oct. 10 | 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm | St Mary-at-Finchley Parish Church, 26 Hendon Lane, N3 1TR | Free, with a retiring collection for the Church and Churchyard Appeal | An hour of Georgian polyphony, Yiddish songs, English folk songs and sea shanties, timed to begin after sundown. Doors 6:30 pm, free parking on Hendon Lane after 6:30 pm, drinks after.

OLDER PEOPLE

Monday 5th October

​Getting to Grips with Your Tech: Using the NHS App | Mon, Oct. 05 | 2:00 pm | The Ann Owens Centre, East Finchley, N2 8LT | Free | Part of Age UK Barnet's free weekly digital support sessions, this week navigating the improved NHS app.

SHOPPING

Saturday 3rd October

​Artisan Makers Market | Sat, Oct. 03 | 10:00 am to 2:00 pm | Wesley Hall, High Barnet, EN5 4JJ | Free entry | Unique handmade products from talented local makers and artists, just in time to start thinking about personal Christmas gifts.

Events - Book Ahead

Saturday 24th October

​Pumpkin Time 2026 | Sat, Oct. 24 | 10:00 am to 2:00 pm | The Totteridge Academy, Barnet Lane, N20 8AZ | £8.15 | Collect your pumpkins, explore the farm and learn about pumpkin varieties and agroecology on a farm tour, with nature activities, food and fresh produce.

Saturday 14th November

​Light + Flight Festival | Sat, Nov. 14 | 12:00 pm to 9:00 pm | Finchley Lakeside, N3 2QL | Free | A free weekend of art, music, performance and heritage across 14 and 15 November, as Barnet gets ready to light up.

Saturday 21st November

​WILD: The Drone Light Show at Lord's Cricket Ground | Sat, Nov. 21 | 6:00 pm | Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood Road, NW8 8QN | £37 | Herds charge, birds take flight and great beasts emerge in dazzling patterns of light in the UK's most spectacular drone show.

Local Lowdown

Dispensing

• Finchley Memorial Hospital has lost its pharmacy for good. Fairview Pharmacy closed earlier this month, and Barnet's health board has confirmed that new analysis will not reopen it. Barnet drops from 71 pharmacies to 70, with weekend access and Covid jabs locally the main losses.

Converting

• High Barnet's High Street now has more homes than shops. The Edwardian former Crown Post Office could be next, with plans to turn it into nine flats. Residential addresses on the street have jumped from around 50 to 398 in a decade.

Rallying

• Mays Lane neighbours are racing a mid-October deadline to save their derelict youth club. Barnet Council is selling the former Quinta Youth Club for £300,000, and residents are crowdfunding £10,000 to back a community bid. Around 80 donors have raised nearly £2,500 so far.

Discounting

• Willesden's long wait for a budget supermarket is nearly over. Aldi's website now lists its new store at 473 Willesden High Road as coming soon on 12 November, on the old B&M site. With Waitrose Cricklewood also on the way, Sainsbury's may need to up its game.

Crowning

• A short hop south, Newington Green has been named London's coolest neighbourhood. Time Out ranked the N16 square 33rd in its list of the world's 40 coolest, the only London entry. Expect Georgian terraces, Turkish and Cypriot food, and flats averaging £624,561.

🐶The East Finchleyite: All Dogs Matter

Tucked into Aylmer Parade in East Finchley is the small office behind one of London's busiest dog rescues. All Dogs Matter was founded in 2009 and rehomed 350 dogs in 2024, and founder Ira Moss says it is now on course for more than one a day. Don't pop in expecting cuddles, though: the dogs live with foster carers or at kennels out in Waltham Abbey, so meetings are by appointment.

Mr Moss says more dogs are arriving after being bought online and passed from home to home, or left behind after summer holidays. Sunday's Great Hampstead Bark Off on Parliament Hill raised funds for the work, with prizes for the waggiest tail and best rescue dog.

Still waiting for a sofa of his own is Herman, a bouncy, affectionate three-year-old French bulldog.

Patrons include Alan Carr and Ricky Gervais.

Fancy fostering?

Editors' Note - From Sasha

Still on a bit of a high - my book won an award at the Business Book Awards last week.

And yes, the AI photo of me looks a bit like me, but... not exactly! Oh, modernity.

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