Welcome

Morning, Finchley!

It’s Barnet Climate Action Week, so we’ve rounded up the best green things to get stuck into.

Plus 20 new homes for a North Finchley car park, a Finchley Road curry house going global, and cheers to The Bohemia for its latest cask ale award.

⛅Barnet Climate Week Takes Root

​Barnet Climate Action Week (10 – 18 October) is a week of events and activities celebrating sustainability and climate action across Barnet. Bringing together residents, community groups, schools, businesses, charities and local organisations to showcase the positive environmental work taking place across Barnet.

BCAW builds on the success of Barnet Climate Action Month, which has engaged thousands of residents and raised awareness of climate and sustainability issues.

Join in BCAW and helping to build a healthier, greener and more climate-resilient Barnet.

This year's theme: Nature and biodiversity

Celebrating Barnet’s green spaces and the people and communities helping nature thrive. From parks and gardens, to rivers and wildlife, it’s a celebration of events, nature-based activities to help protect and improve our local environment.

Barnet Climate Action Week highlights include:

· Borough-wide School Device Donation Drive with 2Second Chancefrom 9am on Monday 12 to 3pm on Friday 16 October: Donate unwanted devices to support reuse and help reduce electronic waste

· Sharing Climate Stories on Tuesday 13 October at 10am - 1200 Narrative 4 is hosting a story exchange to raise environmental awareness through individual stories and inspire action

· EcoJudaism Community Planting on Tuesday 13 October at 1230 - flower seed planting sessions on Brentfield Gardens for residents to take away and care for, and return for planting on one of the restoration sites this year.

· Screening: The People’s Emergency Briefing at Phoenix Cinema on Wednesday 14 October at 5pm. Join Friends of the Earth Barnet, Barnet U3A, Barnet Climate Action Group and Phoenix Cinema for a screening of The People's Emergency Briefing, hosted by Chris Packham.

· Refurbished Device Sale on Thursday 15 October at 11am. At Burnt Oak Library - buy an affordably priced refurbished laptop, mobile phone, or tablet, to help reduce e-waste, support a CIC (2econd Chance is a charity that recycles and redistributes technology), and save some money!

· Walk, gather and get creative with natureon Sunday 18 October, 10am to 12noon at Burnt Oak Brook at Watling Park: Enjoy a creative outdoor activity celebrating nature and biodiversity

· Meadows, Memories, and Makingon Sunday 18 October, 11am to 2pm at Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, Finchley: Discover ways to support pollinators and help create more wildlife-friendly spaces.

​Checkout the full programme of events ⛅

Events

COMMUNITY

Monday 12th October

​Black History Season 2026 - Barrel Children: The Families Windrush Left Behind + Live Q&A with Nadine White | Mon, Oct. 12 | 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm | Everyman Kings Cross, 14-18 Handyside Street, N1C 4DN | £10 | A special screening of Barrel Children: The Families Windrush Left Behind, followed by a live Q&A with director and executive producer Nadine White, award-winning journalist and editor of Black Current News.

​110 Years of Aviation Heritage in Hertfordshire with Guy Thomas | Mon, Oct. 12 | 3:00 pm | Church House, St John the Baptist Church, 2 Wood Street, Chipping Barnet, EN5 4BW | Free for members, £3 for non-members | This month's Barnet Museum lecture, presented by Guy Thomas.

Thursday 15th October

​Brent Cross Town: Barnet's New Business Hub | Thu, Oct. 15 | 8:00 am to 10:00 am | 4 Arbour Street, Copper Square, Brent Cross Town, NW2 | Free | A business breakfast celebrating the opening of 4 Arbour Street, the first office building at Brent Cross Town, with flexible short- and long-term office space now available.

FOOD

Thursday 15th October

​Carib Eats Weekly Canteen for Community | Thu, Oct. 15 | 12:00 pm | O2 Centre, 255 Finchley Road, NW3 6LU | Free | Carib Eats are on a mission to nourish communities and spread Caribbean culture through delicious, authentic food.

KIDS

Wednesday 14th October

​Mothers & Others (Term Time) at St Stephen's Church | Wed, Oct. 14 | 10:15 am to 12:00 pm | St Stephen's, 150 Bells Hill, Barnet, EN5 2SL | £3 | The church is transformed into an open space full of toys and games, with a weekly activity, story time and a sing-song to finish.

NATURE

Tuesday 13th October

​New Barnet Amateur Gardeners: Winter Colour in the Garden with Anne Godfrey | Tue, Oct. 13 | 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm | St John's Church Hall, Mowbray Road, New Barnet, EN5 1RH | £3 members, £5 visitors | Chelsea gold medallist Anne Godfrey of Daisy Roots Nursery talks about winter colour in the garden.

SUSTAINABILITY

Tuesday 13th October

​Save Money, Save the Planet Games for Barnet Climate Action Week | Tue, Oct. 13 | 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm | The Quadrangle, College Building, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, NW4 4BT | Free | Creative Sensemaking CIC brings money-saving, planet-saving games to the Middlesex University Quad as part of Barnet Climate Action Week.

THEATRE

Thursday 15th October

​The Land We Shared | Thu, Oct. 15 | 7:30 pm to 8:45 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £19 | Larisa Faber attempts to right the wrongs of the past in this semi-autobiographical show about memory, grief and pickled cabbages.

Friday 16th October

​The Funny Club at Brent Cross Town | Fri, Oct. 16 | 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm | Always Gladice, Unit 1-4, Neighbourhood Square, Brent Cross Town, NW2 8BA | £16.50 | The Funny Club lands at brand-new Always Gladice for four nights of seriously good live comedy.

Saturday 17th October

​Surinderella | Sat, Oct. 17 | 2:30 pm to 4:45 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £15 | Rifco Theatre's Bollywood-inspired take on a classic pantomime, full of laughter, romance and larger-than-life entertainment. Runs Sat 17 to Sun 18 Oct.

Events - Book Ahead

Sunday 1st November

​Diwali 2026 Hosted by Brent Cross | Sun, Nov. 01 | 10:00 am | Centre Court, Brent Cross Shopping Centre, NW4 3FL | Free | Celebrate Diwali with live performances, creative workshops, henna and plenty more for all the family.

Thursday 19th November

​Pupperella | Thu, Nov. 19 | 7:00 pm | Upstairs at the Gatehouse, N6 4BD | £22 | A fun-filled retelling of Cinderella with Pupperella centre stage alongside her canine co-stars. A pantomime where the dogs help steal the show.

Saturday 28th November

​Christmas Tales | Sat, Nov. 28 | 10:00 am to 11:00 am | Rayne Theatre, Chickenshed, Chase Side, Southgate, N14 4PE | From £11 | Clumsy the Elf has lost the code to the Christmas safe. Join the Tales team in this interactive live theatre adventure to crack it

Local Lowdown

Spicing

• Finchley Road has a world beater on its doorstep. Indian tapas spot Bonoo, at number 675, is the only UK restaurant on Tripadvisor's 2026 hidden gems list, thanks to a 4.9 rating from nearly 4,000 reviews. Think chaats, kathi rolls and tandoor grills.

Mewsing

• A tired North Finchley car park is set to become a mini neighbourhood. Barnet Council said no, but a planning inspector has approved 20 homes off Castle Road, with terraced houses, cottages and two small blocks around a pedestrian mews, including affordable housing. No start date yet.

Excelling

• Top of the class, again. Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet, founded in 1573, has been rated exceptional in every area by Ofsted. Inspectors called it a remarkable school where pupils love coming in, praising everything from behaviour to water polo, Eton Fives and fencing.

Spying

• A reader has been raving about Trent Park's House of Secrets, the wartime spy museum in Cockfosters that opened in July. She says the volunteers bring its hidden stories to life. Plan your visit at trentparkhouse.org.uk: open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, adults £14.

Acing

• Barnet’s students are beating the averages at every stage. Provisional figures show 42% of the borough’s GCSE grades were 7 or above, nearly double the national 21.8%, while 39% of A-level grades were A* or A. Primary pupils’ progress ranked among the best nationally too.

The Finchleyite: The Bohemia

Cheers to The Bohemia! North Finchley’s very own London Brewing Company has scooped a prestigious CAMRA award for its commitment to keeping traditional cask ale alive.

The brewery, based at The Bohemia on North Finchley High Road, received the John Young Memorial Award, celebrating outstanding contributions to London’s real ale and pub culture.

And it’s not the brewery’s first triumph. Earlier this year, its Beer Street stout was crowned CAMRA’s Winter Champion Beer of Britain – the first London brew ever to win the title.

CAMRA also praised the company for nurturing brewing talent and championing cask ale at its second pub, Ye Three Lords, near Aldgate.

Managing director Senan Sexton said he was incredibly proud of his team, adding: “For me, a British pub just isn’t quite the same without a great pint of cask ale.”

Another reason to raise a glass to North Finchley!

Editors' Note - From Sasha

I've had a pretty sunny weekend in Manchester, back in the community I grew up in. There's something very special about being home.

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