Welcome

Well, we're definitely getting colder, but Finchley seems to have largely weathered Storm Austen.

This week we're getting our winter coats out and getting ready for Halloween.

Oh, and did you know the Ice Age ended at Henley's Corner?

🎃 Finchley's Frightfully Fun Festivities

Here’s a pre-Halloween heads-up to help you plan your celebrations.

If you thought Finchley was just about leafy parks and chill cafes, think again. Our little pocket of London transforms into the spooktacular hotspot you never knew you needed. And boy, do we have some ghoulishly grand plans for you.

Spine Chilling Cellars and Garden Ghost Hunt

Stephens House & Gardens goes ghostly - our very own Stephens House & Gardens has a great ghoulish gathering for you.

On Friday 30^th October and Saturday 31^st October, the spine-chilling cellars are open, and you can spot ghosts in the trees and claim your prize. Hunt starts anytime between 13.00 and 15.30 closes at 16.00 Tickets £5.50 per person / child over 2.

Spooktacular Halloween Disco: A Night of Frightful Fun

Finchley Youth Theatre is hosting a Halloween Disco on Thursday 29^th October 2 – 4pm, with DJ Groovy Gee, snacks and a costume parade. More info here – must book in advance.

And for grown-ups - Sweetlead Salsa turns its Saturday social into a Halloween Party at Christ’s College in Finchley, north London, on Saturday 31 October 2026, from 8pm to midnight.

Or the King of Prussia is hosting a multi-generational Halloween Day Party on 31^st October.

Trick or Treating with a Twist

And here’s an idea for you little witches, wizards, and werewolves. They may enjoy traditional trick-or-treating. Or why not give something back to our elders and consider taking them to one of our local Care Homes, so that the residents can enjoy the dressing up – definitely call in advance.

Finchley's all set to give Transylvania a run for its money this Halloween. So, grab your broomsticks and dust off those costumes. Happy haunting, Finchley. 🎃

Events

ARTS

Monday 26th October

​Half-Term Craft Club | Mon, Oct. 26 | 10:00 am to 12:00 pm | Visitor Pavilion, 145 Claremont Road, Brent Cross Town, NW2 1FE | Free | Help make pumpkins, bats and monster faces to decorate the park for the Halloween Dog Parade, plus make-and-take haunted house hats and pumpkin masks.

Wednesday 28th October

​Urban Portraits: Fragments of London | Wed, Oct. 28 | 10:00 am to 4:00 pm | Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 1LT | Free | North London plein air painter Mark Woods captures buildings weeks away from renovation or demolition. Open Wednesday to Sunday until 15 November.

COMMUNITY

Thursday 29th October

​Halloween Walks in High Barnet | Thu, Oct. 29 | 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm | Meet at High Barnet tube station | £15, £5 for under 12s | Explore the ghostly history of High Barnet and Monken Hadley, said to be England's second most haunted village, with City of London guide Paul Baker. Also 30 and 31 October and 1 November. Book by email.

Saturday 31st October

​Diwali at the Library | Sat, Oct. 31 | 11:00 am to 12:30 pm | Chipping Barnet Library, Stapylton Road, Barnet, EN5 4QT | £15 | A Diwali craft workshop for children and families with local creative wellbeing business Ay & I Creations.

KIDS

Monday 26th October

​October Half Term at Go Ape Alexandra Palace | Mon, Oct. 26 | Open daily | Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY | From £23.95 | Take on treetop crossings, cargo nets and ziplines with skyline views, open all through half term.

Friday 30th October

​Spine Chilling Cellars and Garden Ghost Hunt | Fri, Oct. 30 | 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm | Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, N3 3QE | £5.50 | Dare to go down into the spine chilling cellars, then spot the ghosts around the garden to claim your prize. Booking essential.

​West Hampstead's Free Family Halloween Party | Fri, Oct. 30 | From 3:00 pm | The Sheriff Centre, NW6 2AP | Free | A children's Halloween disco and karaoke, spooky crafts, face painting and a fancy dress competition.

MUSIC

Tuesday 27th October

​Black History Month Celebration | Tue, Oct. 27 | 11:00 am to 3:00 pm | Barnet Multicultural Community Centre, Algernon Road, NW4 3TA | Free | Live steel pan at 12:30 pm, Afro-Caribbean tea at 1 pm, then a craft and crochet workshop.

THEATRE

Monday 26th October

​Spooky Screenings | Mon, Oct. 26 | 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm | Visitor Pavilion, 145 Claremont Road, Brent Cross Town, NW2 1FE | Free | Free Halloween family films with a complimentary carton of popcorn through half term, starting with Coco on Monday.

Tuesday 27th October

​Kevin Quantum: Anti-Gravity | Tue, Oct. 27 | 7:00 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From £19 | Impossible illusions and levitations from the magician-scientist tutored by Penn & Teller. Ages 8+.

Events - Book Ahead

Sunday 22nd November

​Frost Fair | Sun, Nov. 22 | 10:30 am to 4:30 pm | Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, N3 3QE | Free entry | Finchley's 15th Frost Fair, with more than 40 craft stalls for perfect Christmas gift ideas.

Monday 23rd November

​Special Community Screening: People's Emergency Briefing | Mon, Nov. 23 | 6:45 pm to 9:00 pm | Golders Green | Free | JVS screens the 50-minute film in which leading scientists present the latest evidence on climate and nature, followed by a discussion about what we can do locally. Ages 16+.

Thursday 26th November

​Annual Charity Christmas Market | Thu, Nov. 26 | 10:00 am to 4:00 pm | Hadley Wood Golf Club, Beech Hill, Barnet, EN5 0JJ | £5 | Festive shopping in aid of Cherry Lodge and North London Deaf.

Local Lowdown

Expanding

• A car wash near Golders Green station is making way for hotel guests. Barnet councillors have unanimously approved plans to expand Hotel Unique on Finchley Road to 130 rooms, with a new four-storey block and a coffee shop. The locally listed Refectory pub next door will stay.

Building

• North Finchley is home to an award-winning builder. Harvey Scott, site manager at Taylor Wimpey's Tramworks development on the High Road, has won a Pride in the Job regional award from the NHBC, often called the Oscars of housebuilding. The site's flats and three-bed homes are on sale now.

Opening

• Cricklewood's long wait is over. The new 18,000 sq ft Waitrose opened on Cricklewood Broadway on Thursday, bringing more than 100 jobs, sushi made on site and the full range of Waitrose products. It stands on the site of the legendary Galtymore Irish ballroom, with a car park and lifts.

Planting

• Apples, pears, quince and medlar are coming to Underhill. Volunteers plan to plant up to a dozen fruit trees next February in a corner of Barnet Playing Fields for the new Dollis Valley Community Orchard, with a wildflower meadow alongside. MP Dan Tomlinson says the fields won't be built on.

Stamping

• The shop where it all began is getting a makeover. UOE’s East Finchley branch on the High Road, where the business started in 1983, is becoming Stamp, with a new shopfront and a Tech Hub repairing phones, tablets and laptops. Post Office services stay, with a full refurb to follow.

When the Ice Age Came to Finchley

Believe it or not, Finchley was once on the frontline of the Ice Age.

Around 450,000 years ago, a vast ice sheet swept south from northern England, reaching as far as Finchley and Watford, dramatically reshaping the landscape.

In Finchley, the ice advanced into the Finchley Gap, a broad, low-lying corridor centred on Church End, between the higher ground of Mill Hill and Hampstead Heath.

The glaciers left behind deposits of clay, rocks and gravel up to 18 metres thick, evidence of an extraordinary prehistoric invasion.

Before the ice arrived, an ancient river called the proto-Mole-Wey flowed northwards through Finchley towards Hertfordshire.

But the advancing glaciers disrupted the region's rivers, helping divert the Thames southwards towards its present course.

Today, the North Circular crosses this ancient landscape, while Finchley sits between the River Brent and River Lea catchments. The Pleistocene ice-sheets really did stop at Henly’s Corner.

Next time you're passing Church End, remember: giant glaciers once reached this very neighbourhood.

Editors' Note - From Sasha

Cool half-term outing to see Richard Dadd - Beyond Bedlam at the Royal Academy. Truly unique works on themes from literature (especially Shakespeare), fairies, memory and the mind - and lots of Victoria psychiatrists while he was ensconced in the asylum system.

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