Welcome

Thinking about Reformer Pilates? We've done the (research) legwork (see what we did there) - check out our Finchley-adjacent list.

Plus a castle in Hampstead - we know you love the property stories - and The Spaniards Inn.

🧘‍♀️10 Finchley Reformer Pilates Studios

We’ve talked before about Pilates mat classes – but reformer classes are the new black.

Whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned devotee, there's a reformer studio within easy reach of Finchley. Here's where to look.

• ​Happy Body Pilates — 8 Dudley Road, N3. Five-star-rated studio run by instructor Kerry, known for precise cueing and sessions tailored to individual needs including postpartum recovery. Minutes from Finchley Central (Northern line).
• ​Pilates Bumps & Beyond — 172 Long Lane, N3. Specialist pre- and postnatal reformer studio with over a decade of expertise. Also close to Finchley Central.
• ​Exhale Pilates North Finchley — 269 Ballards Lane, N12. One of London's best-known classical Pilates brands, using authentic Gratz apparatus and running teacher training programmes. Nearest tube: West Finchley (Northern line).
• ​N12 Pilates — 27 Ravensdale Avenue, N12. Highly rated studio particularly well regarded for clients managing injuries or complex conditions. Nearest tube: Woodside Park (Northern line).
• ​Pilates by the Green — two local studios: East Finchley (next to Hexagon Classics, with café and parking, opened 2025) and Hampstead Garden Suburb (19 The Market Place, NW11, established since the late 1990s). A family-run operation offering reformer, privates, duets and matwork, with in-house physiotherapy. Nearest tubes: East Finchley and Golders Green (both Northern line).
• ​Elite Reformer Pilates — 1306 High Road, Whetstone, N20. Beginner-friendly studio with multiple sites and a welcoming atmosphere. Nearest tube: Totteridge & Whetstone (Northern line).
• ​Studio Reforma — 28b Lancaster Road, New Barnet, EN4. Classes capped at five people for an unusually personal experience. Nearest station: New Barnet (Thameslink).
• ​Body By Me Pilates — 26b Station Parade, Cockfosters, EN4. Strong community atmosphere and excellent reviews. Nearest tube: Cockfosters (Piccadilly line).
• ​The Resistance Reformer Pilates — Queens Road Industrial Estate, Barnet, EN5. Small-group sessions with instructor Gemma, highly recommended by local regulars. Nearest tube: High Barnet (Northern line).
• ​Reform Room — 63–67 Athenaeum Place, Muswell Hill, N10. Newer studio near East Finchley with a fast-growing reputation for beautifully run small classes. Nearest tube: East Finchley (Northern line).

And if you fancy traveling further afield for celebrity-laden high-energy classes, check out​these lists.

Stretch and grow, people. 🧘‍♀️

Events

THEATRE

Wedenesday 22nd April

Eastenders at 40 | Wed, Apr. 22 | 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm | Elstree & Borehamwood Museum, 96 Shenley Road, Borehamwood, WD6 1EB | Free | Popular soap drama Eastenders is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. To commemorate this event, Elstree and Borehamwood Museum has teamed up with the BBC to prepare an exhibition.

Saturday 2nd May

​The Mental Masacre | Sat, May. 02 | 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm | The Bull Theatre, Barnet, EN5 5SJ | £5,35 | The Mental Masacre is a short horror/thriller film made by teenagers who want to be a part of the industry. The idea and screenplay were by Mollie-Jai and T L Martindale, both Susi Earnshaw Theatre School graduates. The film centres around a group of teenagers who decide to visit a local asylum that was abandoned many years before, and is rumoured to be haunted. But will they ever be able to leave? And if so, will it be alive?

OLDER PEOPLE

Friday 1st May

Age UK Barnet: Monthly Bingo | Fri, May. 01 | 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm | The Ann Owens Centre, Oak Ln, N2 8LT | £3 | Join Age UK for their monthly Bingo on Fridays. A chance to have fun, enjoy some friendly competition, and connect with others | call 020 8203 5040 or Email.

MUSIC

Monday 20th April

​An Evening of Song | Mon, Apr. 20 | 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm | Hadley Green Road, Barnet, EN5 5PZ | ££15 | A programme of beautiful romantic songs by classical composers, performed by prize-winning young artists completing post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music.

SPORT

Monday 20th April

​Ki Akikido Free Taster | Mon, Apr. 20 | 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm | Langland Gardens, NW3 6QE | Free | A free Aikido class in which you will see how the art works, hear something of its history and philosophy and get a feel of the techniques. You will also learn moves and exercises you can take away and use immediately.

FOOD

Thursday 23rd April

​St George's Day Dinner | Thu, Apr. 23 | 7:00 pm | Stephens House & Gardens, N3 3QE | £30 | Join everyone at Stephens House and Gardens for an English-themed evening, including Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings.

ARTS

Saturday 25th April

​Knit For Peace 2026 Open Day | Sat, Apr. 25 | 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm | Radius Works Back Lane NW3 1HL | Weave cones sold by the kilo with many varieties of yarn for sale.

​Truly, Darkly, Deeply by Victoria Selmen | Sat, Apr. 25 | 11:00 am to 12:00 pm | Brent Cross Town, Visitor Pavilion, 145 Claremont Road, NW2 1FE | Free | Join Brent Cross Book Club for their new book discussion on Truly, Darkly, Deeply: the gripping thriller with a shocking twist.

Sunday 26th April

​Unique Handmade Two Sake Cups Or Bowl Making Workshop | Sun, Apr. 26 | 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm | Kanpai London Sake Brewery & Taproom, 48 Druid Street, SE1 2EZ | £40 for making two small cups or a bowl | Come join us for a fun hands-on workshop where you can create your own unique pinch pot two sake cups or a bowl. Family-friendly event.

NATURE

Monday 4th May

​Plant Sale | Mon, May. 04 | The Grow Farm, Barnet Lane, N2 08AZ | Free | Just turn up for the plant sale to diversify your biodiversity.

Events - Book Ahead

Monday 31st May

​Joyfully Jewish: Getting On | Sun, May. 31 | 7:30 pm | artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, N12 0GA | From: £19 | Echoes Theatre Co. and The Jewish Cabaret present a night of Jewish joy. Enjoy a selection of new, short comedic plays and original musical theatre songs all about the joys (and oys) of being older and Jewish.

Saturday 6th June

​Wolf Boy | Sat, Jun. 06 | 11:30 am | The Bothy Gardens At Stephens House & Gardens, N3 3QE | £15.50 | Join Drama in the Woods for a unique open-air theatre experience that brings your children on a magical, immersive and interactive adventure through the grounds of Stephens House and Gardens.

Sunday 21st June

​Otoboke Beaver Live At The Electric Ballroom | Sun, Jun. 21 | 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm | Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High Street, NW1 8QP | £27.60 | Get Tickets Unmissable frenetic Japanese Punk band return for their only headline show whilst touring with the Foo Fighters. In the last year the band played with Oasis, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Jack White.

Local Lowdown

Castelling

• Hampstead has a castle, and it's on the market. A six-bedroom Jacobean Revival residence on Frognal (set behind its iconic castellated façade) has been listed for £6.95m. Built in the 19th century and since renovated with an Italian-style kitchen and walled garden, the home sits just 450 metres from Hampstead Tube and a short walk from the Heath.

Promming

• The line-up for Proms at St Jude's is here. Running from 27th June to the 5th July across Hampstead Garden Suburb, the nine-day festival brings together music (Mozart, Van Morrison, Wolf Hall), literature, comedy and heritage walks. Highlights include viola star Timothy Ridout with the Academy of St Mary-le-Bow, and a Last Night Concert with the Purcell School Symphony Orchestra.

Enduring

• Sixty-six years on, and still going strong. Maurice and Shirley, residents of Magnolia Court Care Home in Hampstead, marked their wedding anniversary on 27th March. The pair met aged 16 at a Jewish youth camp in Swanage in 1952, with Maurice cycling 20-plus miles and taking the ferry to Dublin to see Shirley before they married at Hampstead Synagogue in 1960.

Patching

• Barnet High Street's Hadley end is finally getting its potholes fixed. Carriageway works will run from Tuesday 21 April for four nights, between 8pm and 5am, with no parking permitted in the main road during those hours. Drivers are warned the road will be closed overnight, so plan your route accordingly if you're visiting the area after dark.

Standing

• The candidate list is in, and Barnet's ballot papers are taking shape. Every ward across the borough now has its nominees confirmed for the local government elections on Thursday 7 May, when all 63 council seats (across 24 wards) will be contested. You can see who's running in your area by entering your postcode at whocanivotefor.co.uk.

The Finchleyite: The Spaniards Inn

Standing on the old Finchley boundary, The Spaniards Inn is one of north London’s most atmospheric historic pubs. Built in 1585 as a tollgate, it marked the entrance to the Bishop of London’s estate, and an original 1755 boundary stone still survives in the front garden. Opposite stands the early 18th-century tollhouse, another rare survival from the coaching-road past.

The inn has gathered centuries of folklore. Dick Turpin is said to have family links to the pub, and highwaymen once haunted these roads, targeting wealthy travellers leaving London. During the Gordon Riots of 1780, the landlord reportedly delayed rioters with free drinks, helping save Kenwood House.

It also has strong cultural pedigree: John Constable painted Road to the Spaniards, Hampstead in 1822, and the pub appears in Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers and is linked to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Grade II listed, it remains a richly storied stop on the edge of Hampstead Heath.

Editors' Note - From Tessa

I was lucky enough to jet-set to Los Angeles this week for a business mastermind.

Had a truly wonderful and connected time mingling with other entrepreneurs in the LA sunshine.

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