Things to know if you're living in the Borough of Barnet!

Your Guide to Living in Barnet & Whetstone

Living in Barnet or Whetstone gives you the best of both worlds – it’s just a short hop to the centre of London, and they are also within touching distance of Hertfordshire’s beautiful green countryside.

But as well as being accessible to city and countryside, the area boasts lots of appealing features of its own, offering great schools and colleges, cultural diversity, a friendly business community and a wide range of leisure opportunities.

Overview

Located in the heart of the London Borough of Barnet, on London’s northern perimeter, the area includes the districts of Chipping Barnet, High Barnet, East Barnet, New Barnet, Totteridge and Whetstone.

The Borough of Barnet is just 8 miles north of the centre of London and has almost 400,000 residents at the last count, making it the most populous of London’s boroughs.

Schools, Colleges and Universities

The Borough offers a wide choice of educational establishments, with 86 primary schools, 22 secondary schools and four special schools, as well as 37 independent schools.

A complete list of the schools, with contact details for each, can be found at https://www.barnet.gov.uk/directories/schools

The main college in the borough is Barnet College, with five sites.
Woodhouse College is a single site state sixth form college in North Finchley.

Middlesex University has its main campus at Hendon, and University College London has its teaching observatory at Mill Hill.

Transport

As well as an extensive bus network, the area is served by the Northern Line of the London Underground (Tube) network and the East Coast Main Line route, with regular trains running into Kings Cross and Moorgate.

The A1 and M1 motorways also provide north-south access for drivers, and the area sits between London’s two main circular routes: the North Circular Road and the M25 motorway.

Parks, Sports & Leisure

Barnet is known for its green, open spaces, and nowhere is far from a park.

Brook Farm, Friary Park, Whetstone Stray and King George’s Fields provide local people with pleasant walking and relaxation spots. Brent Reservoir is a site of special scientific interest, and Barnet boasts no fewer than seven local nature reserves and 67 sites of importance for nature conservation.

Oakleigh Park is also a wonderful place to spend some time outdoors, with the majestic Oak Hill Park a mile east of the station. The park is home to the Pymmes Brook and the picturesque Pymmes Brook trail, which leads toward the Oak Hill Park Cafe and Bowls Club.

For horse riders, The London Equestrian Centre is on our doorstep, and the world-famous RAF Museum is just a few miles away.

If golf is your thing, you’ll be spoilt for choice, as there are several excellent golf clubs close by, including:

• South Herts
• Dyrham Park
• The Shire
• Old Fold Manor
• Mill Hill
• Trent Park
• North Middlesex

The area is also close to the home to Barnet Football Club, and Allianz Park hosts one of Europe’s finest rugby union teams in Saracens.

Wembley Stadium – known to many as the global home of football – sits a few miles to the west of Barnet, and the spiritual home of cricket – Lord’s Cricket Ground – is just to the south.

And if your passions include tennis, table tennis, bowls, cycling, swimming, running, netball, or any one of over a hundred different spots, there’s a club nearby with likeminded players and participants waiting to be your friend.

Music, Cinema and Theatre

Barnet is rich in opportunity for anyone wishing to take part in the performing arts, with several music, dance, drama, choral, operatic and performing arts clubs and groups.

The Barnet and District Drama Festival is run every spring and many other festivals add colour and texture to the local tapestry throughout the year.

But if you’d rather sit and watch, we have lots of music and arts venues, cinemas and theatres, the largest of which are:

• Everyman Cinema, High Barnet
• Vue Cinema, North Finchley
• Bull Theatre, High Barnet
• ArtsDepot, North Finchley

Food and Drink

Lovers of the culinary arts are well catered for in Barnet and Whetstone, with a huge and diverse mix of eateries and watering holes, including cuisine from across Europe and Asia, North, South and Central America, Africa and Australasia, as well as traditional British pubs, gastropubs, fish & chip shops, fast food outlets, artisan cafes and coffee shops.

Faith Centres

Barnet is an inclusive and tolerant area, to which all races and religions are warmly welcomed, and embraced into the wider community. The area has a wide range of churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and other places of worship in which all residents can follow their beliefs safely and securely.

Hospitals and Health Care, Charities and Volunteer Organisations

The borough has two major hospitals – Barnet Hospital and Edgware Community Hospital, plus a wide range of mainstream and complementary clinics and therapists.

Barnet is home to number of charitable organisations, including Cherry Lodge Cancer Care, The Noah’s Ark Hospice, Mencap and many more.

Markets

Barnet is the historic site for one of the UK’s oldest markets, dating back to the 13^th century and the market still opens every Wednesday and Saturday.

Other permanent and occasional markets can be found in Whetstone, and the adjacent districts of Cricklewood, East Finchley, Mill Hill, North Finchley and Temple Fortune.

For an up-to-date list of markets and events, visit https://www.barnet.gov.uk/community/town-teams/markets-and-events

Twins and Sisters

Barnet is very proud to be linked with several other overseas communities, including

• Barnet, Vermont, United States
• Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
• Jinja, Uganda
• Le Raincy, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France
• Montclair Township, Essex County, New Jersey, United States
• Morphou, Cyprus
• Ramat Gan, Israel
• Siegen-Wittgenstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
• Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany

And for everything else…

For everything else you need to know, there are two easy ways to find out.

You can go the Barnet website at https://www.barnet.gov.uk/glossary or, for a more personal service, come and talk to Mark at Compass Residential, and get it from a local!