North Finchley

North Finchley
High rise at Tally Ho Corner
North Finchley  North Finchley shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ265925
London borough	Barnet
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	N12
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Finchley & Golders Green
London Assembly	Barnet and Camden
List of places UK England London

Coordinates: 51°37′01″N 0°10′26″W / 51.617°N 0.174°W / 51.617; -0.174

North Finchley is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Barnet, situated 7 miles (11.3 km) north-west of Charing Cross.

North Finchley is centred on Tally Ho Corner, the junction of the roads to East Finchley, Church End, Friern Barnet and Whetstone. Church End is often known as Finchley Central, due to the name of the tube station.

Tally Ho Corner

It is primarily a residential and shopping area, with several supermarkets and many restaurants. The artsdepot, a local community arts centre including a gallery, a studio and a theatre, opened on 23 October 2004, in an attempt to revitalise the area and to fill a gap created by the demolition of the Gaumont cinema, and what had become an open-air market.

The area has mainly 19th century housing ranging from quaint Victorian cottages to substantially larger Victorian double-fronted houses. There is also a dominant Edwardian style toward Woodside Park and Nether Street but with some modern houses, probably built between the 1930s and 1960s, towards Friern Barnet. On Friern Barnet Lane there are some mansion style properties and on Tally-Ho corner, a development of luxury flats, above the artsdepot with views over Mill Hill and Hertfordshire. There are few Local Authority estates in the area but the largest, and still pleasant, is in Woodside Park where ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton grew up.

The new North Finchley bus station opened in 2004, but closed several months later due to safety issues after a pensioner walked into the shelter through the wrong entrance, was hit by a bus, and died. The bus station was reopened in March 2007 after safety improvements were implemented. They included the addition of a barrier at the exit and a public address system. A week after the reopening, the barriers were declared faulty."Incompetence", Hendon and Finchley Times, 2007-03-21  The barrier was refitted a week after the fault was declared.

The original bus station was close to the site of the new one. It had a single bus lane next to where the "artsdepot" now stands and it was closed shortly before construction began of that and the new bus station. The old bus station was served by routes 82, 260 and 134 which all terminated at North Finchley. However, due to the direction the new bus station now faces, it is served by routes 82 and 460, which cover that part of the suspended 260 route between North Finchley and Willesden, as that route was shortened. It is also served by through routes 221 and 125 to Edgware and Finchley Central, respectively. The Cricketers pub used to stand adjacent to the old bus station.

Balfour House Bombing

On 26 July 1994 a bomb exploded outside Balfour House, a prominent building on North Finchley High Street and office of numerous Jewish charities. Earlier, on the same day, a bomb had exploded outside the Israeli embassy.^[1] Two Lebanese Palestinians, Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh, were subsequently convicted of carrying out the Finchley bombing. "Tally Ho Bombers Lose Court Appeal", Guardian.co.uk, 2001-11-01 

History

Finchley was created an urban district of Middlesex in 1894. In 1932 it was created as the Municipal Borough of Finchley, but in 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its area became part of the London Borough of Barnet.

Margaret Thatcher was elected as MP for Finchley and Golders Green in 1959.

Geography

Neighbouring areas

	Woodside Park	Whetstone	Brunswick Park
	West Finchley		Friern Barnet
		North Finchley
	Church End	East Finchley	Colney Hatch

Notable people

• Charlie Chester, comedian

Margaret Thatcher, Politician

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Finchley.

London Borough of Barnet Districts Arkley Barnet Gate Brent Cross Brunswick Park Burnt Oak Childs Hill Chipping Barnet Church End Cockfosters Colney Hatch Colindale Cricklewood East Barnet East Finchley Edgware Finchley Friern Barnet Golders Green Grahame Park The Hale Hampstead Garden Suburb Hendon The Hyde Mill Hill (including Mill Hill East) Monken Hadley Muswell Hill New Barnet New Southgate North Finchley Oakleigh Park Osidge Southgate Temple Fortune Totteridge West Hendon Whetstone Woodside Park Attractions artsdepot Avenue House Barnet Gate Mill Barnet Museum RAF Museum Parks and open spaces Arrandene Open Space Barnet Gate Wood Basing Hill Park Bethune Park Bittacy Hill Park Brent Park Brent Reservoir Cherry Tree Wood Childs Hill Park Clitterhouse Recreation Ground Coppetts Wood Darland's Lake Nature Reserve Dollis Valley Greenwalk Edgwarebury Park Friary Park Golders Hill Park Greenhill Gardens Hendon Park King George's Fields Long Lane Pasture Lyttelton Playing Fields The Mill Field Mill Hill Park Moat Mount Princes Park Monken Hadley Common Oak Hill Park Oak Hill Wood Old Court House Recreation Ground Princes Park Rowley Green Common Scratchwood Stoneyfields Park Sunny Hill Park Swan Lane Open Space Totteridge Fields Tudor Sports Ground Victoria Park Victoria Recreation Ground Watling Park West Hendon Playing Fields Whitings Hill Open Space Constituencies Chipping Barnet Hendon Finchley and Golders Green Tube and railways stations Brent Cross Burnt Oak Colindale Cricklewood East Finchley Edgware Finchley Central Golders Green Hendon Hendon Central High Barnet Mill Hill Broadway Mill Hill East New Barnet New Southgate Oakleigh Park Totteridge and Whetstone West Finchley Woodside Park Other topics Brent Cross Cricklewood Coat of arms Council Grade I and II* listed buildings Nature reserves People Public art Schools Category Commons