Barnet & district · Local news you can trust
Barnet's free Light + Flight festival opens Finchley Lakeside to the public for the first time on 14 and 15 Nov, then moves to the RAF Museum and artsdepot.
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Parks
West Hendon Playing Fields gets tennis, 3x3 courts, play area
West Hendon Playing Fields now has two tennis courts, a 3x3 basketball court and a bigger playground. A pitch and cafe could follow if funding is found.
Council
Barnet ends Capita IT deal, takes service in-house 1 Oct
Barnet is running its own IT from 1 October after a £6.2m contract award was abandoned. Capita's whole IT workforce transfers to the council under TUPE.
Barnet
Barnet Christmas Bin Collections: What Moves and When
Barnet moved five bin days last Christmas, some to a Saturday. Last year's full table, the garden waste pause, tree collections and when 2026 dates land.
Barnet
Barnet School Term Dates 2026/27: Half Term 26 October
Barnet schools break for October half term on 26 October and for Christmas on 18 December 2026. Every 2026/27 date, plus three big schools that differ.
Barnet
Barnet Tip Opening Times: Summers Lane, 9am to 4pm Daily
Summers Lane tip in North Finchley opens 9am to 4pm every day, gates shut 3.45pm. No booking for cars; vans must book. Closed only 25, 26 Dec and 1 Jan.
Barnet
Barnet Christmas Travel: Tube, Thameslink and Last Trains
No Tube, bus or Thameslink on Christmas Day. Last year Thameslink also ran nothing on Boxing Day and wound down by 9pm on Christmas Eve. 2026 plans due in Dec.
Barnet
RAF Museum London in Winter: Free, Shut 24 to 26 December
RAF Museum London is free and open 10am to 5pm daily. It has shut 24 to 26 December and on New Year's Day, and last year ran Elf Cadets on two December weekends.
Barnet
Barnet Christmas Lights: Late November, 16 High Streets
Barnet lights its high streets together in late November; in 2024 the Mayor switched on Whetstone on 21 November. The 16 streets, the menorahs and 2026 dates.
Business
New Barnet businesses: 57 firms in a month, Indian Ace shuts
57 companies registered at Barnet addresses in a month: a fishmonger for Church Hill Road, a padel firm at Hadley Highstone, a games studio. Indian Ace on Oakleigh Road North is in liquidation.
Crime
Barnet hate crime up 64% in a quarter, figures show
Police logged 381 hate crime incidents in Barnet in April to June, 64% up on the same quarter last year. Violence, robbery and shoplifting rose too.
Crime
Prevent referrals in Barnet more than double in three months
Barnet made 51 Prevent enquiries in April to June, against 22 a year earlier. Adult cases rose from 6 to 27 and violence-fascination cases from 4 to 22.
Health
Barnet drops 'gap' finding over closed Finchley pharmacy
Barnet said in June the Fairview closure could leave a gap. New analysis says it does not: 71 pharmacies become 70, and no pharmacy nearby opens Sunday.
Barnet Live covers the whole borough, from High Barnet at the top of the Northern line down to Cricklewood, and from Hampstead Garden Suburb across to Finchley, Hendon, Edgware, Golders Green and Colindale. Different as those places are, they share one council, one planning register, and decisions that shape everybody’s week.
We read the records. Planning applications, police crime data, council spending, licensing notices: we go through them, write up what they actually say in plain English, and put a link to the source on every fact so you can check it yourself. We also look after the pages nobody would call journalism but everybody searches for, like which day your bin goes out in Finchley, what the car parks charge and which council tax band your street sits in.
If we get something wrong, we would far rather hear it from you than leave it standing.