This neighbourhood invites contrast – the wide green expanses of Allianz Park and Copthall Playing Fields to the north are cut off from the suburban residences of Hendon by the A1, just as it means the M1 to the west of the neighbourhood area. Further east, Dollis Brook and Windsor Open Space separate it from Church End and Finchley. The residential area is cut into two portions by the A1 – the southern portion closer to Hendon consists of a mixture of post-war and interwar terraced and semi-detached housing. The housing stock here is modest but well- maintained. The northern section, however, cut off from Hendon town centre and is bounded in by Dollis Brook as well as Hendon Cemetery, in Holders Hill, a relatively upscale neighbourhood on the gentle slopes of greener Hendon.

Holders Hill’s built-up area centres around Holders Hill Road, which itself had come into existence by the 14th century (the area then was called Oldershyll), and the land in the following century would come to be owned by All Souls College, Oxford. Dollis Farm used to occupy the hilly area, which was converted to Hendon Cemetery towards the end of the 1800s; Hendon Golf Club would later be established on part of the farm. Housing only really picked up in the interwar period, as the North Circular Road arrived in the area and suburban London was expanding.

Jeremy Bentham, the famous utilitarian writer, wrote mostly in a farmhouse at Dollis Hill on Holders Hill Road, which was demolished in 1930. His works famously included Utilitarianism (1861), in which he attempted to define ‘higher pleasures’ as well as tie happiness to morality. Bentham was not just a philosopher and writer, however, but was also actively engaged in politics, advocating for universal suffrage and the decriminalisation of homosexuality long before these ideas came into the mainstream. Interestingly, his body and clothes can still be seen today at UCL, as he requested that his body was to be embalmed in his will, creating an auto-icon (the embalming of his head went wrong, but is still kept; a wax head, said to be an uncanny resemblance of Bentham, is instead on public display).

Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium was opened in 1901, though its rustic ambience, with a stream running through it, and a flint-faced chapel, harks back to more ancient times. The cemetery has different sections dedicated to different nationalities – Russian, Greek, Swiss and Japanese, which the latter being designed in typical Japanese style with r and cherry trees. There are more than 200 Commonwealth burials of those who died in the First and Second World Wars, along with 14 more named on the Screen Wall who were cremated.

Barnet Copthall is a recreational complex, with Allianz Park centred on its grounds, being home to the Saracens rugby team. The complex also hosts three swimming pools which offers more than 40 classes per week for all ages.

The A1 is obviously a major thoroughfare, with the associated congestion and traffic volumes; it also splits this neighbourhood into its northern and southern portions, with few crossings. However, the neighbourhood is designed in such a way that the two areas north and south of the road are largely segregated – with Holders Hill being more associated with Finchley, and the southern portion with Hendon. In addition, the straight route also provides good cycle lanes, making cycling a viable option to get to the city centre.

Like other parts of London, new housing developments have begun to crop up in the area. Amongst these are The Metro, a block with 10 one- and two-bedroom luxury apartments close to Hendon Central underground station. To the North of Hendon Central station, at Mulberry Close, Fruition Properties is developing six penthouse apartments above three 1930s art deco blocks, as well as one new villa at ground level that replaces a caretaker’s property on the site. Additionally, they will also work on significant building improvements that aim to modernise the art deco buildings. In the same area, the regeneration of Westhorpe Gardens and Mills Grove Estate is also underway. Working in partnership over the next five years, Hill Group and the Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing will build over 250 new homes to replace the current housing built during the 1960s. The new development will offer a mix of affordable housing, including rented homes for existing tenants together with additional homes for rent and shared ownership and private sale homes for over-55s.