Located in between New Southgate and North Finchley, this neighbourhood sits in the district of Friern Barnet in the suburbs of north London. The area is split straight through the middle by Friern Barnet Road, which divides it into typically-suburban Edwardian streets to the north and the much more modern flats and houses in the cul-de-sacs to the south towards the industrial North Circular. Besides a small high street in the centre and the retail park to the south, conveniences are few and far between, meaning that most of the nearby vitality can be found in the neighbouring towns of Bounds Green or Muswell Hill. This does mean, however, that once you get away from the North Circular the area is very quiet and peaceful, which has attracted a large population of families and a number of celebrities to the flats at Princess Park Manor. If one is however looking for a bit more vibrancy in the evenings, New Southgate Station provides rail services across town and even further afield, and there are conveniently-placed bus routes throughout.

Its suburban location also means that the area has an abundance of green spaces, including Bethune Park and the grounds of the Princess Park Manor, which give the neighbourhood plenty of sports and activity space, and the ‘secret park’ on the banks of the North Circular is a beautiful, quiet place to escape despite its proximity to the highway. With a number of good schools too, this neighbourhood is an ideal location for families who wish to travel into London while remaining in a quiet and peaceful neighbourhood.

Once an ancient parish in the Middlesex hundred of Ossulstone, the area was originally known as Little Barnet, which then became Frerenbarnet and later Friern Barnet. The name ‘Friern’ derives from the French for ‘brother’, which refers to the Brotherhood of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem who were medieval crusading knights. It remained almost entirely rural until the mid-19th century, when Friern Hospital, a pauper’s lunatic asylum, was opened in 1851, and the Great Northern and Metropolitan Railways were introduced, starting a slow process of suburbanisation.

The establishment of an electric tramway in the early 1900s sped up this development and its population doubled between 1911 and 1961. To the south of the asylum, which is now flats called Princess Park Manor, Friern Village was built in 1998 on land that was once farmed by residents of the hospital, and much of the houses to the south of the village take a similar architectural form.

The former insane asylum of Friern Hospital was home to a number of notable residents, many of whom were wrongly-committed just because of learning disabilities or addiction. Polish immigrant, Aaron Kosminski, was one who was there correctly, however. A paranoid schizophrenic with homicidal tendencies, Kosminski has been considered one of the prime suspects for the Jack the Ripper murders since the time they happened, while he was working as a barber in Whitechapel before being committed to the asylum in 1891. Author Russell Edwards recently claimed to have matched DNA from one of the murder scenes to Kosminski, although this has been contested by a number of Jack the Ripper experts.

Since its closure in 1993, however, the asylum of Friern Hospital has been converted into luxury flats called Princess Park Manor, that have been home to a number of celebrities looking to escape the paparazzi and crowds closer to the city centre. Liverpool footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lived there while a player at Arsenal as it was positioned close enough to Holloway, and members of One Direction also once called the Manor home!

As mentioned above, the area can often come across as rather dull and residential, with very little to offer particularly the young adult population. However, one local mentioned that there’s no shortage of transport out to the more exciting parts of town, especially with the up and coming Bounds Green only a short walk away.

The whole borough of Barnet is currently going through significant regeneration and is in the process of building 30,000 new homes within its boundaries, which will have a direct impact on the neighbourhood. The Montmorency Park project was the largest of these completed in this area so far, providing 517 new private sale houses and apartments priced from £350,000 upwards. Looking forward there are also plans to enhance the area around New Southgate Station through the creation of a new public square. New Southgate will also be greatly affected by the introduction of Crossrail 2 which is planned to pass through the station. Yet despite £1.8 billion being invested in the project in 2020 it is unclear when the project will materialise as plans have been underconsideration in different forms since the 1970s.