HERE FILM FESTIVAL is about the diversity of interests, people and places in the suburbs of London. HERE is not in the West End, Southbank or Shoreditch. HERE in the suburbs we aren't the swanky super-rich, the celebrity glitterati or bearded hipsters.  HERE is where the cinema creatives of London produce…

This year, 2015 marks the centenary of one the best known illustrators you have probably never heard of… Yet anyone growing up in the 50s, 60s or 70s is likely to recognise the images of Robert Norton Ayton even if you do not know his name.

Robert Ayton was born in Russell Road Bowes Park during the Great War in May 1915 the second of four sons of…

Recent news about the redevelopment of Palmers Green Bus garage has prompted questions about its fascinating history.



Constructed just over a century ago in 1910 the building we now know as Palmers Green bus garage was…

We have become used to Election Campaigns conducted via broadcast media: leader debates live on TV, party Twitter feeds and viral videos on YouTube. Very different from earlier days when politics relied much more on face-to-face discussions, public meetings and rallies; campaigning “on the stump”.

Just along the road in Wood Green is Spouters…

“Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder Treason and Plot” so goes the children’s rhyme assocated with “Guy Fawkes night” which we commemorate with fireworks and bonfires on November 5th each year.

But many things about the Gunpowder Plot have not been remembered - many…

The recent press coverage of the death of Richard Attenborough includes a couple of references to Palmers Green.

At the age of 17 Richard Attenborough won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of…

Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. In our area so many of the things we report on on this site have significant input from volunteers committed to improving our communities - so it's worth considering for a moment the impact that  volunteer-run organisations…

Small Story of a Big Road

by Chris Joseph

This illustrated short book by Chris Joseph is dedicated "For the People who live with the North Circular Road"

The short 16 page booklet features a collection of illustrations depicting the rebuilding of the North Circular Road over the…

I am a big fan of the Guardian Data blog – indeed it has supplied stories for this website in the past - so I was delighted to see a fascinating link to historical data published on the Guardian site…

It’s funny how so much stuff on our streets just gets ignored – lamp posts, telegraph poles – those funny phone cabinets that you sometime see people tinkering inside even the bright red pillar boxes.

It seems like only a couple of times a year that I seek out a Royal Mail pillar boxes: the odd birthday card and the last posting day for…

The war memorial at St John the Evangelist church in Palmers Green had an overhaul and clean-up in time for 2013's Remembrance Week.

The Palmers Green war memorial is a very fine piece of work. Carved from coarse limestone it stands around 12 feet high on a wide stepped base.  The statue dominates the front of the church at the corner of…

A great new source of local historical information has just been made available with the publication this week by the Wellcome Trust of annual reports from London’s Medical Officers of Health (MOHs).

The online resource – called London’s Pulse contains more than 5,000 fully searchable reports, from 1848 to 1973, detailing the health of Londoners…

Linsdsey has posted a photograph of the newly re-painted sign on the bridge over Pymmes Brook and it reminded me of a mystery that has been touched on…

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do."

-- Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled "A Man out of Time Beats the Clock." Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.

Our local area has a bit of hidden history as a location for the performance and recording of music…

Here's a little challenge over the summer months - tell us about the odd and quirky things on the street where you live - Find three interesting things about your street, block or business and share them here.

As a starter here is something based on my own street:

Three things about ... Melbourne Avenue

No1. …

Walking around Wood Green it looks like a few of our landmark buildings are beginning to re-emerge from rebuilding or refurbishment.

At the corner of High Road and Bounds Green Road, after several months the scaffolding is coming down from St Michaels Church; revealing a clean and bright looking spire.

It was fascinating to see the weather cock close-up at the children's Carol Service last Christmas Eve - it has now been restored to its original position and…

Last weekend a couple of local events attracted lots of people to come together and have fun in public spaces - in the process meeting neighbours and friends. This set me thinking about the way we use our streets and public spaces for community events.

On Sunday the hugely successful …

Number 123 Myddleton Road is one of the finest remaining frontages in this once proud Edwardian shopping street.

If you imagine hard you might just see beyond the grimy cracked glass and flaking grey paint to relive its former grandeur.

But it’s unlikely that you would conceive of this to be one of the premier fetish boot and shoe workshops in…

In recent times we have heard much discussion about questionable journalism. Sensationalist stories in poor taste however, are nothing new - one of the earliest British tabloids was the Illustrated Police News.

Published weekly  from 1842 it gained notoriety though the coverage of the…

Just off Muswell Hill Broadway a few paces down Hillfield Park, outside number 1, is one of our rare local Blue Plaques.

This  marks the former home of performer, painter, poet, writer raconteur and musician Vivian Stanshall a true British…