The Saturday List #187 - The complete list of closed venues in the London Borough of Barnet played by The False Dots

This is a subject we've touched on a few times, but as we've learned that there is a proposal to demolish the Midland Hotel in Hendon and replace it with flats, I thought that this is well worth revisiting. Regular readers will know that I play in a band called the False Dots. We have done dozens, if not hundreds of gigs in the Borough since we formed in 1979. Many of the venues we've played have closed down. Barnet Council talked about submitting a bid to become the London Borough of Culture. If they seriously want to follow through on this bid, I will support it, but only if they reverse this cultural pillaging of our music venues. Here is the full list, with dates of gigs at closed venues.

18th February 1981 - Orange Hill Senior High School, Burnt Oak. Just before I left the school, the band performed a gig in the school hall. Within a few years the school had closed, subsumed into Mill Hill County High School.

8th October 1983  - Prince Albert, Golders Green. A great night at a long lost pub.

15th March 1984 - The Bald Faced Stag, Burnt Oak. This pub had a terrible reputation, but in the Spring of 1984, a new landlord took over, with a brief to improve the reputation of the pub. He decided to transform it into a music venue. We had a residency there there, which were great. A guy called Tony Byrne video'd one, but I lost touch with him. If you know Tony, tell him to get in touch, I'd love to see it again. The Stag is currently being demolished.

25th May 1984 - The Bald Faced Stag, Burnt Oak
30th June 1984 - The Bald Faced Stag, Burnt Oak

19th May 1990 - St Josephs College, Mill Hill. At the time, this was a missionary college. The students had  a common room, which was used for regular gigs (mostly Irish & folk). We were asked to play on the Evening of the last ever Garden Fete in the grounds. The Princess of Tonga was the guest of honour and it was a delight to see her boogieing to the Dots! The college is now luxury flats.

20th April 2002 - The Red Lion, Colindale. The False Dots took a sabbatical between 1990 and 2001, mostly due to my lack of time and inclination as I was getting married, building the business and managing The Sway, an indie band. When my business partner, Ernie Ferebee died in 2001 of Pancreatic Cancer, we decided to do a one off benefit gig for Ernie's family at The Red Lion. To my amazement, I enjoyed it immensely and the second incarnation of the Dots sprung into life. Sadly, whilst the Dots have persisted, the Red Lion is long gone.

2nd November  2002 - The Mill Hill Sports Club. This began a long association with the Sports club. We played all sorts of gigs, mostly for the Mill Hill Music Festival and for MacMillan Cancer relief, famously Kate Nash supported us at one, a month before her first single was released!

6th June 2003 - The Mill Hill Sports Club (Mill Hill Music Festival)

2nd October 2004 - The Green Man, Barnet. Fil Ross (long time guitarist/bassist with the Dots) was promoting a Rock night for new bands at the Green Man.

10th June 2005 - The Mill Hill Sports Club (MHMF)
3rd Nov 2006 - The Mill Hill Sports Club - Macmillan cancer Relief + Kate Nash
8th June 2007 - The Mill Hill Sports Club (MHMF)
26th June 2009 - The Mill Hill Sports Club (MHMF)
14th May 2010 - The Mill Hill Sports Club (Macmillan Cancer Relief)
15th Jan 2011 - The Bell, Mill Hill. The Bell was a High street pub that featured DJ's and occasional live music. The venue was closed by Barnet Council due to various licensing breaches. It is now Prezzo's. The False Dots were the last band to play there.
27th June 2011 - The Mill Hill Sports Club (MHMF)

The False Dots - 2018

Of course, the Dots have played many venues that are still open in some shape or form, but for a band playing original material, the London Borough of Barnet has always been a challenging area to find gigs. We have been lucky with the Midland Hotel, which as been a stalwart supporter. The Chandos Arms and The Bohemia are also supportive. There are a list of venues that we wanted to play that have also shut. Perhaps top of this list was The Torrington. Sadly for the Dots, the promoters were more into blues and soul than our brand of rock. As it was such an iconic venue, this was a big gap for us. Another venue which we never got to play, was The Production Village. This was not for want of trying. Three times, we had gigs booked, only for the band to split up a week before. In the end, we thought the venue was a jinx, so avoided it. Some of the venues, such as Harwood Hall, do have music, but not Rock.

Oddly enough most of the places we've played in Barnet are still open in some shape or form - Harwood Hall, Hendon Rugby Club,  Midland Arms/Claddagh Ring, Barnet College, Grahame Park Community Centre, Montrose Park, The Old Bull Arts Centre, The Three Hammers, Mill Hill Music Complex, The Arts Depot, Friern Barnet Library, The Bohemia, The Midland Hotel, The Chandos Arms and Mill Hill Town Square (We've played 7 that have closed and 15 that are still open alt
though some are very different today!)

I sincerely hope that Barnet Council see sense and do not add another seven False Dots gigs to the list by closing The Midland Hotel.

Just for the record, as part of the Mill Hill Music Festival, we've lost the following Mill Hill Venues over the 22 years of the Festival plus a list of some of the artists I have played with/engineered/watched at them
The Mill (pub) - Soul Tax
The Angel and Crown (Pub) - The Sway, The Alan Warner Band
The Bell (pub) - The False Dots, Texas Flood
St Josephs College (Educational establishment) - The False Dots, The Apostles
Mill Hill Sports Club (club) -  The False Dots, Alan Warner + Many MHMF
Holcombe House (Educational establishment), Stacey Kent, Acker Bilk, John Dankworth (MHMF)

Finally, I must mention the Methodist Church Hall in Goodwyn Avenue. This was the venue I first saw the Polecats play, within a year they had a record deal. That is why we need grassroots venues and why we need the Midland Hotel.

The Friday Joke - 7/9/2018

It's Friday so here is something to kick off your weekend with a smile

Have a great weekend!

Time to rename these roads in the London Borough of Barnet

David Bedford OBE

Have you ever wondered why so few names of roads in the London Borough of Barnet are actually named after some of the amazing people and history of the Borough? As an example, Finchley was the seat of Lady Margaret Thatcher, yet there is no Lady Thatcher way in the area. I have long thought that this is a real snub and an insult. I am not a Thatcherite or even a Conservative, but can it possibly be correct that she is not commemorated. One of the arguments for not renaming streets is that it is rather inconvenient for existing residents. There is however a road that would be ideal. If you look at a map of Finchley, there is a civic amenity at the end of Porters Way, Finchley. I am proposing that after the junction, this road is renamed Lady Thatcher Way. I would also rename the civic amenity after her, as a tribute to her contribution to civic life in the Borough. There are no tenants that would be inconvenienced by the scheme and it would be nice to see a statue of Lady Thatcher at the entrance to the amenity site.

There are also a few roads that, with minor adjustments, could be suitably renamed to commemorate local heroes. One such hero is David Bedford OBE, who was an iconic runner in the 1970's and also a teacher at Orange Hill Senior High School. Bedford held the world record for the 10,000 metres between 1973 and 1977.  I would like to see Bedford Road, near Mill Hill County High (which is what Orange Hill School became in the 1980's) renamed David Bedford Road. That would be a suitable tribute.

Mill Hill Music Complex was for many years the music studio of choice for iconic and sadly departed Amy Winehouse. We are seriously considering renaming the road up to our carpark as Winehouse way in memory of Amy (as well as repainting studio 9 in her honour, her favourite room).

One final change I'd like to see is the renaming of Champions Way, the access to Allainz Park (home of Saracens). Many people are quite unaware that Shaftsbury Harriers and and Barnet Copthall swimming club are also located on the site. I would like to see the road renamed to celebrate one or other (or both) of these amazing clubs. Of course Saracens are a major source of local pride, but we shouldn't forget our long established clubs that have served the community for years.

There is a whole stack of new roads being built all over the Borough. In Mill Hill, many have truly uninspiring names such as "Courtgate Close" and "Oaklodge Way". Wouldn't it be better to insist that new roads commemorate our rich local history and the people who have made it?

The Wednesday Poem #49 - The Ladies of the Blue Rinse brigade?

I used to see them everywhere?
With big long coats and prisine hair?
Mess with them I wouldn't dare

At the bus stop in there hats
In their garden with their cats
You'd see them standing having chats

Dressed in black edged with lace
Hold themselves with style and grace
Fragrent smells and a made up face

Where did they go?
Who took them away?
The ladies of the blue rinse brigade


Copyright 2018 - Roger Tichborne

Urgent - Developer plans to knock down the Midland Hotel in Hendon and replace it with luxury flats

The Barnet Eye is very shocked to have received an email from local Hendon historian Gerrard Roots, drawing our attention to a proposal to redevelop the Midland Hotel, one of the areas best loved pubs. Our family has a close attachment to the establishment, as my Grandfather worked there before he died. The regulars all turned out for his funeral in 1948, to my Grandmothers amazement.

But putting sentimentality aside, there are strong grounds for Barnet Council to reject the plan on planning grounds.  The details of the plan are as follows

(opens in a new window)

18/4961/FUL | Demolition of the former Midland Hotel and the construction of three buildings of five to eight storeys in height to accommodate 59 residential dwellings | The Midland Hotel Public House 29 Station Road London NW4 4PN

(for full details click here https://publicaccess.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications/ and put 18/4961/FUL in the search key)

I listed some of these on my objection on the councils website

I am opposing this application on a number of grounds. The space is a well established pub and music venue. It has hosted numerous cultural events over the years, including the launch of the Save London Music Campaign - aimed at protecting just such grassroots venues in 2015. This plan clearly contravenes Section 14 of the Councils Local plan which states "plan positively for the provision and use of shared space, community facilities (such as local shops,meeting places, sports venues, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship". There are few other such spaces in Hendon and none with the unique history of the Midland Arms. This development also does not conform to section 15.1.1 of the local plan "15.1.1 Policy CS8: Promoting a Strong Prosperous and Enterprising Barnet sets out that the council will support the Borough's economy by protecting viable employment premises which meet the needs of modern business and encourage improvements to the quality of existing employment spaces including mixed use floorspace in the town centres. " as the Midland is an employment site. The Travel plan is a complete nonsense. There is nothing to promote cycling. The figures used are incorrect (Table 10 does not add up correctly), it states that zero journeys will be made by cab (based on 2011 census, taking no account of developments such as Uber). There is nor provision for affordable housing and reduces such provision by reducing the budget room accomodation at the hotel. There is no proper provision for cycling, especially disabled cyclists. In short it destroys a valuable community space, replacing it with an ill thought out carbuncle that will blight the area

*** Updated 9/9/2018 ***
Further to my objections, a steady stream of other local people have been objecting. For anyone wishing to make an objection, I urge them to read this objection by Dave Paterson, which has some very useful additional information

Mr David Paterson 
Comment submitted date: Sat 08 Sep 2018
Re: The Midland Hotel . 29 Station Road London NW4 4PN .
Planning application 18/4961/FUL
I wish to object to this application on two grounds:
1) That the development would result in the loss of yet another valued community facility. I share the growing national concern about the loss of public houses generally, and specifically in the Hendon area which has seen the loss of over 20 public houses since 1970.
2) I object to misleading statements made in the application which are clearly unsustainable.
Planning Application 7.6 refers: [...] in accordance with the definition of community asset uses set out in Barnet's Core Strategy (2012) and as confirmed through recent change of use for pubs in Barnet [...] a public house is not a community use.
This absurdity can easily immediately and roundly be dismissed by evidencing Barnet Council's Asset of Community Value (ACV) listings for The Sebright Arms, 9 Alston Road Barnet EN5 4ET (listed 16/01/2017) ; The Bohemia, High Road North Finchley (listed 16/10/13) ; Ye Olde Monken Halt, 193 High Street, High Barnet, EN5 5SU (listed June 2017) ; and The Griffin, 1262 High Road, N20 (listed 09/03/2016).
Having granted these pubs ACV listing it would be preposterous for the Council , or anyone else, then to argue that public houses are not an asset of community use.
Planning Application 7.7 refers: In pre-application advice from the Council (28/12/2016) the Council raised no objections to the loss of the public house.
Apart from the questionable morality or legality in prejudging the issue in advance of the planning appeals process, this would also be against the provisions of The National Policy Framework (NPPF), 24/7/2018 para's 69 and 70 which place a duty on Councils to plan positively for the provision of shared community.
I strongly urge the Planning Committee to reject this application.

*** update ends ***
*** Update 27/9/2018 ***
As of today we have 161 objections to this awful scheme. The Barnet Eye is extremely proud to have launched the campaign to save the pub. It shows what you can achieve  when a community works together. Due to irregularities with the planning application notifications and misleading information from the council, the deadlinen for comments has now been extended to 18th October.
*** Update Ends ***

Malcolm Crescent, Hendon

The construction of eight storey buildings in this part of Hendon is totally out of character with the area. Here is a view of Malcolm Crescent, as you can see it is a typical Hendon suburban street, not an eight storey tower in sight. The proposal is totally out of keeping with this.

As you can see from the proposal, there is a CPZ in place because the site is adjacent to the Hendon Thameslink Station. The plan seeks 59 luxury dwellings with only 33 car parking spaces. It seems to me to be unlikely that the type of people who buy luxury flats are the type of people who take the bus. They will have family and friends visiting and this will put ever more stress on the local parking spaces. The travel plan refers to the requirements of the old London plan, not the new draft plan which is about to be released. It is clear that the developers want to slip the proposal in before the new, more rigorous requirements come in.

Table 10 in the travel plan uses figures that don't even add up correctly. It states that 0% of journeys from the flats will be made using Taxis or minicabs. This is based on 2011 census information. It takes no account of the rise of Uber, which is especially popular with the type of upwardly mobile people who buy luxury flats. Whilst there is mention of provision of cycle spaces, there is no wider commitment to encourage cycling.  The plan envisages a 22% drop in car usage in the flats over  a five year period, whilst seeing a 6% increase in bus usage. I would be very interested to see a proper survey of luxury flat dwellers usage of buses.

The flats have no social housing aspect. The Hotel currently has budget rooms available for transient labour and people who are requiring cheap, short term local accommodation. There is no other local provision and this will be a huge loss.

However this blogs main objection is that the Midland Hotel is a massive community resource. The Barnet Eye has used the space on many occasions for community events. We have held our Barnet Eye annual awards at the site on several occasions, we did the launch of the Save London Music Campaign at the pub. We've also attended all manner of other local events (including wedding receptions and funerals). The travel plan states that West Hendon Broadway is nearby, but there is nothing like the Midland there. A couple of years ago, we organised a Hillsborough memorial gig at the pup, which was packed with fans of many local football clubs, earlier this year we celebrated the third anniversary of the Save London Music campaign at the pub and filmed this video. The pub was packed.


The Save London Music Campaign has been successfully arguing that London needs such grassroots venues. It is ironic that the pub where we launched the campaign is at threat from some of the reasons we outlined back when it was launched.

What is disappointing about this plan is that the developer could quite easily make a handsome profit with a less intrusive scheme that retained the pub, provided social housing and provided excellent local facilities. We fully understand that developers, with no attachment to an area, seek maximum profits. What they need to understand is that in the London Borough of Barnet we fight for our community assets and we oppose bad plans with vigour. We strongly recommend that the developer has a second look at their plans and comes back with something that takes account of the local history, the requirements of the community and the requirements of the 2018 London plan.

We urge every reader to help encourage them by posting an objection to the scheme. You may not think that this affects you. It does. It sets a precedent if the Council objects it and it sends a message to developers that if they are proposing plans in Barnet, they have to propose plans that work for the community.

Save London Music Campaign submission is accepted by DCMS Parliamentary Inquiry

The Save London Music Campaign is delighted to have been informed that our submission has been accepted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as part of their inquiry into Live Music. Submissions have also been accepted by several other campaigns we have links with (Click here for the full list). We are pleased to see that the Live Music Forum, Association of Independent Festivals and Music Venues Trust  have also seen their submissions accepted.  It is interesting to see that much of what these three submissions say is the same, if phrased in a different manner, although the Association of Independent Festivals submission has a slightly different tack, as the issue of ticket abuse is tackled.

Matthew Offord is championing all small shops, not just ones selling cheese!

I am intrigued by a new post on our local MP, Matthew Offord MP's website. He is urging local small shops to participate in a best small shop competition run by Indie retail.

I am all for anything that raises the profile of small businesses in our locality and urge as many business owners as possible to participate. There are some brilliant shops in and around the constituency of Hendon and in the wider London Borough of Barnet area. It is my view that small, independent shops are always more interesting than large conglomerates.

Here is what Matthew has to say (Click here for his press release)

"Matthew is calling on Hendon’s small shopkeepers to enter the Best Small Shops Competition, celebrating the creativity of small shops and the central role they play in their local community.

The Best Small Shops Competition is open to any small shop operating in the UK. The competition is free to enter and all shops who enter will also be promoted to consumers through an online Indie Retail Directory.

Shopkeepers can nominate their businesses until Sunday 9th September via www.bestsmallshops.co.uk. A shortlist of 25 of the most impressive applications will be shortlisted by a panel made up of established representatives from the independent retail industry.

The judges will be looking for evidence of a small shops’ entrepreneurial spirit, ways that they have been innovative in their business and what they have done to have a lasting positive impact on their community.

The shortlisted small shops will be invited to a Parliamentary Reception on the 13th November 2018 to meet their Member of Parliament and find out who will be crowned the Best Small Shop for 2018.

Matthew said: “Small shops are the lifeblood of our high streets across the Hendon constituency and I would encourage all small shops owners to take part in this competition and I am positive that Hendon can produce a winner.”

The Barnet Eye is keen to support Matthew in his efforts to promote small businesses. As far as we can recall, this is the first mention he's made of small shops since 2010, when he expressed a desire for Mill Hill Broadway to become the "type of place people would come to if they wanted to open a specialist cheese shop".  It is good that his support now encompasses the whole small business sector.

I've entered Mill Hill Music Complex as we have a very successful retail business supporting local musicians.  I really hope that if we don't win, another local business does. In February, I compiled a list of my top five food retailers in our locality

The Monday Quote #1

"Hard work is no substitute for genius, but a genius without hard work is simply a pub bore"

The Tweets of The Week in the London Borough of Barnet 02/9/2018

So what's caught the eyes of the Tweeters of the Borough this week? Don't forget to follow any tweeters who tickle your fancy

1. Lets start with a bombshell. It seems that the Buy to Let bubble has burst in Edgware. We wrote a blog that noted similar trends in Mill Hill recently. As a parent, the current state of the Property market is most depressing. I see little opportunity for young people to realistically get on the property ladder, especially with Interest rates set to rise

‘Taxing’ Time for the 2,799 Edgware Buy To Let Landlords
------------------------------------------
Over the last twenty years, there has been a shift in the way the Edgware (and the... https://t.co/dEM49PPPmh

— Benjamin stevens (@benstevens2004) August 31, 2018

2. Make sure you support the Mill Hill Jazz Club, this is another topic we've covered this week. They have a stellar line up on Wednesday

Kate Daniels & her Quintet - 5th Sep - Celebrating the success of her recently released album, Kate returns to MHJC with some of the UK's top rated jazz musicians, Graham Pike trumpet, Alec Dankworth bass, Derek Nash sax, Nils Solberg guitar & Winston Clifford drums. PLEASE RT.

— Mill Hill Jazz Club (@millhilljazz) September 1, 2018

3. One of our regulars is not impressed with the state of Edgware

@Barneteye Station Road Edgware. Total neglect by Barnet Council. Dirty, tatty, run down. The cross-hatch for the buses faded away to nothing. pic.twitter.com/qTj9Zngq11

— Mark Amies (@Superfast72) September 1, 2018

4. Yesterday I listed "Playing loud music at 3am as one of the best ways to annoy me. It seems I'm not alone

@MPSBarnet @metpoliceuk @BarnetCouncil Please help us sleep, this gangs are playing huge loud music, covering the whole of burnt oak. No one brave enough to ask them to stop.

https://t.co/zDidtJrLQS

— M M Rahman (@mmrs151) September 1, 2018

5. Someone is a little upset by the headboards on our local buses! I love tweets like this. Keeps us all on our toes!

To sum up the Edgware routes: diversions, confusion, a few new buses, lots of recycled 07-reg DEs, some banditry and a fairly reliable service. Oh and the blinds for the 288 DEs are hilarious - front is misspelled whilst side is incorrect, Broadfields is the terminus! pic.twitter.com/ODDfss3XlO

— London Buses On The Go (@_LBOTG) September 1, 2018

6. Top Tweet from the Colindale Litter Pickers

Guys, help me to tell others, chucking litter in the bushes and shrubs will not make litter disappear....
There is no such a thing like the litter fairy!@KeepBritainTidy@WayneKoda@NoMoreLitterUK@BarnetCouncil@ColindaleMdx@BarnetHomes@mhlitterpickers@LitterFreeEarth pic.twitter.com/s1fL1u57N8

— Colindale Litter Pickers (@ColindaleLitter) September 1, 2018

7.Live in Finchley? Want to make films? This may interest you

#FinchleyFilmMakers
finished filming our short today. #film#Filmmaking pic.twitter.com/IqwqGeWWZu

— Finchley Film Makers (@FinchleyFilm) September 1, 2018

8. A plea for better cycle routes in the Borough. We agree!

Barnet roads can be very spacy. It would have been great to see #space4cycling as part of this. pic.twitter.com/qwXuKa9hOc

— NW6Cyclist (@Cycle_Whamp) September 2, 2018

9. Live in and around Childs Hill and Cricklewood? Here is a date for your diary

pic.twitter.com/H46xNk6NMG

— Cricklewood Community Forum (@ccf_cricklewood) August 31, 2018

10. One of our local heroes was on BBC Radio London this week. You will have seen @KidWondR at many of our recent local festivals

Great to hear @KidWondR on @middleagedminx on @BBCRadioLondon, she's lovely, done loads of work with her

— MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) August 28, 2018

That's all folks!

The Saturday List #186 - The ten best ways to annoy me with trivial inconsideration

Do you want to annoy me? There are ten ways that are sure to work very well

1. Sit next to me on the train and talk loudly on your mobile phone
2. Park across our drive, especially when picking up your kids from the nursery and then say "I was only in there for five minutes" when rebuked for being so selfish
3. Drop litter on the street in front of me
4. Let your dog poo in the park and don't pick it up
5. Be rude to waiters in restaurants in my earshot
6. Stop in the middle of Mill Hill Broadway, put on your hazard lights and go the cash point when my car is behind you
7. Leave your bag on a seat when the train is crowded and look grumpy when asked to move it
8. Jump the queue at the pub by vigorously waving a tenner and not being honest when asked "who's next"
9. Not getting up for pregnant or old ladies whilst sitting in the specially designated chairs on the tube
10. Driving around listening to awful music at top volume in your car with all the windows open, outside my house at 3am

What are your top ten bugbears?

Have a great weekend!