What it's like to live in Barnet

Most homes around here are older suburban stock, with a strong private market. Across the Barnet council area, 52.7% of homes are owned and 32.7% are privately rented, while social renting makes up 13.5%, split evenly between council and housing association. That is below the England figure of 17.1%, so social homes are relatively thin on the ground and worth holding onto.

The London Borough of Barnet is the biggest social landlord with 9,115 homes, followed by Notting Hill Genesis with 2,854, Peabody Trust with 1,718, Metropolitan Housing Trust with 1,001 and London & Quadrant with 791. Average weekly social rents in 2024/25 were £120 for a one bed, £139 for two and £157 for three.

For context on demand, 3,485 households were on the council's housing register at 31 March 2025, and 925 social homes were let through the council in 2024-25. A register is not a simple queue, and for many tenants a mutual exchange is the more realistic route to a different home or a different area.

Schools are one of the strongest reasons people move here. Cromer Road Primary School and Lyonsdown School are both about 0.4 miles away, with Livingstone Primary and Nursery School at 0.5 miles, and St Mary's C of E Primary School and Danegrove Primary School (Windsor Drive Site) both around 0.7 miles. That is five primaries inside a short walk or quick bus ride.

For older children, JCoSS is roughly half a mile away and East Barnet School 0.8 miles, with Ark Pioneer Academy, Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School and Oaktree School all within a mile and a bit. Check admission rules carefully before you commit, as faith and catchment criteria vary.

Outside school, Victoria Recreation Ground is 0.2 miles away and Ludgrove Playing Field, Greenhill Gardens and Highlands Gardens are all under a mile. Chipping Barnet Library is about 1.5 miles off, with Osidge Library a similar distance. Barnet Hospital, just under two miles away, covers A and E and maternity.

Trains are the headline. New Barnet station is about 0.1 miles away, with Oakleigh Park under a mile and Hadley Wood a little over a mile, all on the same line south into London. Cockfosters, about a mile off, gives you the Piccadilly line, and High Barnet, roughly a mile away, is the end of the Northern line. Few places this far out give you that much choice.

On foot, the immediate area works well. The supermarket, the station, the leisure centre, a park and several pubs are all within a few minutes of each other, so a short walk covers most of a weekday.

By car you are close to the edge of London and the roads north into Hertfordshire, though parking on older residential streets can be tight and traffic around the station and Barnet town centre builds up at peak times. Local buses link the surrounding neighbourhoods, which helps if the hill walk home is more than you fancy.

For a suburb, there is a decent amount on. Barnet Everyman Cinema is about 0.7 miles away for a proper night out, and the pubs near the station, The Builders Arms, The Railway Tavern and The Railway Bell among them, are all within a few hundred yards of each other.

If you like being active, New Barnet Leisure Centre is 0.2 miles away and PureGym is even closer, with Beyond Move, Athletic Development Club and The Fit Factory all within a mile. Parks fill in the rest: Victoria Recreation Ground for the quick trip out, New Barnet Reservoir and Highlands Gardens when you want a longer walk.

Shopping means Sainsbury's New Barnet on the doorstep, Aldi half a mile away and M&S and Waitrose within a mile and a half, with The Spires Shopping Centre in Chipping Barnet for everything else. Community centres, including New Barnet Community Centre and The Rainbow Centre, host local groups if you want to meet people quickly.

Plenty of people here commute. With three rail routes into central London inside about a mile, the practical jobs market stretches far beyond the borough, and that shapes who lives here.

Across the Barnet council area, 60.2% of adults are in work, above the England figure of 57.4%. Unemployment stands at 4.4% compared with 3.5% nationally, and 5% of 16 to 64 year olds were claiming unemployment related benefits in August 2026, against 4% for England. So employment is strong overall, though not without pressure.

Locally, the familiar suburban employers dominate: schools, shops and supermarkets, pubs and cafes, gyms and leisure, pharmacies and care. Barnet Hospital, under two miles away, is a significant employer in health, and Springdene Nursing Home and Noah's Ark Children's Hospice are also nearby. If you work shifts, the closeness of the station matters more than most people realise when they first look.