Living in Harringay: area guide to homes, schools and transport links

Young families enjoying a batch of funky new coffee shops provides proof. This north London spot has waved goodbye to its troubled past.
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Anthea Masey12 May 2017

More than 15 years have passed since London’s Turkish and Kurdish communities would regularly come to blows along Green Lanes in Harringay, north London.

These days the 19 streets in the “Harringay Ladder” west of Green Lanes — so called because they form a neat ladder pattern — are full of young families who shop in the well-stocked Turkish supermarkets, go out for pide rather than pizza, or hang out at one of the new independent coffee shops that have sprung up along the street over the last five years.

Estate agent Elan Silver, from the local Winkworth branch, points to the strong sense of community. One example is StART, the St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust, a community land trust trying to buy the St Ann’s Hospital site in St Ann’s Road to provide what it calls “truly affordable” homes for locals, instead of a planned private scheme that offers 14 per cent affordable.

After raising £25,000 through crowdfunding, StART has come up with a masterplan for a development that, as well as bringing homes, would promote health and wellbeing in a green neighbourhood. It is working with regeneration specialist igloo, and is backed by local Labour MPs David Lammy and Catherine West.

Before the open fields of Harringay were built over in the years between 1880 and 1900, it was a well-known leisure destination for Londoners escaping the smoke.

Hornsey Wood House became a popular tea garden presided over by two elderly sisters, Mrs Lloyd and Mrs Collier, and a later incarnation, the Hornsey Wood Tavern, provided cricket, rabbit and pigeon shooting, skittles and even cock fighting.

The tavern was pulled down in 1866 and the land absorbed into Finsbury Park.

Harringay has roads of fine two-, three- and four-bedroom late-Victorian terrace houses, many of them converted into flats 
Daniel Lynch

Harringay, in the borough of Haringey — pronounced the same of course, despite the different spelling — is six miles almost due north from central London with Wood Green to the north, South Tottenham to the east, Manor House and Finsbury Park to the south and Stroud Green and Crouch End to the west. Winkworth’s Elan Silver says it is a flourishing community.

“I’ve been selling homes here for 10 years and the area’s previous history is no longer an issue,” he adds.

The property scene

Harringay has roads of fine two-, three- and four-bedroom late-Victorian terrace houses, many of them converted into flats.

Winkworth’s agent Elan Silver says many of the smaller houses are now being extended into their lofts and side returns.

House prices range from £649,000 for a three-bedroom property in Harringay Road in need of renovation, to £1.15 million for a seven-bedroom house in Duckett Road. Two-bedroom period conversion flats range from £430,000 to £530,000.

What's new?

Fairview New Homes has plans to build Altitude, a scheme of 174 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in two blocks on a former steel storage site in Hampden Road overlooking the New River, close to Hornsey station.

The development will have 55 affordable units, of which 32 will be for shared ownership. There will also be a shop and a playground, and the first residents are expected to move in next year. Call 020 8003 4566.

Housing association Sanctuary Homes launches 94 shared-ownership flats this month in The Quadrangle at St James’s Smithfield Square scheme off Hornsey High Street.

Prices start at £107,500 for a 25 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat and £132,500 for 25 per cent of a two-bedroom home. The first residents will move in later this year. Call 020 8826 1643.

Renting

Harringay renters are mainly young professional sharers or young families.

Staying power

Better schools are keeping families in Harringay, with lots of couples trading up from the flat they bought locally as first-time buyers to a larger apartment or a house.

Postcodes

The southern roads in the Harringay Ladder are in N4, the Finsbury Park postcode, while the northern roads in the Ladder are in N8, the Hornsey postcode. North of St Ann’s Road, N15 applies, which is the South Tottenham postcode.

Best roads

Any of the roads in the Harringay Ladder and the “Gardens” roads on the western side of Green Lanes, south of St Ann’s Road, such as Kimberley Gardens, Chesterfield Gardens, Roseberry Gardens; Rutland Gardens and Stanhope Gardens.

Up and coming

There are smaller Victorian terrace houses in the St Ann’s conservation area around Chestnuts Park.

Travel

Manor House and Turnpike Lane Tube stations are on the Piccadilly line with trains to the West End. Hornsey and Harringay train stations have services to Moorgate, in 19 and 17 minutes respectively, while Harringay Green Lanes railway station is on the recently reopened Gospel Oak to Barking line. All stations, with the exception of Manor House, are in Zone 3, with an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costing £1,520. Manor House is in Zone 2, and the travelcard is £1,296.

A number of useful commuter buses run down Green Lanes. The No 29 goes to Trafalgar Square via Camden Town and Tottenham Court Road; the No 141 goes to London Bridge via Old Street and Bank, and the No 341 goes to County Hall via Islington and Chancery Lane.

Council

Haringey council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2017/2018 is £1,524.27.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants

Green Lanes is the main shopping street. At the Arena Shopping Park there are branches of Sainsbury’s, Homebase, Next, Argos and TK Maxx.

The main section of Green Lanes running north from Harringay Green Lanes station has a good selection of Turkish supermarkets, jewellery shops, and increasingly smart restaurants such as Antepliler and Gökyüzü, while Taksim Café gets rave reviews for its gozleme, a stuffed flatbread dish.

The Salisbury is a landmark Victorian pub on the corner of St Ann’s Road.

Café society has definitely arrived in Green Lanes, up in the area where the shop numbers are in the 500s.

There’s coffee shop Blend, which also sells interiors accessories, mid-century furniture and has opened a pop-up wine bar, Pop & Pour, in the evenings; Music & Beans, where you can have a music lesson and buy an instrument as well as enjoy a coffee; the Harringay Local Store, a butcher, baker and delicatessen in one that also sells a selection of vinyl records; Beans & Barley, a coffee shop by day and music venue by night; and Bun & Bar, which sells burgers and puts on live music.

Local bars Brouhaha and Jam in a Jar are in the same stretch and offer night-time entertainment.

There is a lovely stretch of restored shops in Quernmore Road close to Harringay station on the Stroud Green side, where But First Coffee is a popular independent coffee shop. In nearby Wightman Road, La Viña is a Spanish tapas restaurant.

Open space

Finsbury Park, the nearest large park, had a £5 million Lottery-funded renovation in 2005 and offers an outdoor gym, American garden, children’s water feature and an art gallery.

There are two smaller parks: Chestnuts Park in St Ann’s Road, which has an avenue of plane trees, a café and children’s playground; and Downhills Park in Downhills Park Road, which has a formal Italian garden, a bowling green and café.

Railway Fields Nature Reserve is off Green Lanes close to Harringay Green Lanes station. This green hub, a wild oasis on a former goods yard, is managed by The Conservation Volunteers. All four of these local open spaces have Green Flag awards.

The New River Path, which follows the course of the New River built in the 17th century to bring fresh water to London from Hertfordshire, runs through the area — although the river itself is only partially accessible.

Leisure and the arts

The Park Theatre, close to Finsbury Park station, has two stages and offers new drama, musicals and experimental productions. Vue in Wood Green is the nearest multiplex cinema and there are two more cinemas in Crouch End — ArtHouse and a Picturehouse.

Park Road Pools & Fitness in Park Road, Crouch End, is the nearest council swimming facility, with three indoor pools and a 50-metre outdoor pool.

Schools

Primary school

The only local state primary school rated “outstanding” by the Ofsted education watchdog is Belmont Juniors — the Infants is rated “good” — in Rusper Road close to Turnpike Lane station.

However, almost all the other primary schools are judged “good”. They are South Harringay Infants and Juniors in Pemberton Road; North Harringay in Falkland Road; West Green in Woodlands Park Road; Chestnuts in Black Boy Lane; Park View in West Green Road; Weston Park in Denton Road; St Mary’s CofE in Church Lane; St Mary’s Priory RC Infants and Juniors in Hermitage Road; Harris Primary Academy in Philip Lane, and St Ann’s CofE in Avenue Road.

Comprehensive

St Thomas More RC (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Glendale Avenue, and Woodside High (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in White Hart Lane, both in Wood Green, are the two state comprehensive schools rated “outstanding”; the others are rated good.

They are: Hornsey School for Girls (ages 11 to 18) in Inderwick Road; Greig City Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in High Street, Hornsey; Skinners’ Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Woodberry Grove; Heartlands High (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Station Road in Wood Green; Our Lady’s Convent RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Amhurst Park in Stamford Hill, and Arts and Media (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Turle Road, Stroud Green.

Private

This is not an area where many parents send their children to private schools, although the private schools in Highgate and Hampstead aren’t far.