Crouch end area guide: schools, vintage shops, cinema and pubs

Clock tower (Image: Polly Hancock)

Welcome to Crouch End

Crouch End is a hub for independent shopping and cafe life with a plethora of vintage and second hand boutiques and quiet residential streets lined with period property. No wonder it’s so popular with artists and their children.

For a time, Crouch End paled in desirability in comparison to some of its more affluent surrounding areas – particularly Highgate – but as its image has changed in recent years, so have its house prices, and buyers are now snapping up many of its period Victorian and Edwardian designs

The famous clock tower on the Broadway was built to honour Henry Reader Williams, who was Chairman of the Hornsey Local Board for 10 years in the 19th century and was instrumental in securing funding to improve the area’s architecture and greenery.

Ivy Gardens (Image: Archant)

Crouch End has a noted artistic heritage and is home to several music recording studios.

Shops

Crouch End is something of a vintage and second hand hub with an afternoon browsing the area’s independent outlets a retro fiend’s paradise.

Flashback Records (Image: Archant)

Vintage furniture and bric a brac can be found at Little Paris and Junk N8 Disorderly or, for new design, try Indish, which stocks contemporary designer furniture, lighting, accessories and gifts

Bottle Apostle (Image: Archant)

Best for vintage clothes… shoppers should head to Painted Black for hand picked designer gems and quirky taxidermy. Rose, the shop dog, loves visitors.

Little Paris (Image: Archant)

Best for vinyl lovers…check out independent Flashback Records for a comprehensive stock of second hand vinyl.

Morley Butchers (Image: Archant)

Specialist food and drink spots also abound, hardly surprising in an area renowned for its old time pleasures. Dunns bakery, Walter Purkis & Sons fishmongers and Morley’s Butchers are long-standing, family-run establishments. More recent additions include Best for wine lovers… Bottle Apostle is perfect for those looking for something more than whatever’s on offer for a fiver at the corner shop.

Best for flowers… Urban Flowers is an Instagram-friendly botanical flower and plant studio that delivers across north London.

Cafes and pubs

Edith's House (Image: Polly Hancock)

The Haberdashery is a charming cafe and restaurant which has won numerous awards for its fresh meals and excellent coffee and has a second branch in Stoke Newington.

Best for tea and cake… pop round to Edith’s House, a wonderfully retro celebration of all things grannies. There’s a whole menu dedicated to scones, plus cocktails and fondue served in the evenings.

Banners (Image: Archant)

An array of pubs services those after a decent pint. The King’s Head serves good pub grub and real ale and hosts regular comedy nights, whilst Queens pub and dining room dates from the turn of the century and retains much of its original Art Nouveau glass.

Best for a beer in the sunshine… the Maynard Arms is a gastropub with a large beer garden housed in an old Victorian bulding.

Maynard Arms (Image: Archant)

Culture

The annual Crouch End Festival is a renowned showcase of the area’s talents and lovers of choral music will no doubt have heard of the associated and world-famous Crouch End Festival Chorus.

Best for comedy… said to be London’s oldest comedy club, the King’s Head pub counts Robin Williams and Rowan Atkinson as alumni.

Best for film lovers… set in the former Salvation Army Hall, the Arthouse Cinema is committed to attracting a diverse audience and forging connections between the arts.

The Queens (Image: Archant)

Things to do with children

Stationers Park is a Green Flag award winning site nestled between a Victorian housed community, local school and community centre. Children love the newly expanded wooden play fort

Banners is a longstanding Crouch End favourite operating as an all day family restaurant with a dedicated children’s menu and drawing materials and books on hand and turning into a casual dinner spot later in the evening.

Pickled Pepper Books (Image: Archant)

Niddle Noddle on Topsfield Parade is a children’s emporium selling clothes, toys, books and party accessories.

Every Thursday you’ll find Baby Jazz sessions on at Earl Haig Hall. The first session is free.

Best for budding bookworms… Pickled Pepper Books is a specialist children’s bookshop, café and events space with pre-school activities and an after school group with illustration, creative writing and book group activities and occasional author visits.

Highgate Cricket Club (Image: Archant)

Schools

Crouch End has an excellent selection of local schools with Coleridge Primary School rated Outstanding and St Gilda’s RC Junior School both rated Good by Ofsted.

For secondary education, Highgate Wood Secondary School is a large mixed gender school with a Good rating from Ofsted.

Greig City Academy and Hornsey School for Girls are based in nearby Hornsey and both have been rated Good by Oftsted.

Park Road Pool (Image: Archant)

Outdoors and sports facilities

Crouch End is spoilt for choice regarding its surrounding woodlands, with Highgate Woods, Alexandra Park, Queens Park and the popular Priory Park all nearby. The area is disproportionately well served for cricket facilities too, with Crouch End Cricket Club, Highgate Cricket Club and North Middlesex Cricket Club all based at the playing fields. Keen fans may even get the chance to watch national cricketers standing in on the odd occasion.

Topsfield Cottages (Image: Archant)

Transport

Crouch End is in zone 3 of the transport network but has retained its community feel in part due to the lack of a local tube or train station. The nearest London Underground stations are Highgate and Archway on the Northern line; Turnpike Lane on the Piccadilly line; and Finsbury Park on the Victoria and Piccadilly lines. Overground services can be picked up at Crouch Hill, Hornsey and Alexandra Palace, as well as Finsbury Park. Buses are a popular option for commuting locals with routes heading to King’s Cross, Finsbury Park, Tottenham and Archway.

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Property guide

Nelson Road, N8 (Image: Polly Hancock)

Postcode

Crouch End is a district within the London borough of Haringey and has the N8 postcode. Its parliamentary constituency is Hornsey and Wood Green. Council tax ranges from £986.23 for a Band A property to £2,958.65 for a Band H property. Band D properties would pay £1,479.32.

Housing stock

Weston Park junction with Aubrey Road (Image: Polly Hancock)

Homes in the area were built in swathes by local developers and industrialists, many of whom called the streets they built home (look out for houses with special details or surprising pockets of extra space to guess which ones they lived in). The Victorian and Edwardian red brick architecture is highly evocative of this era of rapid urbanisation and many of the homes still boast at least some original features.

Local buyers love the turn-of-the-century tiling, iron work and fireplaces and businesses abound in the area to help people restore or replace these features.

Best streets

Wolseley Road

Shepherd’s Hill

House prices

Two-bedroom flat – £547,201

Terraced house – £1,176,895

Semi-detached house – £1,473,333