Oakleigh Park

Oakleigh Park
Oakleigh Park  Oakleigh Park shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ265935
London borough	Barnet
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	N20, EN5
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Chipping Barnet
London Assembly	Barnet and Camden
List of places: UK • England • London

Oakleigh Park is a loosely defined area in the north of the London Borough of Barnet. It adjoins Whetstone, and is often regarded either as part of that or of East Barnet. However it has its own identity and its own railway station.

The principal road is Oakleigh Road North. Turnings off this road include Oakleigh Park North, Oakleigh Avenue and Oakleigh Park South. There is also a small shopping parade on Netherlands Road just to the north of the railway station. The name is a relatively modern invention, the station being called that when it opened in 1873.

Transport links

Bus

Transport for London bus route 383 stops directly outside Oakleigh Park railway station, as well as operating a Hail and Ride service along Netherlands Road and Oakleigh Park North/Athenaeum Road. Buses run towards Barnet (the Spires) or towards Woodside Park tube station, every 30 minutes Mondays to Saturdays except late evenings. There is currently no service on this route on Sundays or public holidays.

Railway station

• Oakleigh Park railway station - First Capital Connect

Tube station

Nearby:

• Totteridge and Whetstone tube station - Northern Line

Schools

Primary

• All Saints
• Sacred Heart

The Betjeman connection

In John Betjeman’s poem, ‘The Outer Suburbs’ (1932), there is a reference to Oakleigh Park as ‘Oakley Park’: ‘The weary walk from Oakley Park/Through the soft suburban dark’. This is not a spelling that occurs elsewhere, but may be personal idiosyncrasy, rather than a simple mistake, given that Betjeman was, at the time, a schoolmaster in the area. (It could possibly be childhood association. The Betjemans became acquainted with a family called Oakley during holidays in Cornwall. The person universally associated with that name – the American sharp-shooter, Annie Oakley, who died in 1926 – also spelt her name thus.)