Henlys Corner is a brief combining junction of the A1 and the

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

, in the middle of which is the crossroads of the A598.

Connecting roads and public transport

The intersecting local road is

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels often freque ...

/Regent's Park Road. To this are added five, north-side, residential roads. The zone was described by

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

in 2011 as a major hotspot for traffic congestion, with approximately 94,000 vehicles traversing the junction daily. The local road leads to

Finchley Church End Church End (often known as "Finchley Central") is a locality within Finchley in the London Borough of Barnet in London, England. Aside from its church it centres on Finchley Central Underground station. Church End is an old village, now a sub ...

northbound and to

Temple Fortune Temple Fortune is a place in the London Borough of Barnet to the north of Golders Green. It is principally a shopping district used by residents of the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Between here and Golders Green, at Hoop Lane are two cemeteries – ...

and

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

southbound. Bus 102, which runs from

Brent Cross Shopping Centre Brent Cross Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Hendon, north London, owned by Hammerson and Abrdn. Located by the Brent Cross interchange, it opened in 1976 as the UK's first out-of-town shopping centre. Brent Cross attracted 15–1 ...

to Edmonton Green station takes the multi-lane east–west axis. Others crossing the junction are the 13, 112, 232 and 460.

History

It is named after the

Henlys Group Henlys Group PLC was a major London motor distributor and dealer founded in 1917 in London's Great Portland Street. In the 1980s it was taken over by a company associated with Michael Ashcroft then some years later sold to Yorkshire bus manufa ...

garage and car dealership on the southwest corner of the site from 1935 to 1989. The junction was created as part of the construction of the Barnet Bypass, which opened in 1928, with future provision for the North Circular. It was designed as a dual carriageway junction, but due to the

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

of London already surrounding it, meant that by the 1950s it had a 30 mph speed limit, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. In 1967, the junction was widened to three lanes each way, which remains the basic configuration today. In 2011 the carriageway was widened and upgraded to ease traffic flow. Traffic between from main flow to the local bisectors was allocated central space. The improvements cost over £30 million. On 13 January 2012, the Mayor of London,

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

officially opened improvements to the junction, stating "This is a tremendous example of how we are improving London’s roads for every type of user." In October, Britain's first hands-free pedestrian crossing was installed at the junction, so that the local Jewish community did not have to use electricity or operate machinery on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

. Traffic is held every 90 seconds over this duration (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday), with foot traffic principally to and from

Kinloss Synagogue Finchley United Synagogue, more commonly known as Kinloss Synagogue, is a synagogue in Finchley, north London. It is a member of the United Synagogue The United Synagogue (US) is a union of British Orthodox Jewish synagogues, representing ...

External links

SABRE: Henlys Corner

References

{{reflist Road junctions in London A1 road (Great Britain) Finchley