Southgate Town Centre

Curate Enfield Project

Curate Enfield is a grassroots public art programme supported by Arts Council England and Enfield Council. The programme will create 5 new public artworks for the borough - one for each of Enfield's town centres: Southgate, Palmers Green, Enfield Town, Angel Edmonton and Edmonton Green.

Local young people and community leaders from across the borough have been recruited as Public Art Champions to develop these commissions for their respective town centres. The Public Art Champions for Southgate have selected the sites in the town centre they would like to see transformed and enriched by public art, consulted their local communities for ideas and feedback, and worked with local artist-mentor Dan Maier to develop the brief for the commission. 'Portrait of Southgate' is a call for proposals to create a new arts trail across three key sites in Southgate, to support the wider improvements across Southgate and celebrate the town centre's unique heritage and identity.

The public artworks produced through this commission will be an integral part of a masterplan of integrated interventions delivered by Enfield Council to improve Southgate Town Centre for residents, communities and visitors.

Public Realm enhancements in Ashfield Parade, in the green area close to the Bus Station and along the pavement areas of Chase Side will be delivered in the first half of 2024 to:

• Improve the everyday experience of young people, families and elders, green the public realm and make it more accessible and welcoming.
• Create spaces where people can feel at ease and engaged, proposing new uses and opportunities for them to come together in the Town Centre.

For further information about this commission and how to apply, please find 'Call for Proposals: New Arts Trail in Southgate here and at the top the right-hand menu of this page. The deadline for submissions is 15 November.

Enfield Council is exploring the possibility of installing green areas on the wide footpaths of Chase Side to improve the public realm and develop a green, vibrant and inclusive Town Centre.

The project represents an opportunity to address the current state of Chase Side with the aim of improving the everyday experience of the local community and develop a shared vision for the Town Centre.

The project is currently in the early stages and no design is being proposed at this time. We welcome residents, businesses and other stakeholders to share their ideas with us on Saturday 7th October from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

Meeting points is Southgate Station with two walks along Chase Side taking place at 11am and 12pm.

Following walkabouts and engagement sessions which took place in Southgate Town Centre in 2022, the Pocket Park near the Bus Station was identified as a priority site for public realm improvements in Southgate.

In the last few months, Jan Kattein Architects have been working on a concept design for the meanwhile improvement of this area based on the feedback they received from the public, focusing on enhancing the green space and the seating areas while creating a space where families and kids can gather and spend time together. By 'meanwhile' improvement we are referring to a project which will be on site for a few years to test new potential uses of the space and to inform a more radical transformation of the area in the future.

The design for this space celebrates the history of Southgate as the southern gate to the Enfield Chase between the 12^th and the 19^th centuries. It also links to the major landscape recovery scheme the Council is currently delivering in Enfield Chase with the aim of restoring rivers, wetland and create publicly accessible woodland.

Natural oak felled trees with carved seating and sculptural qualities will encourage visitors to explore and meander through the site along an interactive ‘trail’ that teaches them about the history of Enfield Chase. It will celebrate the significance of Enfield Chase to the history of Southgate Town Centre, while enhancing existing seating areas and green space.

Jan Kattein Architects presented the design during the 90^th Anniversary Celebration of Southgate Station in March 2023, receiving positive feedback from the local community and Transport for London.

The project will be delivered in the first half of 2024.

The Place Shaping Team in Journeys and Places has been working in collaboration with Jan Kattein Architects to develop a proposal for public realm meanwhile improvements in Ashfield Parade, to introduce greenery and public seating.

This design proposal follows an engagement process with Ashfield Parade businesses which begun in December 2022. During the engagement sessions, business owners shared their ambition for Ashfield Parade to become greener, more attractive and safer particularly for families and women.

The design proposal introduces greenery and public seating to improve the quality of public realm along a key route into the town centre to welcome more diverse customers on Ashfield Parade and to test the potential for reducing traffic congestion on a small scale.

The project will be delivered in March 2024 via an 18 month long Experimental Traffic Order, with an initial 6 month statutory consultation for local people to provide their feedback.

The delivery of these interventions is an opportunity to continue the conversation with the local community, to develop forms of stewardships of the public realm and to inform wider future plans for Southgate Town Centre.

The next meeting to present a detailed proposal to residents and businesses will take place in October 2023.

We are very happy to announce that Create Enfield has been awarded a grant from Arts Council England, towards the delivery of ‘Curate Enfield’ – a new project which will generate 5 new pieces of public art for Enfield, one for each town centre (Angel Edmonton, Edmonton Green, Enfield Town, Palmers Green and Southgate), and be led by local people. We are seeking a young public art champion aged 18-25, who is interested in conceiving and shaping new public art for Southgate Town Centre. Free training and mentoring will be provided, in addition to a small honorarium and the chance to lead an exciting public art project which will have a lasting impact. The programme will commence this September 2022. If you are interested in becoming a public art champion or know a young person who could be, please contact Create Enfield Manager: clare.moloney@enfield.gov.uk for further information.

The deadline to apply is 31^st August 2022

A Month of Sundays, Enfield’s hugely popular summer festivals of music, performance, entertainment and street food, has returned this year to five locations around the borough!

A Month of Sundays kicked off in Enfield Town on Sunday 31 July and is expected to have attracted thousands of people.

Last year, the five free street festivals and two fringe events welcomed 47,100 attendees, 50 local businesses who sold food and drink and 123 performers who entertained the crowds with music, dance, spoken word and more.

These family-friendly events take place 12pm to 6pm and are free to attend. Look out for Enfield favourites Sissy Lea, Janet Kay, Chickenshed Theatre, Platinum street dancers and a wealth of talent including performances from DJ Bradshaw, TikTokers @TheLewisSisters and Victor Romero Evans. More acts will be announced on the website and on social media #AMonthofSundays

This year’s dates are:

• Sunday 31 July Church Street, Enfield Town, including a Pride in Enfield event on Market Square
• Sunday 7 August, Snells Park, Angel Edmonton
• Sunday 14 August, Edmonton Green Shopping Centre
• Sunday 28 August, Ashfield Parade, Southgate
• Sunday 11 September, Green Lanes, Palmers Green

Enfield Winter Lights celebrated Enfield's culture and heritage through a series of incredible art installations, workshops and exhibitions across the borough during February and March 2022. Enfield Council partnered with local creative business Artist Hive Studios to deliver the festival and encourage the public to visit the many local businesses and restaurants that our borough has to offer.

This festival was funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) Welcome Back Fund, established through a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (EDRF).

Highlights of Enfield Winter Lights in Southgate include:

• Dan Maier: Southgate takeover of the Underground station and The Southgate Club
• Amy Wiggin: Only Connect @ Love Brownies
• Cat Coulter: Cyanotype Workshop - Making Blueprints with Light

Enfield Council would like to thank Artist Hive Studios and the artists, businesses and organisations involved in bringing joy, lights and positivity to our borough!

Instagram and Facebook @enfieldwinterlights

Twitter @enfieldwinterl

#EnfieldWinterLights

Full details available at https://www.enfieldwinterlights.com/

The inaugural Enfield Winter Lights celebration will illuminate the streets of Enfield in February and March bringing light, joy and positivity.

Enfield Winter Lights is a series of large-scale art instal­lations and activities designed to illuminate the town centres of Angel Edmonton, Enfield Town, Palmers Green and Southgate.

It will bring together artists, local businesses and the wider community, with spectacular light artworks designed to celebrate the heritage of Enfield and dazzle Angel Edmonton, Enfield Town, Palmers Green and Southgate with colour, creativ­ity and innovation. Enfield Winter Lights is delivered by Artist Hive Studios in partnership with Enfield Council.

Six prominent U.K. based artists who have been shortlisted to deliver site-specific takeovers in each of the town centres. These artists are: Mark Beattie, Claire Luxton, Half A Roast Chicken (otherwise known as Eve De Haan), Dan Maier, Lauren Baker and King Owusu.

In addition, local artists have been selected to uplift our high street with mean-while installations activating vacant shops and connecting with local businesses. We will also invite the community to enjoy a curated borough-wide art trail viewable night and day, on billboards in seventeen locations.

As well as iconic outdoor art interventions Enfield Winter Lights will include interactive elements, where the community is encouraged to get creative. Workshops will be hosted by Blake Carlson-Joshua and architect and designer Purva Kundaje, Dan Maier and Jylle Navarro. Full details will be available at www.enfieldwinterlights.com

The festival pays homage to local luminary Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, a pioneer in the electronics industry and an early developer of a successful incandescent light bulb, over 130 years ago. In 1886 Edison Swan United Electric Light Co. took over the former jute mill at Duck Lees Lane in Ponders End and converted it to manufacture electric light bulbs, leading to the factory being known colloquially as ‘The Lamp’.

This work is supported by The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Welcome Back Fund, estab­lished through a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (EDRF). Delivered by Artist Hive Studios. The money is helping Enfield Council put in place additional measures to establish a safe trading environment for businesses and customers in the wake of COVID-19, particularly in high streets, and support our local economy on the road to recovery.

Instagram and Facebook @enfieldwinterlights

Twitter @enfieldwinterl

#EnfieldWinterLights

Grab your Santa hats and bring out your baubles, Enfield Council is bringing a series of 'Merry Enfield' Christmas events to four town centres.

The free, outdoor festivals will take place in Enfield Town, Palmers Green, Angel Edmonton and Southgate where local performers, artists and community groups will provide entertainment to help shoppers and visitors get into the Christmas spirit.

The events will include performances, a jumbo screen, live acoustic music, and Southgate based theatre company, Chickenshed, will provide a programme containing “Tales From the Shed”, extracts from its full Christmas show, street dance, and a DJ set. Chickenshed has also written the borough its own song, ‘We wish you a Merry Enfield’ which is hoped will become a local Christmas hit! This will all be coming to Southgate high street on 18 December, 12-6pm.

In addition, Enfield Council is funding an enhanced Parade of Lights. The hugely popular parade will take place in Enfield Town on Sunday 5 December and will include entertainment and carol singing at the market square.

Further details can be found at www.merryenfield.co.uk

Enfield Council has installed a parklet seating area on the footway on Chase Side, as part of a wider effort to encourage sustainable transport and protect the environment. Enfield Council’s Healthy Streets team and Town Centre Development team created the parklet outside 56/58 Chase Side in Southgate which will serve businesses by creating space for people to rest and relax while shopping or dining in the local area.

The parklet provides a public space that encourages social interaction and promotes walking and cycling. They aim to revive retail areas by engaging the local community and supporting the local economy.

The timing of the installation coincides with the post-COVID-19 re-opening of town centres in the borough; and compliments the support the Council has provided to local businesses during the pandemic. The Council’s objective is to support local businesses, increase footfall, promote sustainability and enhance the five priority town centres in the borough by introducing more green, welcoming spaces.

The parklet is just one of many initiatives to be launched in the area. The Southgate Task Force has been established with the support of local volunteers, and will focus on making the town centre cleaner, safer and greener. Dionne John from The Southgate Task Force said: “The new parklet increases the green space in Southgate and is a great place for the community to connect with each other.”

Information from other trials suggest that the delivery of a parklet boosts trade to local businesses such as coffee shops, cafes and restaurants by 30%, by attracting people to the area by creating a seating and social setting.

Parklets are becoming popular around London and the world as they provide a space for people to stop and rest while visiting an area, somewhere to have lunch or meet a neighbour, combined with plants or trees for shade and to make the space more inviting to spend time.

Click here for further information and to make suggestions for future locations for parklets in the borough.