Southgate Town Centre

The Journeys and Places team at Enfield Council has been continually engaging with Southgate’s local community on the challenges and opportunities that are present in this historical Town Centre. Our Team will be delivering a series of interventions throughout 2024 which will be the first step in the development of a new longer-term vision for Southgate, created in collaboration with the local community.

Southgate is one of Enfield’s main town centres, with good connections to central London and nearby green spaces, rich 1930s heritage architecture, prominent buildings with redevelopment potential, and strong local cultural and community partners. However, the Town Centre is currently affected by a series of challenges that have contributed to the creation of an unwelcoming environment for residents and visitors.

In 2024, the Council will be delivering improvements across Southgate to make the everyday experience of the Town Centre more welcoming and vibrant for people who live, work and visit there. These interventions aim to improve key routes for people walking to, from and around Southgate, and enhance the public realm with greenery and public art to transform the Town Centre, and will include:

• two new ‘parklets’ that will introduce greenery and public seating in Ashfield Parade
• enhancement of the Pocket Park near the Bus Station to create a space where people can gather and spend time together
• rain gardens along the wide footpaths of Chase Side to mitigate the impact of surface water runoff and bring nature into a very congested area of the Town Centre
• Vibrant, colourful public artwork displayed temporarily in the windows of Southgate Library that celebrates Southgate’s horticultural heritage, created by local artist Dan Maier for the Festival of Industry programme
• Portrait of Southgate: a new arts trail created by artists Alex McHallam and Liz Tiranti featuring a series of mosaics celebrating Southgate’s art deco architecture and local heroes. Portrait of Southgate is curated by local residents as part of the council’s Curate Enfield public art programme.

Throughout the year we want to hear from local people about what you want to see in the future for Southgate Town Centre to inform a masterplan to be delivered over the coming years as funding becomes available. More information on future events and opportunities can be found under ‘Key dates’ to the right-hand side of this project page, and updates will be posted regularly in the ‘Project updates’ section below.