30+ Awesome Things to do in Wood Green

So here it is, in a BuzzFeed style celebration, suggestions collected from HOL and Twitter about awesome things to do in Wood Green. If your favourite isn't on the list, ADD IT.

1. Eat a hearty vegetarian breakfast at The Canteen on Station Road, near Wood Green Station -third shop down (ish).

2. Read anything by Albert Pinching about Wood Green and its history (order from BGBS here) - while having a veggie breakfast perhaps?

3. Buy a book, go to an event, join a reading group at The Big Green Bookshop. This amazing indy bookshop provides cultural manna from heaven on a weekly basis and last year brought a literary festival to the Green. It frequently attracts star turns. Did you know Kristin Hersh played a gig there?

4. Get cheap gardening stuff and plants at Lidl - take a big bag, you’ll be tempted.

5. Wander around The Marketplace at the back of the Mall, which reminds me of the Asian street markets I once frequented half a lifetime ago. It’s a good place for haberdashery and I’ve had the Greek deli and the Algerian food recommended to me by people who *know* about this stuff.

6. Pop into Tiger in the Mall to buy little things for those dratted party bags, reading glasses or stick on moustaches.

7. Shop in Wilkinson’s - the greatest store to ever come south of Watford Gap

8. Buy All Saints clothes at the TKMaxx in the Mall.

9. Have lunch at Karamel at the Choc Factory -good lunchtime eatery run by a lovely lady and check out the fab art and history exhibitions on the walls. Go back in the evening for one of the events which include music gigs, film showings and literary nights (usually FREE entry).

10. Get your eyebrows threaded by Heenah for 4 quid (have to ask Sharon for more details on this).

11. Buy a box of dates or avocados for a quid on the stalls near the Big Green Bookshop. Also noted that my Portuguese neighbour swears by the fish stall for his fresh sardines.

12. Check out the homewares sales at BHS. Also home of funky kids T-shirts.

13. Look at the Montague Burton Building as you leave BHS. See if you can spot the original villas above BHS and Poundland. Try and spot where the Wood Green Empire once hosted famous variety stars and the notorious accident involving a bullet and an American.

    

14. Browse the charity shops, including the super re-vamped TRAID shop.

15. Take a stroll through Noel Park Estate- a beautiful attempt to build decent housing for the artisan classes in a more philanthropic if no less class-ridden age.

16. Admire the Haringey Civic Centre - an example of Modernism in Metroland

17. Acquaint yourself with the history of Shopping City and try to learn to love municipal brutalism - remember everything becomes old enough one day to be loved and most people hate new builds for the first 100 years.

18. Support Parkside Malvern RA and feast your eyes on the Gas Towers that they fought to save. They’ll be gone before you know it.

19. Go and see some street art without traipsing to Shoreditch - there’s the Shepard Fairey and the work of the Turnpike Lane Art Group

20. Dress up to the nines and eat at Mosaica at the Chocolate Factory - to be honest, as good as Jamie Oliver's Fifteen (and I've eaten at both).

21. Have a curry at The Paramount up past Wood Green Station - a family run business popular with patrons from 9 months to 90 yrs.

22. Watch the basketball or have a go at the outdoor gym at Ducketts Common -this outdoor space gets more lovely as the years pass and there’s something really special about seeing it so alive with young people playing games and having fun in the sun. Join the Friends to help make it happen.

    

23. Take the kids to play at Wood Green Common, Russell Park & Belmont Rec.

24. Join the cafe society at Coffee Republic at Spouter's Corner. A good place to read your Pinching history books.

25. Visit the artists and view their work at The Chocolate Factory Open Studios in November.

26. Eat Turkish food - Kervan Gokyuzu on the High Road won best newcomer at the British Kebab awards, although my sources tell me you’ll also do well at Kebab Delight better than “Kaslik in Soho”.

27. Watch live music at The Duke of Edinburgh pub, Mayes Road.

28. Tell your teenager (or the nearest one) about the award winning Teen Library in Wood Green Library

29. See more free art at Wood Green Library: Genesis by artist Gitl Braun. This thousand fold magnification of an art restorer’s palette is permanently on display, seen from the Ground Floor.

30. Buy a pair of leopard skin leggings to wear at your yoga or pilates class :)

With thanks to @gillpea, Chris Brosnahan, doug, Sharon, Tunbridge Wells, Laura Mole, Finsbury Park Ranger, Laura, Racheal Leigh, Alan Stanton and Melvyn from whom these ideas came with a few of my own thrown in for good measure.

And here's 30 more as suggested by folks in the comments or via Twitter

1. Take a walk to Alexandra Palace
2. Spend some pocket money on trading cards, the latest playground craze or Lego at Toy City in The Mall
3. Get a favourite picture framed beautifully for a very reasonable price at The Chocolate Factory
4. Enjoy a pint in the sunshine from 'The (Starting) Gate' while your toddler plays at being ‘In the Night Garden’ in Avenue Gardens. If it’s Tuesday, it must be time to order two for one fresh dough pizzas.
5. Eat a homemade cheap lunch from Cafe Corso at the end of Ringslade Road - sitting outside when the sun is out.
6. Cure your hangover with the Turkish 'king breakfast' at Coffee Break Cafe on Station road.
7. Enjoy made-on-site baklava, grab some feta pastries on the way home from the pub and get fresh, cheap fruit and veg all from Akdeniz (next to Coffee Break).
8. Watch Haringey Borough FC with your kids - “last Saturday was fantastic when over 100 'Clapton Ultras' turned up, singing songs all through the game, and lighting flares when they scored”
9. Rediscover your inner child (whilst supervising your own, perhaps) at Adventure Zone in the Chocolate Factory. Has the added benefit, whilst we're reliving childishness, of saying the words "Milk, milk, lemonade" when thinking of chocolate factories.
10. Entertain your little cherub at Burghley Road Children's Centre for £2.50 to - an incredible asset to the area
11. Get your acting thing going with a course at Mountview Theatre School or go to a show and see if you spot the next Amanda Holden or Ken Stott.
12. Get political at an event at the Cypriot Centre in Earlham Grove
13. Make it a burger and a shake at Tinseltown
14. Enjoy a taste of Pakistan at  Lahore Kebab in The Mall
15. Take a class at the Asian Centre in Caxton Road
16. Take a breather away from the throngs and go for a sit down and a cuppa at the cafe at the back of the Indoor market at The Mall (itself a treasure trove) cheaper than Costa and no need to fight for a seat.
17. Have a relaxing Sunday at Noel Park Market, a community market at the heart of Noel Park Estate every Sunday from 10am -2pm, Noel Park School, Gladstone Avenue. Great free range meat straight from the farm, home grown veg, fresh roasted coffee, cakes, Italian savouries, and probably the best burger this side of London.
18. Eat out - choose from Jai Shri Krishna and Jashan Indian restaurants on Turnpike Lane, Le Chamarel Mauritian restaurant, Wood Green Chinese restaurant, or the Sunny Beach Bulgarian restaurant.
19. Eat fish and chips from the restaurant on Lordship lane, a few doors from Wood Green tube. Basic, but perfect fish and chips.
20. Check out an event at the West Indian Cultural Centre on Clarendon Road
21. Join Tottenham and Wood Green Friends of the Earthfor the chance to wear a bee costume and save the planet with some good local action
22. Buy some knickers at the M&S outlet “AMAZES for knickers” says @whitepele10
23. Pop up to Wolves Lane Nursery on the W4  for all your gardening needs and enjoy the Palm and Desert Houses.
24. Check out the new deli opened on Lordship Lane - Paula’s - opposite Tesco.
25. Have a cup of tea at Cafe Blossom - near the police station.
26. Pick up your DIY supplies at Tuck and Norris on Lordship Lane
27. Try a pizza at Fatisa at 292 High Road
28. Play tennis at Chapman’s Green
29. Join the historic Wood Green Social Club
30. Start from here to explore the rest of London really easily. Wood Green is one of London's key transport hubs, which will soon include a 24 hour tube station.

Feel free to add more suggestions of awesomeness but if you want to moan or even make constructive suggestions on how to improve the Wood Green experience, you need to be over here.