Finchley

Finchley Road is not in Finchley, which tells you most of what London thinks of the original: a name worth borrowing, a place not worth the detour. The real one starts where the North Circular and the A1 meet at Henlys Corner, guarded by a naked woman holding a sword, the only person in the queue who looks like she is enjoying it. Highwaymen worked the Great North Road through here for centuries, and the junction took over the work and never clocks off. Finchley is what north London buys once it has stopped wanting to be seen and started wanting to sit down.