If ever a postcode was a giveaway of ones religious background, it is NW11– if you’re scrabbling for your A to Z, let me tell you: it’s Golders Green. Arguably the most Jewish area in London; Stamford Hill seems to me more of an Orthodox area than one for all denominations of us.

I grew up in Golders but never really thought about how this told people I was Jewish, until one summer when I was a teenager, and went on a non-Jewish activity holiday in Bournemouth. On the first day I was chatting to 13-year-old from Chester in the dinner queue. I was just recovering from her telling me that she’d had two abortions, when she shocked me a second time. She’d asked me where I was from and when I replied “Golders Green,” she said: “So you’re Jewish then.” This got me thinking about how the non-Jewish world views Golders Green; had someone told promiscuous Laura from Chester that Golders Green was full of Jewish people?

Fast forward about 15 years, to last month, when I moved into my very own, first, flat in Hoop Lane, NW11. Laura clearly didn’t unsettle my view of the area enough to stop me making the major commitment to buy property here. So why did I pass up Belsize Park, the place-for-hip-young-things, or the kookiness of Crouch End, and settle in the stomping ground of my youth? Well it wasn’t such a hard decision. Don’t cloud the argument with points such as; it was a dirt cheap flat the size of a shoe box/it’s built entirely out of asbestos. I chose to live here because I like the feel of the area, and not just because of nostalgia.

There’s no getting away from the fact it’s VERY JEWISH. For a start, on Shabbat the busy high street looks like how Chernobyl would seem tomorrow, if they announced today they’d just installed a ropey safety alarm at the nuclear plant. One Saturday morning I’m sure I saw a tumble weed blowing down Golders Green high street.Although under populated a certain times, at others it is heavy populated with intriguing characters. I’ve had three men bearing shofars stop me on Rosh Hashanah and give me a ten minute recital. This was a charming event, except that I assumed it would only last a minute, and there was one point
where I didn’t think they’d ever stop the horn blowing and let me go. Other colourful characters can be found outside Carmelli’s bakery on a Saturday night; a huge mass of teenagers - a blur of mobile phone ringtones, Israel tour gossip, and air kissing.

Something I like about Golders Green is that you frequently hear Hebrew spoken in the street. There is a lot of Israeli culture in the area, which to me is very different to Jewish culture. Hearing Hebrew in the air somehow makes the place seem sunnier, as if I am in a dusty place with a Middle Eastern climate and tanned citizens.