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Nether Street was recognised by the mid-14th century as an old street, sometimes called 'Lower Street' in later periods. Essentially an access road to properties and land, the most important of which were Moss Hall (see North Finchley) and Brent Lodge.

The manor house, now the Sternberg Centre, was built in 1723 by the Allens. Bibbesworth, Finchley's original manor house (c1253), was destroyed by fire in the 15th and 16th centuries. Of the original building only a ditch, possibly a moat, remains.

The town centre strategy for Finchley Central, commissioned by Barnet Council, is being developed to set out a vision for the future of Finchley Church End and Finchley Central.  We Made That are the consultants who will be helping to develop the strategy.

Finchley Common was an area of land in between Finchley, Friern Barnet and Muswell Hill, which had been Finchley Wood and was under the authority of the Bishop of London. By the 15th century the people of Finchley claimed the right to collect wood and graze their animals in and around the wood. In the 16th century the Bishop had much of the wood cleared, and it became an open, uncultivated area called a common.

La Delivrance Finchley has two famous pieces of public art. La Delivrance is a 16-foot statue in bronze of a naked woman holding a sword aloft, and is the work of the French sculptor Emile Guillaume. It's at Henley's Corner, at the bottom of Regents Park Road. Because she has no clothes the statue has a number of local names including 'Dirty Gertie', 'The Wicked Woman', and most popularly (to the exclusion of its real name) 'The Naked Lady'.

St Mary's Finchley was originally built sometime in the 12th century, and it is documented from the 1270s. The building has been altered many times. The oldest parts of the north wall and the tower date from the reign of Henry VII. In 1872 the church was enlarged. Bombing in 1940 led to the substantial rebuilding of the church in 1953. There is a brass plate to Richard Prate (d.1487), and the monument to Alexander King (d.1618) and his wife are in marble.

Shortly before 1300 a new road north out of London was made through Finchley, which we now call the High Road. At the bottom of the hill just where the railway crosses the road there was a bridge, later called Hanson's Bridge (1444), over a stream called Mutton Brook. The road was improved in 1712. It passed up the hill from Hanson's Bridge to Fortis Green Road. We now call this part of the road Stag Hill, but it was formally New Gate Lane.

Another road running from Church End to East Finchley is Long Lane (known as such by 1719) which may have been called Ferrours Lane in medieval times. Roughly half way along its route is Squires Lane, which runs from the manor house to the High Road, the traditional division between East Finchley and Church End.

Finchley is a Saxon place name and its earliest recorded use is in the 13th century. The end of the name,'ley', suggests an opening in woodland, and the beginning 'Finch' either refers to the bird, or a person called Finch.

​A Neighbourhood Planning Referendum was held on Thursday 8 July 2021 in the West Finchley area to decide on the adoption of the West Finchley Neighbourhood Plan