A High Street Only Survives If We Use It
Palmers Green’s Easter Egg Hunt brings the community together
For a few hours on Saturday 28 March 2026, Palmers Green felt different.
There was laughter on the pavement. Children moving from shop to shop with purpose. Parents pausing, talking, reconnecting. A high street — not just passed through, but used, noticed and enjoyed.
This was the Green Lanes Business Association’s annual Easter Egg Hunt.
Across 24 shops stretching from Alderman’s Hill down through Green Lanes, brightly coloured Easter eggs sat in windows waiting to be found. Families followed the trail, stepping into businesses they may not usually visit— rediscovering what has been there all along. Every child who took part received a goody bag, and later in the day prizes were drawn, including a Meta Quest VR headset kindly donated by Bennett Walden Estate Agents, along with Easter eggs for the first 24 runners-up.
But the real prize was something less tangible. One parent told us she brings her children every year. Another group of parents said they had “thoroughly enjoyed it.”
And then there was a young boy who came up to me and offered to help read out the winners’ names — proudly explaining that he was very good at reading.
It was a small moment, but it captured something bigger: confidence, belonging, and the quiet magic of a community event done well.
As one committee member, Phil, reflected: “Like the other events the GLBA organises, it gives families a few quality hours together. I would have loved it as a child — and it’s clear they do too.”
The day ran seamlessly thanks to the careful planning of GLBA Chairman Costas Georgiou, supported by committee members and local traders — some stepping in to collect Easter eggs from shops for the prize draw.
Thanks are also due to the local schools who helped distribute leaflets, ensuring families across the area knew and could take part.
Bennett Walden Estate Agents who generously sponsored the event — including the first prize and runners-up gifts.
We were also pleased to welcome our local MP Bambos Charalambous and Councillor Doug Taylor, who joined in drawing the winning tickets and showing their support for the high street.
The GLBA, established in 1992, has long understood something simple but easily forgotten: a high street only works if people use it.
That is why these events exist. They are not just seasonal attractions. They reconnect people to place — bringing residents and traders together so the high street becomes something lived, not just passed through. Because once a shop is gone, it is not easily replaced. And once a high street loses its rhythm, it is hard to restore.
What Saturday showed us is that Palmers Green still has that rhythm. It just needs to be used.
Finally, thank you to every parent who came, and to every child who took part — you are what makes events like this matter.
This is what a high street looks like when people choose to be part of it.
Look out for our next event — details can be found at: https://lovepalmersgreen.com
Angela Evangelou is the High Street Ambassador for the Green Lanes Business Association
