The presence of Hollywood film cameras in the street would ordinarily have residents peeking out from behind their net curtains.
But the filming of an adaptation of the novel Disobedience, about a lesbian romance at the heart of the Jewish community, has instead caused consternation.
It is not the content of the movie making residents angry, but disruption to their preparations for Shabbat.
The inability to park outside kosher shops in Golders Green led to a series of complaints to local councillor Shimon Ryde.
Mr Ryde said people were worried about planned parking suspensions on The Riding — one of the area’s busiest side roads — last week to accommodate the production team.
He explained: “I’m often dealing with concerns about parking and Shabbos. Residents rang me to say they were concerned about parking restrictions on the Thursday evening and into Friday because of a film.”
Residents were concerned the shooting of the filming of Naomi Alderman’s controversial 2006 book would stop them getting essential Shabbat items and might even potentially expose them to danger when walking to their synagogues.
Mr Ryde said: “There were some security concerns. Luckily for residents I spoke to the production team and I managed to get the restrictions changed.”
The owners of the Kosher Kingdom store were also annoyed to find that despite refusing a request to film in the shop, the road outside had been transformed into a film set.
“It was a nuisance on every front,” a spokesperson for the store said, adding that more than 20 parking bays in the area were blocked off.
“We received written confirmation from the film location manager that the film would not contain any footage of the supermarket, nor would there be any interference in trade whatsoever whilst filming was being carried out in the general area.
“At times they blocked the entrance and exit of our shop. They were filming from the morning until about three or four in the afternoon. Customers stayed away — there is no question about that.”
A Barnet Council spokesman said the company which manages filming requests on the authority’s behalf had apologised to Kosher Kingdom for the inconvenience.
Geoffrey Alderman, former JC columnist and father of Ms Alderman, said he had enjoyed a “wonderful” time on set. He has taken part in filming on at least three occasions in the past few weeks.
But asked if he had any insight into the problems on set, he said he was unaware of them, adding: “As I’m appearing in the film it’s not appropriate to comment.”
