Elbow Room, Tottenham Hale, N17

This is the usual O'Neill's affair with Cold, Extra Cold and Red Guinness along with standard/premium lagers available. I found the barman that served me to be very friendly, although my pint of Guinness was very short. It was pretty relaxed, but I did go in on a week night. This is an above average O'Neill's, but there are better pubs a stones throw away.

Many years ago, before they started to take over the world, this place was a Wetherspoons and you can still sense the brand in the air. There are still quite cheap and half decent beers albeit not on a Spoons scale with 3 ales (Courage Best, Bombardier and Brains SA (at £2.20 a pint) on my most recent visit). Behind the bar is a large collection of beer bottles and a selection of pump clips that suggests they have started to do more in the way of guest ales than they used to (it was always Courage Best/Directors on my previous post-‘Spoon visits). It was also quite pleasing to be served with a proper glass unlike most of the pubs where plastic is the order of match days. The interior is quite small considering its ‘Spoons past (you can probably see why they sold up) and on match days can naturally get very busy. I have always found the service more than efficient although bagging a seat is nigh on impossible unless you are there early. There are several little nooks and cranny’s, a raised area and plenty of pillars that make the place seem quite intimate and to the rear is a very small decked, covered beer patio. 3 TV’s keep you updated with Sports news ahead of the match. The thing that strikes the most is the huge collection of Spurs memorabilia - flags, banners, scarves, photos, programmes, newspaper snippets etc. all leave you in no doubt of where the loyalties are. The place is generally hassle free and if you get in, it is one of the best places for a proper pint in the area.

This is a good pub that has a much more local feel than most high street boozers. The barman was very friendly and my pint of Cumberland was nice enough. Courage Best and Bombardier were also available alongside a selection of standard lagers. There are plenty of screens and the pub shows Sky Sports and Setanta. There is a small decked smoking area out the back next to the railway arches and whilst I was out there a bloke came along and started feeding some cats with chicken slices. I counted ten, but I'm sure there were more and this guy seemed to know them all by name! I liked it in here and would return.