The Elmhurst Hotel, Tottenham, N17

This massive and magnificent old pub would once have been the Rolls Royce to the nearby Antwerp Arms' mini. It's an Edwardian pub built in 1903 according to the exterior stonework. Inside it still retains some of its original features - the bar counter, bar back, Lincrusta style ceiling, leaded and coloured glazing in the windows, and wooden surrounds plus glazed screening above the wide archway leading between the two largest rooms are all original. The bar back is particularly interesting, being elaborately carved, with wooden pedestals in the upper parts, and with small mirrors behind them. The pub itself is very large. There is a large room on the corner which, judging by the number of unused doors, would originally have been subdivided into two or three rooms, and possibly including a jug and bottle bar. This leads on (via the archway mentioned above) to another large room at the back, plus there's another, relatively small, room on the left reached via a doorway from the large corner room. Both of the larger rooms contain pool tables, and the large corner room also has a large pull down TV screen at the front. This pub evokes a feeling of faded splendour, but it has something of an unloved look about it now. I was the only customer in there on Monday lunchtime, but I suspect it might get busy in the evenings, perhaps with underage drinkers hoping to get served, if the signs all over the place saying that "proof of age is required" is anything to go by. But the young barmaid didn't ask me for proof of age for some reason. There's obviously no real ale, with the two handpumps on the counter apparently being just for show. A half of Guinness rocked in at £2.25. I didn't see any sign of food when I was in, although a sign near the counter suggested that food might be available at some times. The arrival of a customer (me) seemed to induce the barmaid to put on some music, the noise of which she later supplemented with the TV that seemed to be showing some Aussie soap opera. This is a pub of faded grandeur. I probably won't be making a return visit unless it features on a LPG pub crawl due to the surviving original features.