The Elephant Inn, North Finchley, N12

Located on one of the main roads through Finchley, this is a traditional two bar Fuller’s pub that has been knocked through to create a continuous U-shaped interior. The right hand side of the pub is bare boarded and has nice padded banquettes running around the perimeter supplemented by standard chairs. The walls are decorated with photo montages and TV screens were variously showing golf and cricket, although no-one seemed to be paying much attention to either. The servery looks like a survivor and has a nice foot stand, detailed pillars supporting the dark wood gantry and a tongue and groove bar back. The front part of the pub, which would presumably have either been a porch or a bottle and jug in days gone by, now offers up a drinking ledge and a single high table set under nice stained glass partitioning screens and a few old photographs. Moving round to the left hand bar, you’ll find similar banquette seating under some high wood panels with a nice decorative band above. There is a fireplace with a grand ornamental surround on the far wall, alongside which you’ll find a huge Fullers mirror. The bar has some nice decorative touches on the canopy and to the rear there is some more stained glasswork and access to a Thai restaurant. Meanwhile, to the rear right there is effectively a separate room, screened from the bar by more of that nice partitioning. This space is a carpeted lounge-style area with standard seating, dark wood panelled walls and large mirrors, but it was being used for a private party, so I didn’t get a good look round. Loud pop music played throughout my Friday evening stay and there was a wide mix of customers in – I found myself sat next to a sloshed group of pensioners who seemed to have decided to turn the clock back 50 years for the evening. This pub made the 2016 edition of the Good Beer Guide, so I was looking forward to a good pint of Fullers. Only three ales were available – London Pride, ESB and Gales Seafarers – with a few more Fullers beers on tap and in the fridges. I tried a pint of the Seafarers, which I have to say was pretty poor quality, seemingly suffering from the heat but also perhaps approaching the bottom of the barrel as well. I thought this would be a good way to round off a short crawl around North Finchley, but it turned out to be the poorest pub of the night. The building still retains a bit of character and I was quite comfy sat in the bar watching the old folk get smashed, but the beer was bad, the service best described as functional and I found myself leaving with the sense that I’d perhaps missed something here. This place might be worth another try, but with better options just up the road, it’s some way down on the list for a revisit.

Official site of Elephant Inn - www.elephantinnfinchley.co.uk

Official site of Elephant Inn - www.elephantinnfinchley.co.uk