Although this pub is not a listed building it is it is one of London’s Real Heritage pubs (ie it is on CAMRA’s London Regional Inventory of Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest) and the description is as follows: “In 1905 this pub – then a beerhouse – changed hands and, judging by the embellishment, was probably remodelled soon after that. It has a particularly attractive ground-floor frontage with a couple of curved bay windows and brown glazed brick facing. The etched windows with their leaded heads (best appreciated from inside) come with delightful representations of a wheatsheaf and Art Nouveau-style flowers. The ‘jugs and bottles’ department (named in the door glass) has gone but the pub still has two entirely separate rooms. The one on the right sports a very fancy fireplace and mirrored overmantel: the tiled strips with stylised tulips are, again, typically Art Nouveau. The bar-back is plain and may be the work of the 1930s while the plain matchboard counter (the same as in the other room) is hard to date. In the left-hand, single-storey room there is extensive three-quarter-height matchboard panelling. Here the fire surround is much plainer than next door. The pub was probably called the Old Wheatsheaf to distinguish it from another Wheatsheaf in Baker Street situated at the other end of Enfield Town.

History on the Spot: Time was when landlords often combined pub-keeping with other occupations. Gary Boudier’s book A-Z of Enfield Pubs tells us that in 1855 licensee William Collins is recorded as a beerseller and rat-destroyer. It seems logical to think that he also rounded up the little beggars for ratting matches which used to be a popular pub entertainment in which dogs (and occasionally humans) competed to kill the most number of rats in a defined period of time.”

The Old Wheatsheaf featured on the Daytime Crawl of Enfield and Barnet in June 2004, and the A King, a Jester and a Bishop: Daytime Crawl of Enfield, Cockfosters and Barnet in February 2011.