Like the Gate, this pub is a grade II listed building and it is on the London Regional Inventory where the description is as follows: “When originally built in 1897 this pub must have been a stunner. The architects were Shoebridge & Rising who were responsible for many a London pub. Here they produced a flamboyant essay in the Flemish Renaissance manner. The raised brick lettering, ornamental ironwork and the etched and cut glass give an expectation of splendours within. The pub was remodelled internally in the late 20th century by the late Roderick Gradidge, one of the most sensitive architects dealing with pub refurbishment. The front parts are now a single space but some sense of subdivision has been achieved by the reuse of the original fine glazed screenwork. The L-shaped servery still has its 1897 counter and the bar-back is lined with a series of lovely decorated mirrors. There is a skylight over the rear left-hand area. Another, bigger skylight sits near the wonderfully gracious music room at the rear. It is spanned by two hefty tie-beams and has rich plaster friezes on the main walls and also below the skylight. The swirly decoration (similar to that in the main bar) on the coving looks as though it may be Gradidge work as is perhaps the fireplace too. History in a name: The name comes, of course, from the east coast mainline railway which thunders by a little to the east. The bill for the railway secured Royal Assent in 1846 and the main line to Doncaster was opened in 1852 as was the London terminus at King’s Cross, then the largest station in England.”

The listing description is as follows: “Elaborate neo-Jacobean building of circa 1900. 3 storeys. 3 bays divided by half-octagonal pilasters and oversailing half-bay around angle to right. Red brick with stone dressings. High pitched tiled roof has tall arcaded balustrade and shaped centre gable with cut brickwork and title. Mullioned and transomed windows those in centre 5 light and slightly bowed. Red granite ground floor with strapwork pilasters. Engraved window glass. Ornamental iron grille above left entrance. Interior has original woodwork and elaborate plaster decoration mostly in Jacobean style but some of Art-and-Craft type. Pretty painted glass skylights.”

The Great Northern Railway featured on the Racing, Railways and Prime Ministers: Daytime Crawl of Wood Green, Hornsey, Crouch End, Finsbury Park and Harringay in June 2009, and the Queens, Earls and Tories: Daytime Crawl of Hornsey, Crouch End, Crouch Hill and Harringay in February 2014.