A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, scheme, business venture, facility, etc. considered expensive but without equivalent utility or value relative to its capital and/or operational costs.
Wikipedia
One of our local pubs, The White Elephant, has closed for the last time. I watched as they boarded up the windows last Friday. It’s never nice to see a local business close, but this has been on the cards for a long time. Latterly you could pop in for a drink and have the place to yourself, a far cry from its heyday as Napoleon’s in the eighties. Around 2007 it became The Rare Bird and after that The Merrylee Bar & Kitchen. I never thought The White Elephant was a great name to choose for a pub. Too much like tempting fate.
There’s a planning application in for a block of flats, surprise, surprise.
beyondtheratrace 