A historic elm tree almost given up for dead 30 years ago has made an amazing revival.

While others in the Royal Pavilion gardens in Brighton have been ravaged by Dutch elm disease, the tree has stood the test of time.

Brighton and Hove City Council tree expert Rob Greenland said the hollow elm could even be older than the Pavilion itself.

He said: "I remember working on it in the Seventies and talking to an old woman who said that, as a young girl, she held a bag of nails as a blacksmith put the metal band around it, which is still there."

The only elms definitely older than that are in Coronation Gardens at Preston Park in Brighton.

Mr Greenland said he thought the tree was due for the chop when he was working on it 30 years ago.

The elm, which has been hollow for at least 100 years, had been attacked by parasites and fungus.

With colleagues, he cleaned out the inside but did not hold out too much hope.

He said: "It was in very poor condition."

After a while the elm showed signs of life and started to sprout branches again.

Decades later, the tree is so healthy work will have to be done this winter to cut it back so that it does not become top heavy.

More work is scheduled to stop litter and people getting into the gaps in the tree, which are causing a fire hazard.

For Mr Greenland, the tree, within a few yards of the Royal Pavilion on the south side of the gardens near the public toilets, is part of the city centre.

He has an almost proprietal interest in it after watching its changing fortunes during his career.

He said: "It's the only tree in the Royal Pavilion gardens bearing nuts but these are the metal kind attached to supporting rods.

"It has been an interesting tree for a long time."

Despite his expertise, even Mr Greenland cannot work out the exact age of the elm because it is hollow, so its rings are not there to be counted.

He estimates it could easily be 230 years old after recalling a print of the area before the Pavilion was built clearly showing the tree.

lIn February 1999 an elm tree in the Royal Pavilion gardens held up the £50 million redevelopment of the Dome Theatre.

Architects were sent back to the drawing board to redesign the scheme around saving the 30-year-old tree at a cost of £130,000.

The setback, which was estimated to delay work by eight weeks, was described by one councillor as the "looniest decision" he had ever heard in 15 years of local government.