The Crossing Micropub, Hest Bank

The Crossing Micropub and the Railway Level Crossing

My wife and I have been visiting The Crossing on and off for several years. It’s a regular entry in the Good Beer Guide. It’s one of our favourite pubs.

It’s an excellent micropub adjacent to the only level crossing on the West Coast Mainline between London and Scotland. The line is very, very busy; lots of trains pass by, thundering through at speed. The level crossing is often closed, closing every four or five minutes, sometimes more often. Sometimes drivers have to wait three or four minutes for the gates to lift. If you are in a car, it’s best to park on the pub side of the railway.

It is named after the level crossing and an ancient route over the sands of Morecambe Bay.

It has three rooms, arranged in a U-shape.

The first room contains the bar. The bar has six hand pulls, offering a variety of competitively priced real ales. I was drinking the Fell Rider Pale Ale, a pleasant pint for around £4.30. My wife was drinking wine, which was also competitively priced. They mainly sell real ale and wine; spirits are very limited. There is no craft keg (yippeeee). But when we were there, they were selling the dreaded Shite Rat.

The next room is a wooden extension to the main building, containing a real fire and a grandfather clock.

This leads to the third room, at the back of the pub. It contains a single large table. It has games, copies of old railway magazines, and photos of the old Hest Bank station on the wall (it closed in 1969).

It’s a community pub that opens at 12 every day. The number 5 bus passes the pub, but beware: it runs hourly.

One of my earliest memories, some time around 1960, is of the station and the crossing at Hest Bank. I remember crossing the level crossing. I remember playing on the beach. I remember the steam trains thundering through. I’ve no idea why we were there.

The Bar with six handpumps

The Middle Room With its Fire