I have always been fond of the old-fashioned quaintness of Lancaster train station and to further embellish their standing in my eyes they have recently opened a craft beer bar on the platform. In a nod to their heritage, they have named the establishment Tite & Locke after William Tite who built the station in 1846 during Joseph Locke’s expansion of the British railways. I have not yet had an opportunity to visit but hope to rectify that in the near future.
Tite and Locke pub. Image Credit whatpub.com
Gill and I use to undertake an annual summer trip to Windermere passing through Carnforth station en route where Brief Encounter was filmed. We would raid the huge Booths supermarket outside the station for tasty picnic snacks and then catch the open top bus down to Bowness and chill on the green near to the lake. On the way back to the train we once dived into the Albert pub in the village and I sampled a couple of pints of Hartleys Gold in the sunny beer garden, arguably the finest pint I have ever tasted!
On one other such trip we returned via Lancaster and visited the Penny Bank pub. Just before leaving I randomly slung a pound into the fruit machine which proceeded to instantly pay out two consecutive jackpots resulting in paying for the entire trip including a banquet feast at a local Chinese restaurant!
I can recall another lad’s trip to Bowness which involved a visit to the pitch and putt golf course, and I famously holed a 100-foot putt (the length increases every time I tell the tale!) from off the 18th green in monsoon conditions to win the day!
Back in Lancaster on Market Street there used to be a downstairs hostelry which I think was called Mitchells. We visited there on a stag do in 1998 and there was a couple of lads who for some bizarre reason began aggressively flicking beer mats at us, so being peace-loving souls, we bid a hasty departure to avoid any potential escalation. For the record, I have other wise found Lancaster an extremely friendly place to frequent.
The venue subsequently morphed into Lancaster 1725 Tapas Bar where alongside the food and drinks they used to periodically have live acoustic music and I saw Becky, Hannah and Richard and also the Italian Stallion (not Rocky Balboa!) there. The restaurant closed in 2018 and has only just recently reopened as Sydney’s, a second site following the success of the flagship endeavour in Settle.
1725 Tapas Bar. Image Credit pinterest.com
Heading down Market Street towards the train station you will find Lancaster Ye Olde John O Gaunt, which was established in 1871. It has always been an old-fashioned rustic pub with an Edwardian frontage and Grade 2 listed status and was named after the 14th century Duke of Lancaster. There are photos of musicians on the walls and a small beer garden at the rear. They have live music on the weekends and an open mic night on a Sunday. Whilst visiting I have witnessed a band called Sound Forum and an Oasis covers band.
Even nearer to the station is another small cosy pub called Lancaster Robert Gillow. It is owned by the Salford based Hyde’s brewery and is their most northerly outpost. As with all Hyde’s owned establishments, like the Fletcher Moss near me, it is a homely place with fine beer on tap and they had a more food focused area upstairs.
The Robert Gillow. Image Credit Her Campus.
They had music on most nights of the week, and they were firmly in the jazz/blues domain. Prior to heading off for the last train, around the 2013/2014 era I caught Dave Mitchell & Tony Crane and Boogie Bill play there. I had read that recently that the pub has changed its name to the Jailor’s Barrel but is still under Hyde’s tutelage.