Please Click Here to Bookmark the White Beer Travels Home page, i.e. add it to your Favorites Please Click Here to Bookmark this White Beer Travels Signal Box Inn page
The above photos were taken by John White, outside and in The Signal Box Inn, in August and September, 2006, this truly excellent place opened in August, 2006. Of course, the opening of the world's smallest pub is particularly newsworthy, but an added bonus, is that it has a very interesting selection of handpumped Real Ales, kept in excellent condition by its landlord, Andrew McCall, who features in the photo on the right. Cleethorpes and the town where I live, Grimsby, run into each other, so the addition of this top-class Real Ale outlet is especially welcome news on a personal level.

The World's Smallest Pub Opens, in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England:
The Signal Box Inn,
Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, Lakeside Station, Kings Road, DN35 0AG.
Tel 01472 604657.
GPS: 53.543313^o N, 0.009683^o W.

The opening of The Signal Box Inn generated a lot of interest in the press, which led to people contacting Sam and Kathy Guadagnoli, who, in 2002, opened "Sam's World's Smallest Bar", in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA (22 North Tejon Street, tel 719 473 0678, www.csnightclubs.com/sams). Although their bar has an area of 109.57 square feet (10.12 square metres), compared with The Signal Box's sixty-four square feet (5.95 square metres), they are disputing the claim of the Cleethorpes establishment, pointing to its outside drinking area, but it is expected that Guinness World Records (www.guinnessworldrecords.com) will rule in favour of The Signal Box Inn, despite the threat of legal action from the Colorado establishment. Of course, The Signal Box Inn, also becomes the UK's smallest pub, taking the title off the previous incumbent, The Nutshell, in Bury St Edmunds, in the English County of Suffolk (17 The Traverse, IP33 1BJ) (110 square feet (10.22 square metres)) (seemingly, the Colorado pub was designed to be just below this size). Click here for a photo of The Nutshell. One thing seems clear. There should be no dispute as to which has the worst beer selection, since there is a boast on the website for Sam's World's Smallest Bar about the large amount of the extremely moderate Coors Lager that it sells.

Interestingly, a few days after The Signal Box Inn opened in Cleethorpes, another very small pub opened near the truly wonderful Borough Market (www.boroughmarket.org.uk), in London: The Rake, 14 Winchester Walk, SE1 9AG. It is smaller than the Colorado pub and The Nutshell, and, but for the Cleethorpes pub, would now be the world's smallest pub, as it is thirteen by seven feet (ninety-one square feet (8.45 square metres)), The Rake is run by the people associated with the Utobeer Beer Stall (www.utobeer.co.uk, White Beer Travels Web page), in Borough Market, which, along with The Rake, is fully covered in the White Beer Travels guide to London, which is available from the Downloads page. In addition to two handpumped Real Ales, The Rake has a very big selection of bottled and foreign draught beers. On the opening day, there was a handpumped version of the famous Thomas Hardy's Ale (www.thomashardysale.org.uk), a first for the UK. They may not have this on your visit, but you can be sure that there will be something really interesting available. Clearly, as well as being small, just like The Signal Box Inn, The Rake is a must-visit place for the lover of top-class beer.

The above photos were taken by John White, in September, 2006. The one on the left shows activity in The Signal Box Inn's cellar, this being the protrusion at the bottom of the building that can be seen in the photo, at the top of this Web page, on the left. In the foreground can be seen two of the three casks of Real Ales that are connected to the handpumps featured in the photo, at the top of this page on the right. In the cellar photo, landlord Andrew McCall and Bert Bryans, of the nearby Highwood Brewery (www.tom-wood.com) are sorting out a problem with a keg Carling, an extremely moderate English Lager. Highwood have the excellent Tom Wood range of Real Ales. They also supply other Real Ales and other beers such as the Carling, which many landlords are obliged to offer, since so many people in the UK seem to want to drink such stuff. Hopefully, The Signal Box Inn, will convert some of them to Real Ale, and/or Highwood will substitute it for the excellent German Pils that they import: Riegele Commerzienrat Privat, which is brewed by the Brauerei Sebastein Riegele (www.riegele.de), in the Bavarian city of Augsburg. The photo on the right of the Cellar photo, shows the flue for the stove that was once in the building, when it was used for its original purpose. At the bottom of the photo can be seen some pump clips from past Real Ales that have been featured in the place. In no time at all, I should imagine that the walls will be covered with them!

The selection of Real Ales in The Signal Box Inn is ever-changing, and will never be run of the mill. On my visit soon after it opened, there were a couple from the Hampshire Brewery (www.hampshirebrewery.com) (Ironside and Strong's Best Bitter), and a special brew to mark the opening of the pub, from a wonderful local brewery, Phil Ellis's Fugelestou Ales (Fulstow Brewery) (www.fulstowbrewery.co.uk): "A Bit Of A Puther". Just before the opening of the pub, Fugelestou Ales were also in the news as they moved from Fulstow, to premises in Thames Street, in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth. All these beers were £2 a pint (September, 2006). On a visit a couple of weeks later, as can be seen in the photo, above right, the beers had completely changed. The Real Ales from left to right in the photo are: Fugelestou's Red Diesel (4.5%); [Real] Alcazar Ale (4%), from the Alcazar Brewery (www.alcazarbrewery.co.uk), from Old Basford, in Nottingham; and Lord Marples (4%), from the thornbridge BREWERY (Thornbridge Hall Country House Brewery) (www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk) White Beer Travels Web page), in Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire.

There are also some interesting bottled beer available, as can be seen from the photo to the left, which was taken by John White, in September, 2006. Examples include: Fugelestou's Red Diesel; Strong's Best Bitter; and Harvieston Indian Summer IPA.

The building that houses The Signal Box Inn dates from the early 1900s. It was originally a signalman's hut on a railway within the Steel Works, in Scunthorpe, in Lincolnshire. It forms part of the Lakeside Station of the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway (www.cleethorpescoastlightrailway.co.uk), an enthusiasts' railway, that is one of the main tourist attractions of Cleethorpes (www.cleethorpes-online.co.uk). Cleethorpes is on the South bank of the River Humber, close to its mouth. As can be seen from the GPS coordinates for The Signal Box Inn, given above, the Greenwich Meridian Line (Zero Longitude) passes close to the pub, so if you want to come from Greenwich, in London, head due North from there, and when you hit the South bank of the River Humber (the Meridian Line is marked on the footpath, with a sign alongside it), turn left, and take the next main footpath/minor road left, and The Signal Box Inn is then reached on the right, just before the main road (Kings Road). Alternatively, you can get a train to Cleethorpes, from London King's Cross, via Doncaster or Newark. Before setting off for The Station Box inn, should you want a decent pint, at the head of the platforms, "Under the Clock", the No. 2 Refreshment Room (Station Approach, DN35 8AX), is the Pub of the Year for 2004, 2005 and 2006. for the local branch of CAMRA (www.camra.org.uk/grimsby), the CAMpaign for Real Ale (www.camra.org.uk). Its entry in CAMRA's 2007Good Beer Guide (GBG)  can be found on page 266.

As stated in the previous paragraph, the Meridian Line in Cleethorpes is marked on the footpath alongside the River Humber, and there is a sign pointing to Sydney, New York, the North Pole and the South Pole, etc, and telling you how far it is to them Interestingly, its GPS coordinates are: 53.541625^o N, 0.001723^o W. Clearly, the Cleethorpes Meridian Line is not on the GPS zero degrees longitude line; it is not until one walks about 100 yards/metres SE of it along the path, that one gets to zero degrees, i.e. at a GPS reading of 53.540433^o N, 0.000000^o W. Click here for a White Beer Travels Web page giving information on the use of GPS (Satellite Navigation) systems for stress-free Beer Hunting.

It is a fair walk from Cleethorpes Main Line Railway Station to The Signal Box Inn; the number 9 bus from Grimsby and Cleethorpes stops just beyond the pub, on Kings Road. You could also, of course, get a Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway train, at the Kingsway station, next to the Leisure Centre. This connects with a Road Train from the Pier, which is fairly close to the Main Line Station, in the holiday season (Cleethorpes is a popular holiday resort). Should you decide to walk, another good journey breaking option is Willy's (GBG 2006, GBG 2007 page 267), a Brew Pub, with its own and Guest Real Ales, at 17 High Cliff, DN35 8RQ, GPS: 53.556710^o N, 0.023057^o W. In September, 2006, Willy's Original Bitter was £1.74 a pint.

There is a bus stop just beyond the Signal Box, which is served by buses coming from Grimsby via the centre of Cleethorpes: the number 9, which originates in Waltham; and the 46, which comes from Immingham.

Should you want to stay the night, there is plenty of B&B accommodation. Hotels include the Dovedale, 18 Albert Road, DN35 8LX, tel 01472 692988, www.dovedalehotel.com, GPS: 53.559182^o N, 0.028283^o W.

The Signal Box Inn is open for the normal pub hours of 11am to 11pm on Monday to Saturday, and Noon until 10.30pm on Sundays. However, out of season, these times may be reviewed, so it would be wise to give them a ring to check that it is open before setting off to pay it a visit.

John White (1945-), , August, 2006, updated in June, 2007.

Back to Top