The bar at the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway station in Lincolnshire is a little different from other station pubs: it claims to be “the smallest pub on the planet.”
The Signal Box Inn was opened in 2006 and spans a mere 64 square feet. The station it’s near is along a 1.2-mile narrow gauge railway line that mainly serves as a pleasure ride for tourists to Cleethorpes and nearby Humberston. The pub is situated in a genuine signal box, but in keeping with the scale of the 15 gauge railway, it is much smaller than one from a main railway.
The eight-foot-by-eight-foot building feels a bit crowded with just six or so people inside it. But the small space has lively music, a dart board, and even a nine-hole golf course. A claim that it’s the smallest pub on the planet was once submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records but official recognition was not awarded.
While this pub was clearly built to be able make the declaration of the “world’s smallest” and to catch the attention of travelers, its management take its role as a pub seriously and it serves a very wide range of craft beers and, in particular, 20 different ciders.
Parking (pay and display ticket) directly next to the station. Free parking just along the road on the other side.
The main line railway station is about a mile from the closest CCLR station.
This pub is only open from Easter (April) through mid-October.
Dr Alan P Newman
