Licensee (Partners): Rhona Cummings & Willie Marshall
Public telephone: +44 (0) 1501 743103
2 East Main Street, Whitburn, EH47 7QU

The Cross Tavern has been through some troubled times in the last few years. Despite the best efforts of previous licensee Jessie Williamson to liven the place up and entice a younger market through it's doors the shutters in the lounge bar went down for a good few months and it was extremely sad (as it was my local) to see the shutters down even on a Friday and Saturday night. Even the public bar didn't seem to be as busy. Where did it all go wrong, who knows? but I do hopefully the new management (with a major makeover courtesy of Bellhaven) can bring back the glory days. Certainly, from appearances (my impression), numbers seem to be up and the lounge is open for business on Fridays and Saturdays, although that is for the karaoke.

Sitting proudly at the corner of East Main Street and Manse Road it is known locally as "Morrisons" (after the owners in the early 1900s) and it one of the town's oldest and best known landmark. The public bar entrance shown in the picture has two doors which take you into either side of the long saloon bar. The ceiling was lowered a few years ago slightly to incorporate modern semi-flush mounted lights and that itself has made a tremendous difference and has taken away the starkness of the old strip lighting. The ubiquitous sepia "old Whitburn" prints have been replaced with those with a horse racing theme. The actual serving bar, possibly is the longest in Whitburn, is a mixture of blue / grey stone effect tops and classy wooden panelling down the sides. I am not sure but I also think that the bar is slightly narrower and shorter, or maybe that is an optical illusion. Certainly some of the customers think that the place is more spacious. The shape of the bar means that you can have a chat with someone across the other side or more usually you can shout to them when it's packed. Satellite TV is much in evidence and there is a large plasma TV in the corner above the dart board. There is a small normal TV in the new bottle gallery. For some reason I think the place reminds me of one of those themed pubs (ex-banks) in Edinburgh. I cannot exactly place it but to me it has that feeling about it.

As with the bar, the lounge was given an extensive make-over, a new colour scheme, new fixtures and fittings and full length mirror. The mirror makes a tremendous difference and opens the rooms out. Above the mock fireplace is a large plasma TV screen. The main part of the lounge has a very cosy feel to it mainly due to the colour scheme and even though, as I said, the mirror makes the room seem much larger, it still manages to retain it's intimate atmosphere.

Like the saloon bar, when busy, space in the bar area of the lounge can be the enemy. This is most evident when people are sitting on the stools just across from the bar and others are standing waiting to be served.

The Manse Road entrance either leads straight on towards the lounge via the "pool room", which is just an open space where the pool table sits or take a left turn into the public bar. The jukebox has a wide range of music but in my opinion is stocked with too many chart compilations (or am I just getting old ?) One thing which hasn't changed much over the years is the little boys room i.e. the gent's toilets, having stayed the same virtually since I turned 18.

To add an extra touch to the place I would like to see the black wooden signs either side of the main doors have some sign writing painted on, just the usual e.g darts, dominos, wide selection of beer etc. It would take away the blankness if the two wooden panels with chalk scribbles.

Rhona & Willie have done a great job with the place and the karaoke on the Friday & Saturday nights are very popular and as I said previously the bar seems a litlle busier than of late. However, I just wish that the lounge was open every evening as it is a really nice and comfortable environment and Whitburn needs a nice lounge bar somewhere central. The sad things is that, sheer economics probably mean that it is not viable to open and staff the lounge between Monday & Thursday. The trade may not be there and I doubt if The Cross Tavern is alone in that extent.