Coalburn Miners Welfare and Social Club, Lanark

As the name suggests, this isn’t, strictly speaking, a pub. However, since the demise of the Station Hotel and the Coalburn Inn, it’s the closest you’ll find to one in this appropriately named former coal mining village. Since the Club is obviously aware of its position, entry formalities for non-members are minimal, or, at least in my case, non-existent. You won’t be refused entry for not being a miner, since there aren’t any left in the vicinity (unless you count open-cast), and I wasn’t even asked to make a donation to funds. The impressive edifice in which the Club is housed was built in 1925 and originally consisted of a large upstairs hall with a stage, a reading room, a billiard room, a lending library, a cinema, plus a downstairs badminton court and bowling alley. Ironically, given its current status as an oasis of alcohol, there wasn’t originally a bar and drink wasn’t even permitted on the premises. The Club remains the most imposing building in the village and stands out among the former miners’ cottages, council houses and corner shops. On the ground floor, there is a middling sized square bar room containing a full sized snooker table, two TVs, a juke box and games machines, with a much bigger function suite through a connecting door. What the upper floor is now used for, I’m not sure. A pint of Fosters lager cost me £2.80 and McEwan’s lager, McEwan’s 60 Shilling, John Smith’s, Tartan Special and Strongbow cider are also available on draught. The middle aged to elderly locals were very friendly and most surprised to learn that I’d enjoyed a pint in the village’s long demolished Station Hotel around 30 years ago. With new private housing estates having sprung up where the mines used to be, I’d think there might be a market for a new pub here, or for a re-opening of the still standing Coalburn Inn. For the present, though, this is the place to have a drink if you happen to find yourself in Coalburn.