2 weeks Ago
Then, one Saturday the BBC weather app promised sunshine over the other side of the Pennines. Go West we thought. So up Wensleydale we drove, stopping at the Creamery at Hawes for coffee and spending a fortune in the cheese shop.
No shafts of sunlight pierced the leaden cloud hanging low over the upper dale so on we went, to Sedbergh, Kirby Lonsdale until the signs for Morecambe appeared. We thought that’s a seaside resort that’s had a renaissance on the back of the restoration of the splendid Art Deco Midland Hotel. Which is why we ended up in Morecambe where the cloud over the vast expanse of the Bay remained resolutely unbroken.
The BBC weather app is useless we reminded ourselves – use the Met Office one instead. However splendid the Midland Hotel might be – and to be fair it looked pretty ordinary from a distance – Morecambe is a dump. The promenade stretches for miles and is overlooked by the most motley collection of down-at-heel guest houses, arcades, boarded-up cafes and pubs.
Rather despairingly we drove along the promenade. It was lunchtime but there was nowhere that look remotely likely to provide a palatable meal. Northwards we went along the coast, looking out at the vast expanse of the Bay, thinking of those Chinese immigrant cocklepickers who died out there 20 years ago when they were overwhelmed by the tide.
The mood was somewhat downbeat. And then we arrived in Carnforth which I knew was famous for something but couldn’t remember what until we reached the town centre (almost as dead as Morecombe) and saw the signs for the station. Carnforth Station – famous, of course, for being the location chosen by David Lean to film one of the all-time great British movies, Brief Encounter, the simmering drama of unfulfilled love staring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.
(Image: Malcolm Warne) All those quivering, repressed love scenes were shot in the station’s refreshments rooms which are now, inevitably, the home of the Brief Encounter Bistro. It is almost like walking on to the film set which of course it was. The layout of the central serving area is exactly as it was in 1945.
You don’t need to close your eyes to recall Stanley Holloway (Albert, the ticket inspector) and Joyce Carey (Myrtle, the café owner) exchanging witty one liners over the loaf cake and Garibaldi biscuits. (Image: Malcolm Warne) The only jarring note was the liberal use of fairy lights which rather destroyed the dimly-lit ambience created for the film. (Image: Malcolm Warne) Getting into the mood, we looked at the menu and wondered what Laura Jesson and Dr Alec Harvey (Johnson and Howard’s characters) would have chosen in pre-war Britain.
Probably not the plant-based burger, nor the feta and pepper panini or the smoked salmon linguine. The ham, egg and chips (£11.95) and the steak mince pie with chips and peas (£10.
95) seemed the more likely options. We were glad we chose them and not just for the period feel. The ham and eggs were a match for the peerless portions served up at The Cover Bridge Inn.
Good, thick ham, two golden-yolked eggs and fat, dry chips. The pie was made on the premises and was a thin-crust masterpiece of beefy succulence. With tea and milk for two, the bill was £28 or 15s 6d at 1945 prices.
(Image: Malcolm Warne) Exchanging lingering glances of barely-supressed emotions and passion we paid our bill and wandering out on to Platform 1, rather surprised at the absence of steam and a flying piece of grit needing to be diligently and tenderly removed from Sylvia’s eye (you need to know the film to get that reference so apologies to those of you who are not classic British movie aficionados. If not you should educate yourself – its on Amazon Prime. We watched it again the following day).
Next door to the bistro is the railway heritage centre which has a section devoted to the making of the movie, the vast majority of which was shot in and around the station and many parts, like the platforms and sloping underpasses, are clearly identifiable. (Image: Malcolm Warne) There’s mountains of movie memorabilia and a key section of the film is played on a loop in a recreation of a 1940s cinema. We looked for the iconic clock which counts down the minutes to Laura and Dr Alec’s parting but sadly it was away for repair.
More food reviews: Get the most out of your local news with The Northern Echo Subscribe now and enjoy access for the whole of 2025 for only £25 or enjoy your first six months for £6. The killjoy museum assistant just had to tell us that the clock face used in the movie wasn’t the actual station clock. Railway regulations of the time meant the clock couldn’t set at certain times for cinematic purposes.
We left the Station replete, full of chips and nostalgia. The sun still wasn’t shining, just as it never shone in post-war black and white Britain. Brief Encounter Bistro Carnforth Railway Station, Warton Road, Carnforth LA 5 9TR Tel: 01524 923282 Web: refreshmentroom.
com Open 9am-4pm every day Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 9 Service 8 Surroundings 9 Nostalgia 10.
