Railway Inn, West Calder

Built around 1895, this corner-site pub has a U-shaped servery with an especially noteworthy gantry plus a bar on either side.

The star attraction, in the centre of the servery is the unusual openwork gantry, delicately detailed, with a two-storey superstructure and slender turned balusters. It has a wide opening in the middle to allow staff easy access from one side to the other. Originally the servery linked up to the back wall, but a customer walkway has been created in recent times. Another significant survival, opposite the entrance, is the now-disused tiny jug bar (or if you prefer the version of some regulars, specially built as the ‘priests’ hole’ where clergy could sneak in undetected for a tipple – so are pub myths born!). A corridor leads to a large, fairly plain lounge. This, like the rest of the Railway, has wooden dado panelling. On the way there, the gents’ offers a rather splendid and unusual marble urinal, plus old wall- and floor-tiling. Listed in 2008 as a result of survey work by CAMRA.