Our Story
A new chapter in a place with a long memory
Crown Lane Cellar is an independent cocktail and wine bar, live music venue and creative gathering space hidden beneath the streets of Carlisle.
The name Crown Lane Cellar may be relatively new, but the place itself has a much longer story.
Our home forms part of 18 Fisher Street, a Grade II* listed building dating from the late 18th century. Originally built as two houses, the historic listing even records that part of the building was entered from Long Lane — the tucked-away lane that still leads people to our door today.
A cellar full of memories
Long before Crown Lane Cellar, people were already coming here to eat, drink, meet and celebrate.
The modern hospitality story includes Magentas Restaurant, established on Fisher Street by the late 1990s. Contemporary local records show Magentas being advertised in 1998, recognised in the Good Food Guide in 2000 and, in 2002, sold to become the Lemon Lounge Bistro.
The Lemon Lounge became another familiar Carlisle name, opening as a bistro bar in 2002. A new chapter followed in 2011 with The Lane Bar. CAMRA records The Lane as founded that year and identifies Lemon Lounge as its previous name.
So the modern story of this space runs through several names:
Magentas. Lemon Lounge. The Lane. Crown Lane Cellar.
For many people in Carlisle, those names carry memories.
First dates. Birthday drinks. Nights with friends. Celebrations. Conversations in corners. Perhaps even the beginnings of relationships and friendships that lasted far longer than the evening itself.
When Crown Lane Cellar began, we did not want to erase that history.
We wanted to become its next chapter.
Beneath historic Carlisle
There is an even older story beneath our feet.
Long Lane itself has existed since medieval times, but archaeological work in the area has revealed activity stretching much further back. Excavation and ground-based radar work at Long Lane in 1990 identified thirteen phases of activity, beginning in the Roman period and continuing through medieval Carlisle into the modern city.
Fisher Street sits within an especially historic part of Carlisle, where Roman and medieval archaeology has repeatedly been uncovered.
We are careful not to claim that every archaeological discovery in the area came from the rooms that now form Crown Lane Cellar. But there is something extraordinary about knowing that when people gather here today, they are doing so within a part of the city where people have lived, walked, worked and met for centuries.
More than a bar
Today, Crown Lane Cellar continues that tradition of gathering.
Some evenings are about cocktails by the fire, sharing a bottle of wine or finding a quiet corner for conversation.
On others, the Cellar changes character completely.
There might be live music.
Jazz.
A film.
Dancing.
A workshop.
A performance.
A community gathering.
Or something we have never tried before.
That unpredictability has become part of what Crown Lane Cellar is.
You may know exactly why you are coming downstairs.
Or you may simply arrive and discover what is happening.
Drinks made for conversation
Cocktails, wine and hospitality remain at the heart of Crown Lane Cellar.
Our drinks menu combines familiar favourites with bottles and flavours worth discovering, and we like helping people find something that suits them rather than simply pointing at a menu.
If your favourite cocktail is not listed, ask us.
If we have the ingredients, we may just be able to make it.
Because for us, a good bar is not simply about what is poured into the glass.
It is about the conversation that happens around it.
A place for creativity
We believe independent venues can play an important role in the life of a city.
Crown Lane Cellar opens its doors to musicians, dancers, performers, creatives, community organisations and people with an idea they simply want to try.
That has brought live music, jazz, dancing, film nights, workshops, launches, performances and collaborations into the Cellar.
Not every idea needs to become something enormous.
Sometimes it just needs somewhere to begin.
Rooted in Carlisle
We are proud to be part of Carlisle city centre and particularly this historic corner of it.
A city centre is at its best when it is not simply somewhere people shop or pass through.
It should also be somewhere people meet.
Create.
Dance.
Talk.
Celebrate.
Discover something.
And make memories.
That is the kind of place we want Crown Lane Cellar to be.
The next chapter
We inherited a space that already mattered to people.
We respect the memories attached to Magentas, Lemon Lounge and The Lane while continuing to create new ones under the Crown Lane Cellar name.
Perhaps someone will come downstairs for a first date.
Perhaps someone will hear a musician they have never heard before.
Perhaps an idea will begin over a drink.
Perhaps new friendships will be made around one of our tables.
And perhaps, years from now, somebody will talk about Crown Lane Cellar with the same affection that others still have for the names that came before us.
The names have changed. The conversations continue.
Come for a drink. Stay for what happens next.